Background on Poe
Edgar Allan Poe is a very dark writer. He has written many well known stories or poems like The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Fall of the House of Usher. Even though Poe is well known, many people do not know Poe’s past. Poe's past was very dark, like his texts. He did not have a very good life.
Poe’s parents were actors who traveled around. Poe’s parents both died when he was very young, so Poe was taken away from all of his siblings to live with a new family. His new father John Allan tried to make Poe become successful in business, just like him. That did not work out because Poe really just wanted to become a writer. As a little kid, Poe wrote a lot of good poems, but Allan did not want to support his writing. Poe wanted to go into writing in college so Allan begrudgingly sent him away to college, but did not really help him out with the costs.
Poe got engaged to Elmira Royster, but while he was away at college, she got engaged to someone else. Poe became very upset about Allan not giving him enough money and Elmira, so he left the house and decided to become a successful poet. While he was gone he published his first book. His mother became very ill with tuberculosis while he was gone. When Poe came home to see his dying mother, it was too late. She had died. Poe then wrote another book.
Then Allan helped Poe go to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Poe was kicked out of that school, but before he got kicked out he was able to write another book. Poe went back to his original house, but he was very poor and got robbed, so Poe had to move in with his aunt. This is where Poe met his aunt's daughter, Virginia, who he started to become attracted to. Allan eventually died, but left Poe nothing. Throughout this whole time, Poe was very poor. He was living in poverty. Eventually one of his stories won a contest that helped him get more of his stories published and helped him become an editor at the Southern Literary Messenger. Poe eventually married Virginia, but she got tuberculosus like much of Poe’s family and died.
Poe’s parents were actors who traveled around. Poe’s parents both died when he was very young, so Poe was taken away from all of his siblings to live with a new family. His new father John Allan tried to make Poe become successful in business, just like him. That did not work out because Poe really just wanted to become a writer. As a little kid, Poe wrote a lot of good poems, but Allan did not want to support his writing. Poe wanted to go into writing in college so Allan begrudgingly sent him away to college, but did not really help him out with the costs.
Poe got engaged to Elmira Royster, but while he was away at college, she got engaged to someone else. Poe became very upset about Allan not giving him enough money and Elmira, so he left the house and decided to become a successful poet. While he was gone he published his first book. His mother became very ill with tuberculosis while he was gone. When Poe came home to see his dying mother, it was too late. She had died. Poe then wrote another book.
Then Allan helped Poe go to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Poe was kicked out of that school, but before he got kicked out he was able to write another book. Poe went back to his original house, but he was very poor and got robbed, so Poe had to move in with his aunt. This is where Poe met his aunt's daughter, Virginia, who he started to become attracted to. Allan eventually died, but left Poe nothing. Throughout this whole time, Poe was very poor. He was living in poverty. Eventually one of his stories won a contest that helped him get more of his stories published and helped him become an editor at the Southern Literary Messenger. Poe eventually married Virginia, but she got tuberculosus like much of Poe’s family and died.
Influences for His Works
Poe dealt with a lot of death in his life which is probably a reason why he wrote such dark stories. He was also in poverty for most of his life so that probably led to some of the ideas in his stories.
At this time in history there were a few battles like the Battle of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto. President William Henry Harrison dies while in office. While Poe was around there was not only death in his family, but there was a lot of death from wars and other things throughout the time period he was alive in. All of these things combined must have contributed to how dark his poems are.
At this time in history there were a few battles like the Battle of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto. President William Henry Harrison dies while in office. While Poe was around there was not only death in his family, but there was a lot of death from wars and other things throughout the time period he was alive in. All of these things combined must have contributed to how dark his poems are.
Summary of The Tell-Tale Heart The Tell-Tale Heart is about a crazy man who claims that he is sane. He shares with us this story from his past about him and an old man. The narrator claims that he loved the man, but he could not stand one of his eyes. One of his eyes was blue and cloudy. The eye pretty much haunted the narrator so much that he decided to kill the old man so that he would not have to look at it again. Every night the narrator would go to the old man's room and slowly crack open the door inch by inch until he could stick his head into the room so he could look at the man. Then he would try to shine the light of the lantern on the old man’s eye. One of the nights the narrator accidentally woke up the old man who was very frightened. The narrator stood in the room that night for a really long time with the lantern shining on the open eye. Throughout this whole time the narrator was hearing a dull heartbeat. It made him so angry so he swiftly grabbed him and dragged him to the floor. He pulled the bed over him and killed him. He then dismembered the body carefully in a tub and put the body under the tiles. He then put everything back in place in the room and made it look like nothing happened. Three police officers knocked on his door and asked to come look around because they got a report of a shriek in the middle of the night from the old man. The narrator let them in and they looked around. The narrator then invited them to stay and rest. While they were resting the narrator kept hearing the heart. It was driving him insane. It kept getting louder and louder. Finally he just exploded and admitted to his guilt. He told the policemen that the body was under the floors.
