Edgar Allen Poe

• The father of the detective story and led to the creation of Sherlock Holmes

  Edgar Allen Poe
• Things about Edgar Allen Poe

  • He was a poet
  • Believed poems were the higher form of writing because it satisfied the soul
  • He never called himself Edgar Allen Poe
  • He only wrote 47 poems
  • He wrote 68 stories
  • The last story he was working on before he died was called "The Lighthouse"
  • He wrote short stories to make money
  • He was one the most known literary critics & editors in his time
• The 3 most common stories in Poe's time were


  1. Humourous Tales
  2. Travel Literature
  3. Goth Tale of Terror
• The magazine that Poe had worked for

  "Burton's Gentleman magazine" Which became "Graham's Magazine"
• Poe became the sole owner of the journal

  "The Broadway Journal"
• Poe's first job as a critic was for

  The Southern Literacy Messenger
• Poe's nemesis was Rufus W. Griswald
• After Poe's Death, Griswald became Poe Literary Beneficiary.
• As the editor of Poe's works, Griswald was an angel to them; however, as Poe's biographer, he was a demon.
• Arthur Hobson Quinn wrote the best biography we have of Poe's life.
• Poe's Theory of Literature

  • Poetry is the highest form
  • An open equals a glimpse of heaven
  • Beauty doesn't make us happy, but sad
  • Melancholy: Sweet sorrow
  • No beauty lasts forever
  • Poems tease us about a perfect world
• A Sonnet is a 14-lined passage in which

  the speaker is speaking to someone or something.
• Sonnet To Science

  • Science is the daughter of Old Father Time
  • Time brings change and so does science
  • How can poets love science when science limits the imagination of the poets?
  • Science kills the imagination
  • "The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree"
  • A nice fragrance
  • Science ruins his dream
  • Poets would love to bask in mystery
  • Hamadryad: Spirits that live in trees
• Israfel

  • Israfel is the artist's archangel
  • Nadir: The low point of life
  • Zenith: The highest point of life
  • Israfel would put on the best shows
  • Stars would "sing" and when Israfel played the stars would shut up to listen to him
  • The speaker in the poem is frustrated with Israfel
  • Living on Earth sucks compared to what Israfel has in Heaven
• Israfel(is the artist's archangel)

  • Nadir: The low point of life
  • Zenith: The highest point of life
  • Stars would "sing" and when Israfel played the stars would shut up to listen to him
  • The speaker in the poem is frustrated with Israfel
  • Living on Earth sucks compared to what Israfel has in Heaven
  • "Yes, Heaven is thine; but this/Is a world of sweets and sours;/Our flowers are merely—flowers, /And the shadow of thy perfect bliss/Is the sunshine of ours."
  • The tiniest thing in heaven is Earth's everything
  • The speaker believes they could do better if they and Israfel changed places.