Tuesday, 7 March: Edgar Allan Poe.  Introduction.  “Sonnet—To Science”; “Romance”; “The City in the Sea”; “Annabel Lee.”

Reader: Cana Hauerland

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

Manuscript of Poe’s “The Bells” 

Objective 1: To analyze “Sonnet-To Science!” and “Romance”, and discuss the romantic, gothic, and sublime aspects.

Question: What is "Romantic" about these poems?

“Sonnet-To Science”  (Page 2529)

Science!  true daughter of Old Time thou art!

            Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.

Why preyest thou thus upon the poet’s heart,

            Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?

How should he love thee?  or how deem thee wise,

            Who wouldst not leave him in his wondering

To seek for treasure in the jeweled skies,

            Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing?

Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car?

            And driven the Hamadryad from the wood

To seek shelter in some happier star?

            Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood,

The Elfin from the green grass, and from me

The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?

“Romance” (2530)

Romance, who loves to nod and sing,

With drowsy head and folded wing,

Among the green leaves as they shake

Far down within some shadowy lake,

To me a painted paroquet

Hath been-a most familiar bird-

Taught me my alphabet to say-

To lisp my very earliest word

While in the wild wood I did lie,

A child-with a most knowing eye.

Of late, eternal Condor years

So shake the very Heaven on high

With tumult as they thunder by,

I have no time for idle cares

Through gazing on the unquiet sky.

And when an hour with calmer wings

Its down upon my spirit flings-

That little time with lyre and rhyme

To while away-forbidden things!

My heart would feel to be a crime

Unless it trembled with the strings.

Question: What is "Romantic" about these poems?

Objective 2: To discuss the Poe’s personality and individuality.

Quotes About Poe:

“Poe gave no indication of the genius he was.  His English literature was extensive and accurate, his verbal memory wonderful.  He repeated both prose and poetry by the hour, seldom or never repeating the same passage twice to an audience. My recollection and impression of him is wholly influenced by his afterlife” (Gibson, 1867).

“Although I was only a slip of a girl and he what seemed to me then quite an old man, and a great literary one at that, we got on together beautifully.  He was one of the most courteous gentlemen I ever have seen, and that gave a great charm to his manner.  None of his pictures that I have ever seen look like the picture of Poe I keep in my memory” (Ingram, 1905)

“There were no indications of dissipation apparent when we saw Poe in Virginia at that time.  I think he had not been drinking for a long time.  If I had not heard or read what was said about his intemperance I should never have had any idea of it from what I saw in Poe.  To me he seemed a good man, as well as a charming one, very sensitive and very high-minded” (Ingram 1905)

“Poe uses traditional gothic elements in his writings for example, words and phrases such as,  “eternal rest”, “time eaten towers”, and “earthly moans”, while also using sublime elements such as, “hideously serene”. Typically the traditional European and American Gothic writers provide their readers with a castle or forest setting. But in “City in the Sea” Poe chooses to use a more mysterious reflective setting, which opens our imaginations to a more mystical romanticism” (Baker 2004).

What are some of Poe’s interesting attributes?