in english we are learnin about edgar Allen poe and i was just wondering why his stories were so freaky. they are really nasty.

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2004

Answers

Tiffany, I think Poe was a very troubled man during the time periods he wrote poems. Many of his poems are dark and evil and I think this was just because of the hard times he had been through as a child.

-- Anonymous, October 06, 2004

The Romantic era of American lit took on new forms. Instead of happy romance and beautifying nature, the authors looked into the human psyche. As you well know, human nature, is dark and complex. His writing, although dark and "freaky," is best known for really taking the human psyche to the next level.

Think of "Tale Tell Heart," the narrator says he loves the old man unconditionally, for the man was good to him. It was his eye that drove him mad. Not to mention he claimed to hear the heavens, a signal that the narrator of the poem is 1: is not totally sane, and 2: unnatural. He then goes to great length to watch the man sleep, a time when our eyes are closed - but he discovers the eye open. Which ultimately triggers him to murder the old man.

Here is where you realize is the importance of his writing: HE WENT INTO GREAT LENGTH AND DETAIL ABOUT MASKING THE MURDER. He wasn't ashamed, like most villians would have been written about. He boasted. To prove his nonchalance about it, he invited the police into the home, and to have tea above the spot he hid the man's body.

Not only did Poe go into great detail about his writing, he showed the other side of human nature (think of William Blake and his "Innocense and Experience" poems)... we commit evil, we can hide it, but we cannot run from it. The heart that continually beat louder and louder was his conscience.

He showed human nature at its worst (committing the murder), and at its finest (revealing the murder, more or less at least). The human psyche is dark and complex, and Poe is considered great for showing it. His prose/poems are "freaky" and sometimes "nasty" - but they were for a reason. After saying all this, consider that he was once quoted for saying "The Death of A Woman is Unquestionably the Most Poetical Topic in the World." Why? A woman when she sleeps is serene and peaceful. When she dies, she resembles slumber. Peaceful, tranquil. While the topic is unquestionably morbid, he makes a point: death itself can be beautiful, you just have to know the right place to look for it. Poe saw this, and of course, his stories took the shape of morbid, gory stories.

-- Anonymous, October 06, 2004

Hi Tiffany, if you thing about it, is works aren't nasty... they're just read from a point of view that isn't quite as used to his style. They are freaky, in a way, but truly, they must be mirrors of how he feels, and feelings aren't freaky, they have a right to exist as themselves. His works were basically made when he was in a very despondent period of his life... =Þ

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2004

He was a very disturbed from what had happened in his early life wouldnt you be if both of your parents died before you were 3y/o. His works are some of the best that i have ever read and he give life a different meaning and put it in a different perspective. To actualy understand what he means yo need to have an open mind and want to better understand life and what trubulations it can bring.

-- Anonymous, October 08, 2004

his stories were beast

-- Anonymous, December 14, 2004