How it relates to Dark RomanticismThe text relates to romanticism in many ways. Dark Romanticism was about terror, horror and much more. This poem has a lot of horror in it. The narrator kills the old man. Also, the whole story is described kind of eerily. It also relates to Dark Romanticism because in Dark Romanticism there is evil everywhere and in everyone, and evil can lead to your own self destruction. The narrator obviously had a little bit of evil in him and it led to him killing a man. It also led to him going crazy. That was his self destruction. The text also relates to Dark Romanticism because in Dark Romanticism there is evil lurking everywhere. There is evil in the shadows and in the dark. The narrator represents this evil when he goes into the old man’s room every night. He is the evil lurking in the shadows. The old man could also represent this evil because you only see him when he is in the darkness. Another reason the text relates to Dark Romanticism is because in this there is psychological guilt for the sins you commit. In the story the narrator is feeling guilty for killing the man when he keeps hearing the heart. The heart beating represents all of the guilt that is inside him fighting its way out. |
Analysis of The Tell-Tale Heart Throughout the story, Poe uses a bit of imagery. Poe says “He had the eye of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Saying it looked like a vulture's eye really gives us a good picture in our minds with what it looks like.
The eye could also be a symbol. The old man’s eye has a film over it so that could mean that he sees the world differently. It could also mean that he is not really who he says he is. This could mean that he puts on a front, but a front doesn’t cover everything. His eye could be symbolizing that some of his true self is being let through. The eye is also called a vulture eye. Vultures are not beautiful song birds. Vultures eat dead animals. They are darker birds so maybe this is saying that the old man had a dark side. Another thing that I thought of is that maybe the narrator is worried about the eye seeing right through him and seeing that he is not all that he says he is. Another symbol that is in this story is the narrator. Him going into the old man's room at night represents the evils that lurk in the shadows because he lurks in the old man's room every night watching him. Another symbol is the heart. The heart beating at the end is really the guilt that the narrator is feeling for killing the old man. It just keeps growing and growing until he finally can not take it any more and he confesses to the crime. Poe also uses repetition in his story. The narrator keeps stating that he is not crazy. Him stating that he is not crazy is him trying to reassure himself that he is not going crazy when we all know that he is. Repetition is usually used to point something out. Here it is pointing out that the narrator is going crazy. This text reflects what was going on in the time period. People were paranoid, like the narrator, because all of the wars were going on at the time. There was also a lot of death happening in this time period. There was also a lot of gruesome deaths caused by wars. This was reflected because the narrator killed the man and dismembered his body. This text reflects Poe’s life because Poe grew up with many deaths in his family. This is reflected in the text when the narrator kills the old man. I think this text is really saying that all of us have a little evil in us. It is more prominent in some people. Eventually, the evil inside of us is going to drive us to do bad things. The evil will eventually take over and nothing good will come from it. I think it is also saying that no matter how good you are at hiding something, it will eventually come out. You can only keep a secret for so long. |
Study Questions
- How did Poe's life experiences affect his story?
- What are some ways Poe's story relates Dark Romanticism?
- Why was the eye was so disturbing to the narrator?
- Why did Poe compare the eye to a vulture's eye?
- What does the beating of the heart really represent?
Answers to Study Questions
- Poe had a lot of death and dark times in his life including death in his family and living in poverty. This caused him to become more of a dark author. This is reflected in the story because the narrator is very disturbed and because the narrator killed the old man.
- One way it relates is because it has very horrific themes. The story is about a man who went crazy and killed another man because he had a weird eye. Another reason is that evil and sin were everywhere and in everyone, and that can lead to self destruction. The narrator was evil inside and that lead him to go crazy and kill the old man. That is his self destruction. Another way is that people have psychological guilt for their sins. The narrator was feeling guilty for killing the old man. That is why he kept hearing the heart. Eventually that led him to admit to his guilt.
- The eye could have represented a number of things that could have been disturbing to the narrator. It could have been the evil inside the old man showing itself through his front. It also could have been an all seeing eye that could see through the narrator and see his sins and evil. It could be a number of different things.
- Poe compared the eye to a vulture eye because vultures prey on the dead and can be seen as evil birds. This is representing that the man was evil in some way. It was showing his true evil.
- It really represents the guilt building up inside the narrator. It keeps growing and growing until he can't take it anymore.
Brief Overview
Works Cited (links to website)/Useful Resources
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m19cGPdwhpo&rel=0
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/POE/telltale.html (MLA works cited is below this)
Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe." The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. AS@UVA, 4 July 1999. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_history_(1820–59)
http://www.poemuseum.org/
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/POE/telltale.html (MLA works cited is below this)
Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe." The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. AS@UVA, 4 July 1999. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_history_(1820–59)
http://www.poemuseum.org/