Discussion Questions
1. It is said
that Edgar Allan Poe was both blessed and cursed by his genius.
How could his genius be both a blessing and
a curse?
2. One of the most famous horror writers of the twentieth
century is Stephen King.
How would you compare Stephen King with
Edgar Allan Poe? If Stephen King
lived during Poe's era, would he be as
successful as he is?
3. Edgar Allan Poe loved and respected women. He spent
most of his time in
their company, and sought solace and peace
in their companionship. How did
his experiences with women influence his
writing?
4. Edgar Allan Poe's stepfather disinherited him and cut
him out of his life. How
did Poe's bitterness toward his stepfather
influence his life?
5. Most of the hardship's of Edgar Allan Poe's life were
his of his own making.
How was Poe his own worst enemy?
6. How are Poe's stories rooted in the grim reality of
his own life?
7. Poe is considered the "father of the detective
story." Why is this so?
8. Tuberculosis, which we rarely hear of today, killed
Poe's mother, stepmother
and
wife. Why was this disease so devastating in Poe's era, and why is the
threat today so minimal?
9. What role does alcohol play in Poe's downfall and
descent?
10.
Edgar Allan Poe
died over a century ago in poverty and despair. Yet, today his stories and
poems are more popular than ever. Why is his work so enduring?
Extended Activities
1. Read a poem or
short story by Edgar Allan Poe and illustrate the story. Do
your illustrations successfully depict the
graphic horror that characterizes
Poe's work?
It is said that Edgar Allan Poe was both blessed and cursed by his genius.
ReplyDeleteHow could his genius be both a blessing and a curse?
Edgar Allan Poe was blessed because his Gothic literature made him famous and people loved reading his stories. They were a blessing because the money he made from them kept the food on the table and paid for things. He was very talented. But this is also a curse because of the tragic life that led him to his success as a writer. The video describes how Poe had a horrible chronic of events in his life at a young age that made him think that that's what he deserved. So this then would reflect in his writing.
One of the most famous horror writers of the twentieth century is Stephen King.
ReplyDeleteHow would you compare Stephen King with Edgar Allan Poe? If Stephen King
lived during Poe's era, would he be as successful as he is?
I would compare Edgar and Stephen by the way there style of writing was. Both gifted with talents. Stephen King is also blessed and cursed like Edgar. Their imaginations have set higher standards in the field of writing. They love to make readers fears come alive through literature. Although they are the same in many ways they also are different.
If Stephen King was in Poe's era, I do not think he would of been as famous because I think Stephen King is less of a genius than Edgar was. He was a clearer and more down to Earth writer. The market for horror stories was much more limited than that of today. So I believe Stephen would have been forgotten and not as recognized.
1) Edgar Allan Poe was truly a blessed and cursed by his genius. Poe was an very talented poet, and author. His poems were filled with meaning, love, and the beauty he found in life. Even though Poe didn't get rich from his writings, he was blessed with the talent to write. As life progressed, Poe went through tragedy after tradegy losing every woman he loved. His life was full with murderous sites of the red death. It consumed and penetrated every part of his life. He started to write pieces that were filled with horror, with everything being ended by death. The curse of death that was held above Poe's head consumed his pieces, and this is why it is a curse. Because he had the talent, but it was ruined by the impact of death he had experienced.
ReplyDelete3) As a child the only person who gave Poe love and affection was his mother. She encouraged Poe to write and imagine stories to one day publish. Poe's father payed no interest in him, as well as his mother once she had blood consumption. After his mother died he was sent to a foster home, and once again his new mother gave him the love he so desperately needed and died. But Poe had also been rejected by two father figures. His relationships with women influenced his writings, by them being about blood consumption, death, and love. Poe had lost many things in his life, and in response he drank. This affected his writings, by being horrific, glum, or sorrowful. Edgar Allan Poe gave every women in his life a piece of himself, and he lived vicariously through them. He may of been a tragedy-struck drunken poet, but he had a thirst for love that could never be fully quenched.
ReplyDeleteChristin Gray:
ReplyDelete1. Poe was both blessed and.cursed by the "red death." Poe's work shown through writing explains his experiences he has been through. Poe watched his mother, brother, stepmother die from this disease. He used his experiences to show his emotions about his closeness and vonerablility towards this sickness. Through his writing people adored the truthfulness and emotion. The love he had for woman gave people the reason to believe he was worth listening to. He was a mess from the very start of life, and ended it the same way, but he found himself through his writing.
