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Edgar Allan Poe 1. 2. 3. 4.

Who he is Gothic, the genre he pioneered Who influenced him Whom he influenced

Edgar Allan Poe 1809 – 1849 ● American author, poet, editor, and literary critic ● Romantic Movement ● Known for mystery and macabre tales ● Also helped to develop detective fiction and science fiction ● Famous cryptologist (encryption)

Interesting facts about Poe ● served at the illustrious West Point and was court marshalled ● married his cousin, Virginia (age 13) ● struggled with a gambling addiction, alcoholism and depression ● was impoverished most of his life ● died very mysteriously

Gothic: The Elements Themes of death, decadence and decay

Gothic Often includes the supernatural

Gothic Heroes, villains and virgins

Gothic Omens and doom

Gothic Desolate landscapes and ancient ruins

Gothic Dark side of human nature 7 deadly sins

Lust Gluttony Greed Sloth Wrath Envy Pride

Poe’s Predecessors Horace Walpole, the Castle of Otranto, 1764 (First Gothic novel) Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, 1818

Poetic Influences Coleridge, The rime of the ancient mariner, 1798 Keats, La Belle Dame sans merci, 1819

Poe’s Contemporaries: Gothic novel Emily Bronte, Wuthering heights, 1847 Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, 1847 Charles Dickens, Bleak House, 1853

Who Poe influenced: Sci-fi and the Mystery novel Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, 1870 H.G Wells, The War of the Worlds, 1898 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes: The hounds of the Baskervilles, 1902

Other Gothic literature Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 1886 Bram Stoker, Dracula, 1897

Descendents of Poe H.P. Lovecraft 1890-1937 Stephen King 1947-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A83fY64yQkw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqSIRsmu7DE

Romanticism 1750-1850 ●

Partly a reaction to the French Revolution/Enlightenment

+ For what inspired it

- Against what came out of it

● Against aristocratic social and political norms (old regime) ● Rejection of Enlightenment values in literature ● Associated with liberalism/radicalism (anti-establishment)

Romanticism ● Also a reaction to the Industrial Revolution Destruction of environment and traditional society ● Against scientific rationalization

Romantic response

Retreat into nature for solace and inspiration

Retreat into the past before the enlightenment (medievalism)

Traits of Romantic works ❏ Strong emotions: apprehension, horror and terror, and awe ❏ Writer often subjective and personal ❏ Sublime nature ❏ Spontaneity in life and love ❏ Medievalism (the period before the enlightenment) ❏ Embraces the exotic, unfamiliar and distant ❏ Power of the imagination to envision ❏ Escape the world (escapism/ fantasy) ❏ Heroism ❏ Elevates individual/ transcendental ❏ Freedom from neo-classical (enlightenment) notions of art Does Poe fit all of these criteria?