Hello, freshmen- you will complete the following activity in the computer lab during class time this week.
Create a Word document. Complete the enumerated tasks below in well-constructed responses.
Go to: http://knowingpoe.thinkport.org/default_flash.asp (or just search and select “knowing Poe”).
Under “Poe the Writer,” select “The Poetic Principle.”
Launch, and carefully complete the interactive guide.
1. Look for your “checklist;” note the 5 quotations you have agreed with.
2. Under “Poe the Writer,” select “Poe the Perfectionist.” In a brief paragraph (5 sentences or so), indicate what the excerpts of “The Lake” tell you about Poe as a writer and as a person. You will need to analyze closely and think carefully.
3. Under “The Poe Library,” select and read “The Poe Toaster.” Respond in a paragraph.
4. Under “The Poe Library,” select and read “The Baltimore Ravens.” Respond in a paragraph.
5. Explore Poe’s house under “Poe the Person”.
6. Cite 2 specific facts or points of interest, which you find important,
from elsewhere on the website.
7. Finally, link to: http://books.eserver.org/poetry/poe/dream_within_a_dream.html
Read Poe's poem, "A Dream within a Dream". Using direct quotes, answer the following prompt: how does the poem offer direct correlation to Poe's real life? Why might the questions and philosophies raised in this short work have a greater significance to both Poe and the critical reader?
39 comments:
The ones I agreed with:
1. A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting.
2. A good poem can include just a few words.
3. A good poem is an experience in itself. It doesn’t need to teach lessons about life.
4. A good poem can include some elements that teach or illustrate a good lesson- as long as its primary purpose is to present a beautiful and emotional experience.
5. A good poem paints an accurate and unemotional picture of the beauty around it.
- Joey Wilkes
• A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one setting
• A good poem can include just a few words
• A good poem is an experience in its self. It doesn’t need to teach lessons about life
• A good poem can have a single purpose-to teach a truth, to encourage people to act in one way, to be emotional and soulful experience
• A good poem gives emotional substance to beauty and the world around it
Poe had improved a lot of a writer. He republished it so many times just so it could be so much better. Poe also made sure that his poems were easy to understand, and weren’t boring. Poe also made a lot of changes as the years went on so it would make more sense. That is some of the ways Poe has improved as a writer of his time.
I thought the Poe Toaster was kind of cool. I think it is cool because no one really knows who it is who is writing the notes and pouring the drinks for Poe his wife and Maria Clemm. I also think it was very interesting how he left a note about the Super Bowl in 2001 when the Baltimore Ravens were playing the New York Giants. I also think it was cool that he was to old to be trying to do this on his own so that now people think it’s like a family tradition. That was my response to The Poe Toaster.
I found “The Baltimore Raven” very interesting. I found it interesting because that makes a lot of sense why the Ravens have there name. And how there are 3 mascots, Eagar, Allan, and Poe. I also found it interesting because they changed there name when the Cleveland Browns came to Baltimore. That is why I found “The Baltimore Raven” interesting.
The two interesting facts I found are; Most of the stories are from Narrative Perspective. And That Poe was a huge perfectionist, every time he wrote and published a poem he always had to rewrite it and republish it because he always thought it could be better.
The Poem “A Dream Within A Dream” offers direct correlation to Poe’s life because he didn’t have a good life, so in the story it almost made him seem like he wished his life was a dream and he would wake up and everything would be ok, it also makes this statement, That my days have been a dream;
These questions and philosophies have a greater significant to the reader and Poe because it makes people think that maybe I can wake up from my life and when I wake up it could be a lot better.
Annie Ledbetter
Block B
Austin Tocci Block B
∙ A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting.
∙ A good poem shouldn’t be so brief that the reader does not get to experience any of the emotional feelings behind the words.
∙ A good poem is and experience in itself. It doesn’t need to teach lessons about life.