Sara Ellis:
ReplyDelete6.) Poe's stories are primarily based on the grim reality of his own life in several different ways. Poe experienced many deaths in his life and those of who that died were mainly important or special women to Edgar. These deaths played a heavy role in his life, as they led to his depression and alcohol abuse. Most of Edgar Allen Poe's writing is based on sadness, loneliness and death as this related to his life. He used his writing as a way to express his emotions and find himself, being that he was lost in the darkness of death.
9.)Poe was not only haunted by his past growing up as an orphan, but also by his very lonely and dark life. Edgar's experience with many deaths in his life led to a very confused and lost person. Poe turned to alcohol as a way to deal with the losses of these people and thought it would help his problems. The alcohol abuse soon led to the madness and self-destruction that Poe later encountered. The alcohol turned Poe into an even darker person and made him feel as if he did not have a purpose. Poe's writing reflected the self-destruction as it was based on death and sadness. His alcohol abuse only led to worse things and eventually overtook Poe.
ReplyDelete3.) Edgar Allan Poe's experience with women influenced his writing because most of the women he loved died. Depression and heartache fueled most of his writing which was quite understandable. Poe's losses started with his mother, then his foster mother, and his wife. All three women were taken from the same disease, tuberculosis. Edgar Allan Poe was a very depressed man and didn't quite understand why all his loved ones were taken away from him. Poe's poems like Anabelle Lee, To My Mother, and The Lake To- all consists of memories from his past.
ReplyDelete6.) Edgar Allan Poe's stories are rooted in the grim reality of his own life because his own life was marred with tragedy, starting at an early age. It started when Poe was only three years old when his mother died. Then he was an orphan and spent lots of time by himself, when he was adopted his stepfather disinherited him. Poe was even more devastated when his stepmother passed away. Things started pointing in the right direction when he got married, but she as well got sick with the same disease Poe's mother and stepmother had and passed away. In his work you can see that he is obsessed with death, violence, and tragic mysteries of life.
ReplyDelete4.) Poe's bitterness toward his stepfather influence his life by he didn't have many male friends. When he was adopted his stepfather never really liked Poe. There relationship was very bad and made Poe not trust many men in his life. Poe never really had a father figure in his life, so when he was adopted he probably thought that he would have some one that would care about him other than a female figure. If his stepfather was more of a father figure, his life probably would have been better and he would have probably lived longer.
ReplyDelete6.) Poe's stories rooted in the grim reality of his own life because at a young age Poe experienced death. Anyone at that age would be affected in the long run. Being affected like that at a young age, Poe was affected more in his life by all the important women dying of tuberculosis. Many of this stories were inspired by these women like Anabelle Lee and To my Mother. You could say he was obsessed with death, violence, and tragic events.
ReplyDeleteIt is said that Edgar Allan Poe was both blessed and cursed by his wonderful talent in writing. How is this possible that this amazing gift he has be a curse as well as a blessing?
ReplyDeleteEdgar was a writer who wrote about very depressing, and dark topics. You could say he wrote in a gothic style. This is what people loved, they were very interested in Poe's writings and Poe was able to make money off of this and be able to keep a float. He was able to live a steady life at the time. This is how he was blessed. The bad part how he is also cursed is how he came up with these "Great" writings. Most if not all of his stories were closely related to if not based off of previous events that had occurred in his life. These events were very sad and depressing especially since they happened when Poe was a young boy. These events have been reflected in his writing. This is how he is cursed.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease that normally effects the lungs. This was a devastating disease in Poes era because there was nothing you could do for those who had the disease by the time they noticed. Tuberculosis was a very painful disease and way of death, most would consider it as suffering. The threat today is so minimal due to medical advancement and technology.
ReplyDeletePoe loved and respected women, and spent most of his time in their company, and sought solace and peace in their companionship. His experiences with women influenced his writing immensely.
ReplyDeleteWhen he was a young boy his mother passed away and he was then looked after by a foster mom. She then passed away shortly after and then Poe got married; his wife was then killed by the same disease his mother and foster mom were kiled by. Teberculosis back then was pretty much always a death sentence. This is what killed the three very important women in Poe's life. These were very sad and tragic events that happened to Poe and he thought that since it happened to him since he was little and this made him a very sad and depressed man. He did not know why, or he couldn't understand why his loved ones were being taken away from him. This had a huge impact on his writing and it shows tremendously.
