Edgar Allen Poe

1
Edgar Allen Poe

• Genius or Madness?

2
Poe

• Known as the father of the modern detective
  story. Poes detective story Murder in the Rue
  Morgue is the model for the Sherlock Holmes
  tales that would later follow.
• Poe called his detective stories ratiocinative
  tales.

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Ratiocinative Tale Formula

• Perplex the reader
• Make the reader want elucidation
• Have a brilliant detective and a foil (a dumb
  sidekick)
• An ending where the detective explains
  step-by-step how he got the clues and solved the
  mystery.

4
The 4 components in constructing a tale

• Decide on a single effect
• First sentence states the effect
• Every word, detail, or incident supports the
  single effect
• The tale is not too long or too short

5
Facts about Poe

• He got his middle name from John Allan (his
  foster father).
• Poes logical mind caused him to be a good critic
  and writer.
• Poe married Virginia Clemm, his 1st cousin.

• Virginia died of TB.
• Poe wrote the poem To Helen for his best
  friends mom, whom he was in love with. She died
  of a brain tumor.

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Poes Fears

• Death
• Being buried alive

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Selections well study

• The Masque of the Red Death
• To Helen/Alone/The Raven (more poetry)
• The Pit and the Pendulum
• Murders in the Rue Morgue
• The Cask of Amontillado

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Definitions

• Gothic dark irrational side of the imagination
• Arabesque mental suffering
• Grotesque physical suffering