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VOICE ONE:
I’m Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Faith Lapidus with PEOPLE IN AMERICA from VOA SpecialEnglish. Today, we tell about Edgar Allan Poe, a nineteenth-centuryAmerican writer. His stories and poems were some of the mostfrightening and strange ever written.
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VOICE ONE:
Americans celebrate Halloween on October thirty-first. It ismostly a holiday for children, who like to be frightened. Yet manygrown people observe Halloween, too. Those who love the writings ofEdgar Allan Poe think Halloween is the best time of year tocelebrate them. Poe is most famous for his stories and poems ofstrangeness, mystery and terror.
He wrote about people buried while still alive. About insanityand death. About dreams that become real…or reality that seemslike a dream.
VOICE TWO:
Edgar Allan Poe died in the city of Baltimore, Maryland ineighteen-forty-nine. Now, in that city, an unusual party takes placeevery Halloween. In the dark of night, visitors go to the grounds ofWestminster Presbyterian Church where Poe is buried. Everything isquiet. Then a voice calls out. It is Poe! (pause) No, it is just anactor, reading Poe’s work.
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VOICE ONE:
Reading stories was one of the most important forms of enjoymentin Edgar Allan Poe’s time. Poe created many of these “shortstories.” They appeared in different publications.
Horror stories already were popular when Poe began writing.Critics say he wrote the perfect horror story. Poe also wrotedetective stories. These were mysteries about crimes, such asmurder. An investigator called a detective solves the mysteries. Thedetective is able to find important, hidden meanings in facts. Thehorror and detective stories Poe created remain popular in books andmovies.
VOICE TWO:
Edgar Allan Poe’s work is not easy to read. His language isdifficult to understand today. And most of his writing describesvery unpleasant situations and events. His story “The Pit and thePendulum,” for example, is about the mental torture of a prisoner.Each time the prisoner saves himself from death, a new and morehorrible form of death threatens him.
Another story is “The Masque of the Red Death.” In it, a terribledisease — the Red Death — has killed half the population of acountry. The ruler of the country shuts his castle against thedisease. He and his wealthy friends are inside. They pass the timeby having parties. They believe the Red Death will not find them.But it does.
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VOICE ONE:
Edgar Poe was born in eighteen-oh-nine in Boston, Massachusetts.His parents were actors. At that time, actors were not accepted bythe best society. Edgar was a baby when his father left the family.He was two years old when his mother died. He was taken into thehome of a wealthy businessman, John Allan. He then received his newname — Edgar Allan Poe. John Allan never officially made Edgar hisson. In fact, he came to dislike him strongly.
Edgar attended schools in England and in Richmond, Virginia. As ayoung man, he attended the University of Virginia inCharlottesville. He was a good student. He was a member of theJefferson Literary Society. But he liked to drink alcohol and playcard games for money. Edgar was not a good player. He lost money hedid not have.
John Allan refused to pay Edgar’s gambling losses. He alsorefused to let Edgar continue at the university. So, Edgar went toBoston and began working as a writer and editor for monthlymagazines. He also served in the army for two years.
VOICE TWO:
Edgar Allan Poe worked hard. He became a successful editor. Hepublished three books of poetry. He also began writing stories. Fiveof his stories were printed in a publication in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania in eighteen-thirty-two. Yet he was not well-paid. Hislife was difficult. He was poor, and he was troubled by sicknessesof the body and mind. Poe suffered from depression. He feared he wasinsane. He drank alcohol to escape his fears. The alcohol had a verybad effect on him.
VOICE ONE:
In eighteen-thirty-five, Poe began editing the Southern LiteraryMessenger in Richmond, Virginia. The following year, at the age oftwenty-seven, he married Virginia Clemm. She was the daughter of hisfather’s sister. She was only thirteen years old.
Poe and his wife moved often as he found work at magazines andnewspapers in Philadelphia and New York.
For a time, it seemed that Poe would find some happiness. But hiswife was sick for most of their marriage. She died ineighteen-forty-seven. After his wife’s death, Poe’s problems withalcohol increased. He died two years later, at the age of forty. Hewas found dead in Baltimore after days of heavy drinking.
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VOICE TWO:
Through all his crises, Edgar Allan Poe produced many stories,poems, and works of criticism. Some of his stories won prizes. Yethe did not become famous until eighteen-forty-five. That was whenhis poem “The Raven” was published.
There is no question that Poe suffered from emotional problems.One critic said Poe’s spirit was torn. He said Poe’s stories wereoften about his own divided nature. Each person in his storiesshowed a different side of the writer. There is a question, however,about Poe’s importance. Some critics said he was one of America’sbest writers. Others disagreed.
VOICE ONE:
One critic said Poe discovered a new artistic universe — auniverse of dreams. It was a place where the line between realityand unreality is extremely thin.
Even those who praised Poe agreed that there are manydifficulties in his work. These difficulties place Poe’s writingoutside the main body of American literature. Most American writingis realistic. Poe’s interests and way of writing were not realisticat all.
Poe’s work has been praised most in France. He had a greatinfluence on many French writers.
VOICE TWO:
Poe’s best-known poem is “The Raven.” Some people love it. Theysay it is like music. Others hate it. They say it sounds forced andunnatural — like bad music.
“The Raven” is about a man whose great love, Lenore, has died.She is gone forever. But the man cannot accept that all happiness isgone. He sits alone among his books late at night. He hears a noiseat the window. Here is the beginning of the poem:
READER:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over 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.”
VOICE TWO: The man looks out the window and sees only blackness.
READER:
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering,fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore!”
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”
Merely this and nothing more.
VOICE TWO:
But there is something at the window. It is a large black bird –a raven. It comes into the room like the spirit of death andhopelessness. It sits on a small statue above the door. The ravencan speak just one word: “nevermore” — meaning “never again”.
READER:
But the Raven, sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered; not a feather then he fluttered–
Till I scarcely more than muttered, “Other friends have flownbefore –
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.”
Then the bird said, “Nevermore.”
VOICE TWO:
The man becomes frightened. He does not know if the raven is justa bird or an evil spirit. We know the raven will never leave theman’s room.
READER:
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting — still issitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a Demon that is dreaming,
And the lamplight o’er him streaming throws his shadow on thefloor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted – nevermore!
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VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced byLawan Davis. Our studio engineer was Sulaiman Tarawaley. Our poetryreader was Richard Rael. I’m Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for People inAmerica from VOA Special English.