1、Lecture NineEdgar Allan Poe(1809-1849)Life Experiences1809: born in Boston1826: university of Virginia1827: his first book of poetry, Tamerlane and Other Poems1830: West Point1832 : his first short story “MS. Found in a Bottle”1835: editor of The Southern Literary Messenger1836: married 1847: his wi

2、fe died1849: died in BaltimoreSome American Counterparts on Poe or his WritingsEmerson: “ the jingle man”Henry James: “an enthusiasm for Poe is the mark of decidedly primitive state of development” James Russell Lowell: “Three fifths of his genius and two fifths sheer fudge.” etcMark Twain declared

3、his prose to be unreadableT. S. Eliot: “slipshod writing”Some European Writers Comments on himShaw: “the greatest journalistic critic of his time”; his poetry is “exquisitely refined”; his tales are “complete works of art”Baudelaire: “Edgar Poe, who isnt much in America, must become a great man in F

4、rance”His Poetic TheoriesThe Philosophy of Composition; The Poetic Principle1). Opposing didactic poetry and calling for pure poetry:“ The artistry of the poem lies not so much in what is being said as in the way it says it.”2) Stressing rhythm, true poetry as “the rhythmical creation of beauty”.3)

5、The poems should be short, readable at one sitting. Poems aim to produce a feeling of beauty in the reader.4) Melancholy is the most legitimate of all the poetic tones.5)The death of a beautiful woman is the most poetical topic.The RavenOnce upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,Ov

6、er many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.Tis some visitor, I muttered, tapping at my chamber door -Only this, and nothing more.Analysis of The Raven an elegy, melancho

7、ly tone , a lamentation over the death of a beautiful woman. It is not long, 108 lines, readable at one sitting. The poem is composed of 18 six-line stanzas, the first five lines being trochaic octameter(八音步揚(yáng)抑格), and the sixth line a trochaic tetrameter (四音步揚(yáng)抑格). The rhyming scheme of the poem is ab

8、cbbbThe repetition of “nevermore”, suggest mourning and grief. His poetryAn obsession with death (“The City in the Sea”)A dreamy color (“A Dream Within Dream”)A desire for the poetic imagination (“SonnetTo Science”) “To Helen” , “Annabel Lee”, etcAnnabel LeeIt was many and many a year ago, In a king

9、dom by the sea,That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee; And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me.She was a child and I was a child, In this kingdom by the sea,But we loved with a love that was more than love I and my Annabel LeeWi

10、th a love that the winged seraphs of Heaven Coveted her and me And this was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea,A wind blew out of a cloud by night Chilling my Annabel Lee;So that her highborn kinsmen came And bore her away from me,To shut her up in a sepulcher In this kingdom by t

11、he seaPoes Theories for the Short StoriesReviews of Hawthornes Twice-Told TalesTotality: “ in almost all classes of composition, the unity of effect or impression is a point of the greatest importance”.The first sentence should bring out the single effect of the story. It should end with the last se

12、ntence, leaving a sense of finality with the reader. During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself,

13、as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. _The Fall of the House of UsherBrevity:It must be brief, readable at one sitting, in order to ensure the totality of impression. “this unity cannot be thoroughly preserved in productions whose perusal cannot be compl

14、eted at one sitting.”Compression: “ there should be no word written, of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is not to the one pre-established design” ; No word should be wasted. It must reveal some logical truthHis Fiction three collections of short stories: Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque;

15、 The Murders in the Rue Morgue; TalesNovel: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon PymPoes Short Storiesstories of horror :Features: An investigation on the unconscious and subconscious mental activity of the people.The theme of the disintegration and annihilation of the selfNeurotics as the protagonistsGot

16、hic atmosphere“The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “Ligeia”, “The Masque of the Red Death”, etc.“I”, Roderick Usher and Madeline UsherThe disintegration and annihilation of a human mindstories of deduction and induction (detective stories): “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”; “The Purloined Letter”, “The Gold Bug”, “The Mystery of Marie Roger”. Poes literary importance and