∙ A good poem can have a single purpose – to teach a truth, to encourage people to act one way, or to an emotional and soulful experience.
∙ A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.
Edgar Allan Poe had a lot of patience when he wrote the poem The Lake. He published it in 1827 and then he didn’t think it was good enough so he then edited it in 1829 and then again in 1845. This shows that he didn’t care how long it to write a simple poem like this one. He was a great poet because it took 18 years before he decided that he like the poem. I admire Poe since it took him 18 years to write it, I could never do that.
I thought the Poe Toaster was a very interesting story. I think that it is kind of creepy that someone goes to Poe’s grave on his birthday, and no one knows who it is. He brings flowers and alcohol and he puts it on his grave. They believe that the flowers are for Poe, Poe’s wife, and Poe’s mother. People have seen this guy but still no one knows who it is. This was a very creepy story.
The Baltimore Ravens story was very interesting. I didn’t know that the colts used to be in Baltimore. And then they moved to Indianapolis. Also, I didn’t know that the Cleveland Browns were going to go to Baltimore. In the 1980s Baltimore had a vote for the team mascot. The majority voted for the ravens because that’s were Poe used to live. I learned a lot from that story.
I think that the tell-tale heart is another important part of the website because it tells another important story about Poe and it is very interesting. Also, I think the school day is another important part of the website. This is important because it tell people about his childhood.
The poem related to Poe’s life because it was saying that we could be living in a dream, and it would be good for Poe to be in a dream because his life was terrible. For example, his wife died young, his mother died young, he died young, he was an alcoholic, and I am sure that he had more problems. The poem would have significance on the reader and on Poe because if our life was a dream it would change everything. Also, it really got me to think that it is a possibility that it was just a dream. It is kind of weird knowing that I could be living in a dream.
~Brian Gannon~
A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting.
A good poem shouldn’t be so brief that the reader does not get to experience any of the emotional feelings behind the words.
A good poem is an experience in itself. It doesn’t need to teach lessons about life.
A good poem can have a single purpose- to teach a truth, to encourage people to act one way, or to be an emotional and soulful experience
A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world
In looking at the changes Poe makes in the poem “The Lake”, I see he is not the type of writer who rushes to finish his poems. In fact he is a writer who has an abundance of patience, and he doesn’t stop writing something once it is published. He still reads over it and fixes mistakes to make his poems better. As you see Edgar Allen Poe spent over twenty years on this poem to make it a superior poem. Poe is definitely a perfectionist
The Poe Toaster is an extraordinary and mysterious person who shows up at Edgar Allen Poe’s grave site every year since 1949. This person leaves flowers and alcohol on his grave site. The flowers are supposed to represent Edgar Allen Poe, his wife, and his daughter, who all (of course) died. I find it amazing how this person has done this for so long and has never been caught. I wonder if it is the same person every year, because if it is, he must be very old.
I find it amazing that The Baltimore Ravens football team was named after Edgar Allen Poe. The reason I find this amazing is because (like it says in the story), football has nothing to do with poetry. I also find it cool how the three mascot’s names are Edgar, Allen, and Poe. It is fascinating how the fans from Baltimore voted for that name (the Ravens) and it won by about four times the second place name. This is the first time I heard of this story before!
One interesting fact I saw was that Poe was an orphan from the age of two. I find this interesting because since he had a rough childhood; it could have helped in why he had such a gruesome mind. I found this under Poe the person and under introduction.
A second interesting fact I found was that Poe’s letters are still saved today. I found this interesting because they must be so old. I found this under Poe the Person.
The way in which this poem offers direct correlation to his real life is that the poem is about him saying goodbye to someone and wondering if his life was all just a dream, and if it was it would appeal to him because Poe had a terrible life and if he could wake up in a different life he would take that opportunity. The way this poem could have significance on the reader is because if we woke up in a dream all the good things that happened in our life could have never happened, and all the bad things that happened in our life could have never happened as well. This could be good and bad for us.
