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Even at 200, Poe endures in pop culture (Bicentennial today)
Yahoo - AP ^
| 01/19/09
| BEN NUCKOLS
Posted on 01/19/2009 8:27:17 AM PST by Borges
"Lisa, that wasn't scary, even for a poem!" Bart Simpson complains after his sister reads Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" in a classic Halloween episode.
"Well, it was written in 1845!" Lisa says. "Maybe people were easier to scare back then!"
Jaded cartoon kids aside, Poe still does scare people — even 200 years after his birth. His tales of gothic horror and grisly murder retain their grip on the imagination. His sad, short life and mysterious death feed his legend.
Even the daguerreotypes of a pallid, death-haunted Poe burnish his image as a master of the macabre, a man who endured more than his share of misery and squalor and whose suffering fueled a body of work that reverberates throughout popular culture to this day.
Poe endures in part because he had more in common with today's artists and entertainers than he did with his contemporaries, said Paul Lewis, an English professor at Boston College.
"He is a foundational figure in the development of popular culture," Lewis said. "He wanted readers to take away an immediate feeling, a deep response when they read a story or poem. That sense of art for art's sake becomes central to popular culture, which is trying to provide people with a very visceral experience, a very powerful effect."
Whether readers are introduced to Poe through English classes, comic books or filmed performances by the late actor Vincent Price (who did dramatic readings of Poe's work and starred in "House of Usher," "The Raven," and other movies), they tend never to forget him, and they find that his work offers more than cheap thrills.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
TOPICS: Books/Literature
KEYWORDS: eapoe; edgarallanpoe; edgarallenpoe; godsgravesglyphs; poe
1
posted on
01/19/2009 8:27:17 AM PST
by
Borges
To: Borges
Quoth the Baltimore Ravens, “Nevermore.”
2
posted on
01/19/2009 8:30:36 AM PST
by
14erClimb
To: Anoreth
3
posted on
01/19/2009 8:32:08 AM PST
by
Tax-chick
(To oppose the god of this world by lifting up Christ.)
To: Borges
"Lisa, that wasn't scary, even for a poem!" Bart Simpson complains after his sister reads Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" in a classic Halloween episode. Quoth the Raven: "Eat my shorts!"
4
posted on
01/19/2009 8:33:34 AM PST
by
KarlInOhio
(On 9/11 Israel mourned with us while the Palestinians danced in the streets. Who should we support?)
To: 14erClimb
Yeah dat. GO STILLERS!
To: Borges
Catch Glenn Beck’s rendition of “Tell Tale Heart” on Halloween. It’s great!
6
posted on
01/19/2009 9:01:29 AM PST
by
Domandred
(Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.)
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The Poe Toaster E.A. Poe Society of BaltimoreSince 1949, on the night of the anniversary of Poe's birth, a mysterious stranger has entered this cemetery and left as tribute a partial bottle of cognac and three roses on Poe's grave. The identity of the stranger, referred to affectionately as the Poe Toaster, is unknown. The significance of cognac is uncertain as it does not feature in Poe's works as would, for example, amontillado. The presumption for the three roses is that it represents the three persons whose remains are beneath the monument: Poe, his mother-in-law (Maria Clemm) and his...
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Only four mourners attended his funeral in Baltimore, along with an Episcopal minister, the gravedigger and the sexton. The minister, a distant relation of the deceased, decided not to deliver a sermon to such a small gathering. The grave itself sat unmarked for 25 years. As if fate itself conspired to accentuate the void in the death of Edgar Allan Poe, 15 years after the burial, a train derailed into a quarry and destroyed the stone that was finally being constructed for the grave. The tablet read Hic Tandem Felicis Conduntur, "Here At Last He Is Happy". Edgar Poe (the...
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In his short story The Black Cat, the Gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe writes about a killer who conceals his victim behind a wall and is found out when the cat he accidentally hid with the body starts howling. Assistant State Attorney Brian Cavanagh referenced the gruesome tale as he laid out the evidence against Charles Gregory Moninger, accused of killing his housemate four years ago and stuffing her corpse in a closet.
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BY JOHN J. MILLER On a snowy night toward the end of his life, Edgar Allan Poe delivered a lecture on the origins of the universe. It was an unusual topic -- Poe was always more interested in death than birth -- and the reviews were mixed. Frustrated by the response, Poe announced that 2,000 years would pass before his work was properly admired. His remarks were soon published as "Eureka: A Prose Poem." The book sold a few hundred copies and then slipped into obscurity, forgotten except for the fact that its author went on to become a giant...
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As the bicentenary of Edgar Allan Poe is celebrated, fans should be thanking him for his invention of the modern detective genre, writes crime fiction author Andrew Taylor. Bestseller lists and library lending figures tell the same story - crime and detective stories are more popular than ever, and their success has spilled over into film and TV drama. It's remarkable how many of the genre's classic elements can be traced back to the feverishly fertile imagination of one man, Edgar Allan Poe. Once you start looking, the clues are everywhere. Born 200 years ago, on 19 January 1809, Poe...
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Edgar Allan Poe was plagued by addictions, and his life was cut too short. The mysteries of his life were as complex as those conveyed in his stories and poetry. Today is the 200th anniversary of his birthday.
7
posted on
01/19/2009 3:16:51 PM PST
by
SunkenCiv
(https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/____________________ Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
8
posted on
01/19/2009 3:21:22 PM PST
by
SunkenCiv
(https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/____________________ Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
To: martin_fierro
Yes, it was my understanding that the Baltimore Ravens’ name is inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. I think the stadium club ought to serve up amontillado for the high dollar customers. The stadium itself is a pit, and maybe they could have a pendulum swinging at one end (maybe like an amusement park ride).
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