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THIS IS AMERICA -October 28, 2002: Halloween and Edgar Allan Poe
By Carolyn Weaver
VOICE ONE:
October Thirty-First is Halloween. It is an unofficial holiday that celebrates the
frightening and strange. We celebrate with a report about a nineteenth-century
American writer. His stories were some of the most frightening and strange ever
written. I'm Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Doug Johnson. The writer Edgar Allan Poe is our report today on the VOA
Special English program THIS IS AMERICA.
((SCARY MUSIC))
VOICE ONE:
Halloween is mostly a holiday for children, who like to be frightened. Yet many
grown people observe Halloween, too. Those who love the writings of Edgar Allan
Poe think Halloween is the best time of year to celebrate them. Poe is most famous
for his stories and poems of strangeness, mystery, and terror.
He wrote about people buried while still alive. About insanity and death. About
dreams that become real ... or reality that seems like a dream.
VOICE TWO:
Edgar Allan Poe died in the city of Baltimore in Eighteen-Forty-Nine. Now, in that city, an unusual party takes
place every Halloween.
In the dark of night, visitors go to the church ground where Poe is buried. Everything is quiet. Then a voice calls
out. It is Poe! (pause) No, it is just an actor, reading Poe's work.
((Scary MUSIC BRIDGE)
)
VOICE ONE:
Reading stories was one of the most important forms of enjoyment in Edgar Allan Poe's time. Poe created many
of these "short" stories. They appeared in different publications.
Horror stories already were popular when Poe began writing. Critics say he wrote the perfect horror story.
Poe also wrote detective stories. These were mysteries about crimes, such as murder. The mysteries are solved by
an investigator called a detective. He or she is able to find important, hidden meanings in facts.
The horror and detective stories Poe created remain extremely popular in books and movies.
VOICE TWO:
Edgar Allan Poe's work is not easy to read. His language is difficult to understand today. And most of his writing
describes very unpleasant situations and events.
His story "The Pit and the Pendulum," for example, is about the mental torture of a prisoner. Each time the
prisoner saves himself from death, a new and more horrible form of death threatens him.
Another story is "The Masque of the Red Death." In it, a terrible disease -- the Red Death -- has killed half the
population of a country.
The ruler of the country shuts his castle against the disease. He and his wealthy friends are inside. They pass the
time by having parties. They believe the Red Death will not find them. But it does.
((MUSIC))
VOICE ONE:
Edgar Poe was born in Eighteen-Oh-Nine. His parents were actors. At that time, actors were not accepted by the
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 the home of a wealthy businessman, John Allan. He then received his new name -- Edgar Allan
Poe.
John Allan never officially made Edgar his son. In fact, he came to dislike him strongly.
As a young man, Edgar attended the University of Virginia. He was a good student. But he liked to drink alcohol
and play card games for money. Edgar was not a good player. He lost money he did not have. John Allan refused
to pay Edgar's gambling losses. So, Edgar left the university. He began working as a writer and editor for
monthly magazines.
VOICE TWO:
Edgar Allan Poe worked hard. He became a successful editor. Yet he was not well-paid or well-known. His life
was difficult. He was poor, and he was troubled by sicknesses of the body and mind.
Poe suffered from depression. He feared he was insane. He drank alcohol to escape his fears. The alcohol had a
very bad effect on him.
VOICE ONE:
At the age of twenty-seven, he married Virginia Clemm. She was the daughter of his father's sister. She was only
thirteen years old. For a time, it seemed that Poe would find some happiness. But his wife was sick for most of
their marriage. She died in Eighteen-Forty-Seven. Poe died two years later, at the age of forty. He was found
dead in Baltimore after days of heavy drinking.
((MUSIC))
VOICE TWO:
Through all his crises, Edgar Allan Poe produced many stories, poems, and works of criticism. Some of his
stories won prizes. Yet he did not become famous until Eighteen-Forty-Five. That was when his poem "The
Raven" was published.
There is no question that Poe suffered from emotional problems in his life. One critic said Poe's spirit was torn.
He said Poe's stories were often about his own divided nature. Each person in the story showed a different side of
the writer.
There is a question, however, about Poe's importance. Some critics say he was one of America's best writers.
Others disagree.
VOICE ONE:
Critic Vincent Buranelli says Poe discovered a new artistic universe. It is a universe of dreams. It is a place where
the line between reality and unreality is extremely thin.
Even those who praise Poe agree that there are many difficulties in his work. These difficulties place Poe's
writing outside the main body of American literature. Most American writing is realistic. Poe's interests and way
of writing were not realistic at all.
Poe's work has been praised most in France. He had a great influence on many French writers, including the poets
Charles-Pierre Baudelaire and Stephane Mallarme.
VOICE TWO:
Poe's best-known poem is "The Raven." Some people love it. They say it is like music. Others hate it. They say it
sounds forced and unnatural -- 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 is gone. He sits alone among his books late at night. He hears a noise at the window. Here is the
beginning of the poem:
ANNOUNCER:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered,
weak and weary
Over many a quaint and curious volume of for-
gotten lore -
-
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there
came a tapping,
As of someone 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.
ANNOUNCER:
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 and hopelessness. The raven can speak just one word: 'nevermore' -- meaning 'never again'. We know the
raven will never leave the man's room.
ANNOUNCER:
But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust,
spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he
did outpour.
Nothing farther than he uttered -- not a feather
then he fluttered -
-
Till I scarcely more than muttered, "Other friends
have flown before
-
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes
have flown before.
"
Then the bird said, "Nevermore.
"
VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Carolyn Weaver. It was produced by Lawan Davis. Our poetry reader was Shep
O'Neal. I'm Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Doug Johnson. Join us again next week for another report about life in the United States on the VOA
Special English program THIS IS AMERICA.
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