~Brian Gannon~
Mike Costa
Period B
1)
-A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting.
-A good poem can include just a few words.
-A good poem can educate as well as entertain.
-A good poem can include some elements that teach or illustrate a good lesson … as long as its primary purpose is to present a beautiful and emotional experience.
- A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.
2)
Each time the poem “The Lake” is revised, it is more like our modern day poems. Poe begins to organize the lines into stanzas in the 1829 version. In 1827 the entire poem is one huge stanza. In 1829, he divides the poem into 3 stanzas. And the 1845 version has 4 stanzas. Each version of the poem Poe rephrased the words to make them sound better. Example: the first line in 1827 & 1829 say “In youth’s spring it was my lot”. In the 1845 version he says “IN spring of youth it was my lot” Spring of youth and youths spring mean the same thing but are phrased differently.
3)
I believe that the “Poe Toaster” is a person that decided to put the cognac and roses on Poe’s grave for fun. After the initial response of people he decided to keep doing it, and thus it became a tradition. Since this has happened since 1949 I believe that the original Poe toaster is a dead and that his son has taken over. This will probably go on for a very long time if this is the case. Each father would pass the tradition onto his son, and so on for generations.
4)
I think that the Baltimore Ravens is a better name then the other 2 that were mentioned (the Americans and the Marauders). Many of the people PLAYING for The Ravens probably don’t even know why there team is named what it is. Depending on Poe’s likes and dislikes would tell whether he would want a football team named after his poems. If Poe would have enjoyed football then he would have wanted a football named after his poem. If he hated the sport then he would have found it an insult to have a team named after his poems.
5)
-Poe had a strong interest in cryptograms and deciphering secret languages.
-Poe lived at his school “Manor House”
6)
“And, in parting from you now” – Many people died in Poe’s life
The Lake
Poe first wrote “The Lake” when he was eighteen, in the year 1827.
After he published “The Lake” he redid it in year 1829. Then he redid it again in 1845. All the poems where about the same subject the lake, but they were edited different each time. In the poem word for word was not the same it was different. The first poem was different than the second and the second was different from the third. In the third poem it is spaced out more than the first poem. In the second poem it is spaced out by using numbers and then in the third poem it is spaced out with out the numbers. So Poe has to make sure that his poems are good and written clearly.
The Poe and the toaster
I think that it is weird how a man would go to Poe’s cemetery and leave roses on his grave. They don’t know who it is so that is what makes it so weird. The roses that he leaves have to do with the people that had died at the monument where Poe had died to. The people were Poe, Maria Clemm, and Virginia Poe. I don’t understand why people don’t figure it out. It says that people try to but they are not allowed to figure out who it really is I think that, that is weird. Some people think that the real Poe toaster died and his children are keeping up the tradition. I think that, that statement could be true because I don’t think a man would be able to live fro as long as he has lived. Jeff Jerome keeps several bottles of Poe toaster cognac on display at the Poe house. The Poe toaster had left a note that gave a clue to who he was. His note was about the New York Giants, and the Ravens.
The Baltimore Raven’s
I think that how the ravens got their name from Poe’s poem the Raven is odd to. They got there name from the poem because the poem has to do with torment and anguish of fierce longing. Baltimore was once called the colts, and they were a legionary team. Then the team owner turns the colts to Indianapolis. In 1995, the Cleveland Browns announced that they were moving their franchise to Baltimore. Then they had a new team and all they needed was a name. The colts were named after a horse racing industry. So then they took a vote on things form Baltimore and the poem the Raven by Poe won.
• Was one of America’s finest writers.
• Defended his friends from the school bullies.
ashley gookin
english-b
Eric Sylvestre Period B
1.
-A good poem can be long or short. It doesn’t matter how long it takes to read.
-A good poem can include just a few words.
-A good poem is an experience in itself. It doesn’t need to teach lessons about life.