Stephan King and Edgar Allen Poe are alike in many ways. One being their styles of writing. Both Poe and King were graphic writers. They wrote of things we would consider gory, gloomy,and horrific. The two writers have extensive imaginations in which they bring to life in their stories. Both writers also express their mood and tone throughout their stories very clearly. If Stephan King were to live during Poes Era i believe he wouldn't be as popular as Poe. Simply being because he is more direct with his writings. As to where Poe you kind of have to decode and put together. However, i do think he would have been successful due to the range of variety in taste among humans. King is more down to earth mystery type. Some people find Poe's work to be very confusing as to where King is direct and easier to understand.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteExpierencing with women influenced Edgar Allan Poe's writing because of depression. He had many women in his life that he loved and respected. In his opinion he always thought women needed to be treated better. When they passed away it caused him to be depressed. In my opinion I feel that he turned to women because of his father. Edgar's father was a wealthy man and left Poe with almost nothing. The only person that he always looked up to was his mother. His mother incouraged him to write. When she passed away it was a tragety for Poe but he kept writing. All his life he inloved in death, he'd been around it and saw it all. One of the loved ones he cared about what Anabelle Lee, he then wrote about her and made it into a poem.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTuberculosis is an infectious disease characterized by the growth of nodules in the tissues,the lungs,and is caused chiefly by bacteria... Tuberculosis which is rarely heard today, killed Poe's mother, stepmother, and wife. This disease was so devastating in Poe's era because everyone was getting it and it was spreading. There was no medicine then except a belated attempt to restore one's strength at a retreat. When his mother got it, it was devestating because sometimes he would have to carry her from bed and all of his family had died,she was the only one left. Considering Poe's devotion to her and his close attendance to her needs, it does seem strange that he did not develop the disease himself.
ReplyDeleteHow are Poe's stories rooted in the grim reality of his own life?
ReplyDeletePoe's stories are rooted in the grim reality of his own life because he made the people in his stories based on the people in his life or that were in his life. He grew up facing the loss of his loved ones which he later turned it into writing and expressed his feeling and past in his stories. His stories were so popular because the way he portrayed them and put a twist on the overall message behind them.
One of the most famous horror writers of the twentieth century is Stephen King.
ReplyDeleteHow would you compare Stephen King with Edgar Allan Poe? If Stephen King
lived during Poe's era, would he be as successful as he is?
I think that if Stephen King was born back in Edgar's time that he would not be nearely as successful as he is now. The reason I say that is because back then, literature was not as much of a successful bussiness as it is now, that, and the internet was not invented at that time. With that being said, the only way people would have been able to know about a writer back then was by reading a newspaper, or by reading one of their books. It is hard to become popular if there are not that many ways of hearing about somebody, and that would have made it very hard to sell your books as well.
Most of the hardship's of Edgar Allan Poe's life were his of his own making.
ReplyDeleteHow was Poe his own worst enemy?
Whenever Poe was given an opertunity to succeed in life, he always did something to make it all go wrong. One time he was able to apply for a job at the white house, but he showed up completely wasted. Some time later he showed up again for the interview, this time sober, and was about to get the job that he wanted, but then he messed it all up when he started advertising things to the president, which prompted him to not get hired.
1) Edgar Allan Poe was both blessed and cursed with his genius. His genius was a huge blessing to him; He is popular today because of his mysterious type of literature. This curse allowed him to make wonderful stories that are now very popular today. With being so successful he was blessed with money which of course is always a good thing. He was also cursed by his genius. Before Edgar Allan Poe was famous he went through a lot of tough times and dealt with a lot of things.... family, drinking, etc..
ReplyDelete5) Edgar Allan Poe was his own worst enemy. Most of the hardships of Edgar Allan Poe's life were his of his own making. The reasoning for this is that Poe had to deal with many issues such as, his past as an orphan (which haunted him) and a life alone which led him to alcohol abuse, madness, and self-destruction. These problems all mixed together made life much harder for Poe. Having to deal with these problems and still write stories at the same time became quit a difficult challenge, but the only person that caused these problems was Poe himself. Therefore he became his own worst enemy.
ReplyDelete