LITR 4232:
American Renaissance
Student Presentation Summary
Tuesday,
11 March 2003: Edgar Allan Poe.
Introduction, 2387-89. “Sonnet—To
Science” 2457; “Romance” 2458; “The City in the Sea” 2461-2;
“Annabel Lee” 2473-4.
Reader: Jody Danielle Newmann
Discussion notes:
Sara Sills
Intro: Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on July 19,1809.
He was adopted by two wealthy Virginian merchants, John and Frances Allan.
Poe was a free spirited young man, who acquired gambling debts, enlisted
and unenlisted in the army, and was dismissed from West Point for disobeying
orders. During this stage in his
life Poe wrote poetry and became a shrewd literary critic and editor for
different magazines. Poe gained wide acclaim with the publication of “The
Raven” but his drinking put a damper on his immediate fame.
Objective 2: To analyze the styles of the gothic and sublime in Poe’s
poetry.
"Sonnet: To Science" (pg. 2457) – The gothic
elements within the poem are illustrated in the phrase “why preyest thou upon
the poet’s heart” where Poe equates science with a vulture.
I agree with Sheri O’ Rourke in her 2002 presentation when she said,
“Poe sets before us a problem of a man of imagination struggling with his
intellect” and that Poe sees science as a “vicious bird which man must
escape or confront.” The idea of
the beauty of nature “jewelled skies” and the goddess Diana verses the
vulture, a bird known for eating dead flesh creates a gothic theme within the
poem of nature and life, mixed with a vulture, which is the natural predator of
life.
"Romance"
(pg. 2458) – This is a poem, which celebrates creative outlets such as poetry
and the observation of nature, while condemning the time wasted in doing so. Poe is saying that as a child he enjoyed nature “while in
the wild wood I did lie, a child with a most knowing eye” but as he reaches
adulthood has “ no time fore idle cares.”
Question 1: Does Poe feel that the societal expectations placed on the
male of the household cramp his ability to enjoy nature and puts stress on his
ability to write freely and creatively?
Question 2: Is this pressure placed on males in society to support the
family similar to the oppression women of that time faced by not being able to
pursue intellectual outlets? Are
men being oppressed creatively for fear that they will not be able to support a
family?
"The City by the Sea" (pg. 2461- 2462) – Gothic themes: “eternal rest” (death), “strange city”, “lurid sea”
Sublime themes: “many and many a marvellous shrine”, “Babylon-like walls”, “pinnacles far and free”
Sublime and Gothic theme: “ Death looks gigantically down”
These
words give the reader a gothic and sublime sense of impending doom and the
larger than life features of the city.
Annabel
Lee (pg. 2473- 2474) – The poem creates a bridge between life and the after
life by saying, “ neither angels in heaven nor demons under the sea, can ever
dissever my soul from the soul of the beautiful ANNABEL LEE.”
This idea of Annabel living through nature in “moon beams” and into
his dreams, resembles the sublime theme in The Last of The Mohicans of
Cora and Uncas living on after death, overcoming in the after life.
Discussion
I commented on the gothic themes in "Sonnet to Science" and "Romance." I spoke on how Poe feels at ease with nature and time spent in nature as a youth but with age he realizes that he has "no time for idle cares."
Question 1: Does Poe feel that the societal expectations placed on the male of the household cramp his ability to enjoy nature and put stress on his ability to write freely and creatively?
Jennifer Davis: " Poe already had much stress in his life, with his wife being ill. That probably hindered him from much creative thinking."
Sara Sills: "I agree with Jennifer. There are many issues, not only in his life but ours that hinder us from writing."
Question 2: Is this pressure placed on males in society to support the family similar to the oppression women of that time faced by not being able to pursue intellectual outlets? Are men being oppressed creatively for fear that they will not be able to support a family?
Deterrean Gamble: "It is a question of class. Poe struggled, so he may have felt constrained, but he did not let it overwhelm him."
Simone Rieck : "We still have those questions today. we debate whether boys can cry or play with dolls. Men who write poetry aren't supposed to do what society says."
White: "In that same way, people place homosexuality with the arts and even poetry, even though it is found everywhere. There is just more freedom to talk about it in literature."
Jennifer Davis: " Poe was a gambling man, so he would naturally continue to pursue writing."
Most of the students seemed to respect Poe as an author, realizing that with the obstacles in his life he was a determined writer. The class seemed to agree on that.