- A good poem can have a single purpose, to teach the truth, to encourage people to act in one way, or to be an emotional and soulful experience.
-A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.
2.
From the excerpts of “The Lake”, Poe seems to get better at writing as time goes on. In 1827 his poem is all one giant paragraph, but in 1845 it is divided into 4 different stanzas, which makes it easier to understand. Poe also added punctuation to his poems and he changed and modified some words. His 1845 poem is more like modern day poems because it is divided into a few stanzas.
3.
I think that the “Poe Toaster” was a guy that was in a group that studied, researched, and kind of worshipped him. If the original Poe toaster died I think that the ones that keep coming back are people in that same group keeping up the tradition.
4.
I think that Poe would not want a football team to be named after one of his poems. He probably wants of one of the other names (The Marauders or The Americans). I personally think that the Marauders are better name than the Ravens. It is ironic that a football team is named after a poem and the players probably don’t even know why they are called the Ravens.
5.
-At least 81 films have been based on Poe’s poems.
-There is a football team named after Poe’s poem “The Raven”
I agree with Poe. A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting.
I disagree with Poe. A good poem could include just a few words.
I disagree with Poe. A good poem can educate as well as entertain.
I disagree with Poe. A good poem can have a single purpose- to teach the truth, to encourage people to act one way, or be an emotional and soulful experience.
I disagree with Poe. A good poem paints an accurate and unemotional picture of the beauty in the world around it.
By reading The Lake I learned that Poe was most likely a perfectionist. It took him 18 years to complete that poem. Poe probably had a lot of patience, too. I would not spend 18 years writing a poem, but he did. He also seems very determined because he wanted to finish it. I admire Poe for his accomplishments.
I think it is interesting that every year since 1949 a mysterious man “stops at Poe's grave, and leaves a half-full bottle of cognac and three roses.” Some people believe that “think that the tribute might be part of an initiation ritual for a club or fraternity of some sort.” In 2001, the mysterious man left a note which left many people confused about the identity of the man. The note made it seem that Poe was not a Raven’s fan, which is bad because the team was named after his poem.
The Baltimore Ravens, a NFL football team, was named after one of Poe’s poems, The Raven, that he wrote in the nineteenth century. In 1995, the Cleveland Browns decided to move their franchise to Baltimore. The Baltimore Sun interviewed over 33,000 fans to see what they thought the Cleveland Browns should change their name to. Since Baltimore is known for Poe living there, most people choice the name Raven’s after his poem. I think naming the team was a good idea because it keeps Poe’s legacy alive.
-Kristin Murray
Block B
1.
• A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting.
• A good poem shouldn’t be so brief that the reader does not get to experience any of the emotional feelings behind the words.
• A good poem is an experience in itself. It doesn’t need to teach lessons about life.
• A good poem can include some elements that teach or illustrate a good lesson – as long as its primary purpose is to present a beautiful and emotional experience.
• A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.
2. Poe is very persistent in his writing. He never gave up until his work was satisfactory. By reading the three different poems of “The Lake” it showed me that he is a perfectionist. He worked on that poem for eighteen years. That shows a lot of patience. He changed the length, grammar and some of the words in that poem. So I’m sure that patience was needed for him to make his poem as good as it could be.
3. The Poe Toaster is peculiar. I thought it was weird, because you don’t really see things like that happen. I think that people should stay there during the night to find out who this guy is because he is really weird. The note that was left at the football game was kind of weird.
4. The Baltimore Ravens seem to have a lot of respect for Edgar Allan Poe. It didn’t really tell me anything about Poe, except that Baltimore has respect for them. There are also three mascots named Edgar, Allan and Poe. Thanks to Poe’s poem the city is now and NFL city.
Elizabeth Hunter
Block: B
Emma Jackson
Block B
The Five Quotations
1. I disagree with Poe. A good poem can be long or short. It doesn’t matter how long it takes to read it.
2. I agree with Poe. A good poem shouldn’t be so brief that the reader does not get to experience any of the emotional feelings behind the words.
