Quoth the Raven, hey, Sleepy Mouse!

Copperfox

Copperfox

Well-known member
New member Sleepy Mouse is known elsewhere as "Nevermore Poe." I still is not clear to me whether new members are still on probation before they can create new threads; therefore, I've given him a boost. Mouse, now you can go ahead and post what you want about Edgar Allen Poe.
 
One of the difficulties of teaching literature to teens today, is that they are supremely jaded. "Been there, done that!" I was in a discussion with a young lady about the Tell Tale Heart. She rolled her eyes here and there and complained about how boring it was and how slow it took to get to the point of the story. I had to explain to my students that history cannot be viewed through a modern lens. Times, cultures, and styles all change, including language and the way it's used. I went on to explain that at the time of writing, Poe's use of psychological horror was in its infancy and was a new thing at the time. I tell you, kids these days are so spoiled!
 
As I once mentioned to Sleepy Mouse on a different site, Edgar Allen Poe of Baltimore deserves recognition as one of the earliest STEAMPUNK authors. This is on the basis of a short story almost no one remembers today: "MELLONTA TAUTA."

The title is Latin, meaning "The Future Is the Same." Poe briefly depicts a future society, in which-- and this IS the steampunk way-- science and technology are straight-line advancements from what was known in the nineteenth century. Most remarkably, Poe imagines railroads in which a track is at least TWENTY feet wide, made of ten or twelve parallel rails, so that the train cars being pulled along the track can be like entire houses on wheels.
 
Copperfox said:
As I once mentioned to Sleepy Mouse on a different site, Edgar Allen Poe of Baltimore deserves recognition as one of the earliest STEAMPUNK authors. This is on the basis of a short story almost no one remembers today: "MELLONTA TAUTA."

The title is Latin, meaning "The Future Is the Same." Poe briefly depicts a future society, in which-- and this IS the steampunk way-- science and technology are straight-line advancements from what was known in the nineteenth century. Most remarkably, Poe imagines railroads in which a track is at least TWENTY feet wide, made of ten or twelve parallel rails, so that the train cars being pulled along the track can be like entire houses on wheels.
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That reminds me of a young adult story that I read a few years ago. It was about a massive train that had multiple levels and was huge. It's a shame that I can't remember the title.
 
All right. Now to return to Mister E.A. Poe.

Can you relate any interesting facts about his life which most of us never heard?
 
Poe was born to travelling actors. His father, David, left him, his mother and two siblings. He was later adopted by James Allen, but unfortunately, they never got along.
 
That suggests a question. The short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" portrays a domestic servant who insanely develops fear and loathing toward his employer. Do you think it's possible that E.A. Poe invented this pathological situation based on his relationship with his adoptive father?
 
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It's a strong possibility. From what I remember of their relationship, James was never a very fatherly type individual. I think he had certain expectations of Poe and well, Poe made a lot of... less than stellar choices. Which I'm pretty sure, made James rather angry. I do think that a lot of the hardships that Poe experienced in his life had a big influence in his writing. I also think, from certain historical accounts, that substance abuse may have played a role as well. However, despite that, he was a literary genius and was the forefather of the psychological horror genre.
 
Moving right along, I've long wondered about something concerning the story "The Pit and the Pendulum." It has a happier ending than most Poe stories, which I don't object to; but I'm unclear about HOW the happy ending occurs.

The hero is a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition, and his tormenters mentally torture him with a constant expectation of being finished off at any moment. At the climax, just when it seems he WILL now be finished off, he is rescued-- by the French Army.

My quandary is this. I only know of one time when France conquered Spain even briefly, which was in the days of Bonaparte. But I didn't think that the Inquisition in the torturing-and-murdering-people sense CONTINUED so long as to reach the Napoleonic era.
 
While Sleepy Mouse waits for the outcome of his medical situation, I'll keep this topic active by posting a little-known poem by Mister Poe. I call the poem little-known, but its reference to Greece and Rome passed into common usage, back when people still cared about history. Note that "barks" means old-time sailing ships, "wont" with no apostrophe means that someone is accustomed to doing something, and "airs" here probably refers to singing.

For those who are interested in the structures of poetry, observe how Mister Poe uses "face" as a near-rhyme with "Greece."

"TO HELEN" (presumably meaning Helen of Troy, in The Iliad)

Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicean barks of yore
That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,
The weary, way-worn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.

On desperate seas long wont to roam,
Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,
Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
To the glory that was Greece,
And the grandeur that was Rome.

Lo! in yon brilliant window-niche,
How statue-like I see thee stand,
The agate-lamp within thy hand!
Ah, Psyche, from the regions
Which are holy land!
 
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