3. I disagree with Poe. A good poem can educate as well as entertain.
4. I disagree with Poe. A good poem can have a single purpose to teach the truth, to encourage people to act one way, or to be an emotional and soulful experience.
5. I agree with Poe. A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.
“The Lake” tells you a few things about Poe as a writer and a person. It took Poe 18 years to finally complete this poem with all of his changes. This tells you that Poe had really good patience. This also tells you that Poe was a perfectionist. The fact that Poe was willing to devote 18 years to this one single poem just tells you a little about his character.
My opinion on “The Poe Toaster,” is that its kind of strange but in a way its interesting. Its interesting that he’s been doing this since 1949, and he brings the same things every single time. It also makes me want to know who “The Poe Toaster” really is. I think that if he has sons, his sons have probably carried on this tradition like many other people think too. I also think its really good how people respect him, and don’t try to go and see who he is.
In 1996, Baltimore conducted a telephone poll for the new name of their professional football team. Over 33,000 people voted, about 5,500 people chose the Marauders and about 5,597 picked the Americans, and 21, 108 picked the actual winner which was the Baltimore Ravens.
The Lake
Edgar Allen Poe published a poem “The Lake” in the year 1827 when he was 18 years young. After published he continued to republish it many times in the years 1829 and 1845. Rewriting “The Lake” he improved his writings. The second writing contained numbers to separate the paragraphs also improving his commas and his writing ability. The third was the best created, all was written in the right structure to the punctuation to the word choice.
The Poe Toaster
I thought the Poe Toaster was very interesting. Every year on January 19 is when one of Baltimore’s spookiest traditions occurred. This scary day would be Poe’s birthday in the Westminster Church Yard. Even thought no one really knows who he is or why this man existed. As time went on they symbolized him as "the Poe Toaster.” To respect Poe’s memory and the privacy of the Poe Toaster no one has ever tried to guess or assume the visitor. But people keep guessing. Many think that the original Poe Toaster past away and his sons continued this tradition. While others think that it’s a club that is trying to keep the tradition going. Jeff Jerome a person part of the Baltimore Poe House and Museum seems to be very close to the Poe Toaster, he continued a vigil on January 19 where they waited and watched for the Toaster to appear outside of the church. Once the mystery man arrives, he sends Mr. Jerome a secret signal to show he is the true Poe Toaster and they all know it’s him even though Mr. Jerome isn’t really sure if it’s him. The Poe Toaster once left a message for the people right before a Super bowl. which read:
"The New York Giants. Darkness and decay and the big blue hold dominion over all. The Baltimore Ravens. A thousand injuries they will suffer. Edgar Allan Poe evermore."
The Baltimore Ravens
Many football teams have football players ready to play but behind the football team name laced in a poem. The National Football League 2000 Super Bowl Champions are named the Baltimore Ravens after Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem “The Raven,” which contained torment and aguish which the Baltimore football fans knew very well. The Baltimore fans now join the three Raven mascots which names are Edgar, Allan, and Poe. They enjoy cheering on their players to victory and that’s all they do is hope.
A man deeply connected with Baltimore.
Was one of American’s finest writers.
-Suzanne Keene
Period B
Andrea Giglio
Block B
1)
A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting.
A good poem can include just a few words.
A good poem is an experience in itself. It doesn’t need to teach lessons about life.
A good poem can have a single purpose – to teach a truth, to encourage people to act one way, or to be an emotional and soulful experience.
A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.
2)
From reading the excerpts from The Lake, I have realized that Edgar Allan Poe is a very thorough writer. He makes many changes to his work and tweaks it until it fits hi standards. These changes don’t happen overnight, they happen over a period of many years for him to change his writing. The writing is very descriptive because he’s telling a story that has to do with him, so he can picture exactly what’s happening and then put it into words. The end result of his work is very well written and you can tell he’s thought a lot about what he’s writing.
3)
The Poe Toaster is someone who visits Edgar Allan Poe’s grave every year on his birthday, January 19th. The identity of the Toaster is still a mystery; no one knows who he is. I think The Poe Toaster is someone who was obviously a big fan of Poe, and visits his grave every year in disguise so people will notice him, and they won’t forget about Poe. I agree with the fact that some think the real Toaster died and his sons, or relatives take on the tradition. The Toaster can only tell a few people that he can trust about being the Toaster, and carrying on the tradition because, someone else could find out and the secret would be ruined.
4)
Baltimore, at one time was a football team-less town, until they finally got a football team for Baltimore. The only problem was they didn’t have a name for their team, so they took a town poll and had the people of the town vote on what team name they thought would best fit their football team. Winning with over 20,000 votes out of 33,000 people, The Baltimore Ravens won. I thought it was clever how they had three mascots for the team named Edgar, Allan, and Poe. The main idea the article was trying to get across, from my point of view, was how important Edgar Allan Poe was to the town Baltimore, and how much he is appreciated.
Charlie Switzer B
• A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting.
• A good poem can include just a few words.
• A good poem is an experience in itself. It doesn’t need to teach lessons about life.
• A good poem can have a single purpose- to teach a truth, to encourage people to act one way, or to be a soulful and emotional experience.
• A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.
Edgar Allan Poe made a lot of changes for one of his poems, The Lake. For instance, it took him twenty years to finally complete the poem. Also, it took him three tries before he got the poem to look the way he imagined it to look. This shows that he takes his time to perfect his writing.
The Poe Toaster is a person who arrives at Edgar Allan Poe’s grave every January 19, which is Poe’s birthday, where Poe is buried. He comes with a half-full bottle of cognac and three roses. Nobody knows who this man is who comes every January 19th. However, nobody tries to know who he is.
The Baltimore Colts were a team that that moved to Indianapolis. Baltimore became teamless, until the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore in the mid 90’s. The city named there new team after Edgar Allan Poe’s poem. They also named there three raven mascots after him, Edgar, Allan and Poe.
One interesting fact about Poe I was that he wrote many letters that are still saved. I found this under Poe the person. Also, under Poe in your life, Iron Maiden named a song after one of Poe’s stories, “Murders in the Rue Morgue.”
The poem “A Dream Within A Dream,” is about how the life that we are living in may be just a long lasting dream that you may just wake up to a whole new reality. “All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream. This is a direct correlation to Poe’s life because he lived in a life where things did not go his way.
Hey Kefor!,
This poem shows that poe is unsure of himself and feels that his misfortunes mean that he is stuck in a dreamlike state and is dreaming there. this also brings to surface his ongoing insanity and depression because he wants life to be like a dreamland where you can dream all you want. These show that Poe is realizing that he wants so much more out of life.
The questions and philosophies raised tell you that Poe is only human and that he wants impossible things just like the next person. It shows the critical reader that even bad things can happen to great people like Poe. It shows Poe that he is masking what is there and that he needs to accept the past, be himself and and stop trying to hide his true feelings. Because nothing is as it seems for "... it is but a dream within a dream".
Coren Gillon
1. Five questions I agree with are….
- A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.
- A good poem can include just a few words.
- A good poem is an experience in its self. It does not have to teach lessons about life.
- A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting.
- A good poem can have a single purpose – to teach the truth to encourage people to act one way, or to be an emotional and soulful experience
2.
Edgar Allan Poe is a dark person and often in his writing some one usually dies. For example, the lake is about a dark lake in a dark place surrounded by tall pine trees. He talks about how the lake would make a fitting grave and it is a dim lake that is black rock bound. This poem expresses how dark he can be in his poems. Edgar Allen Poe is a dark writer and a heavy drinker.
3.
The Poe toaster is a weird person that every year on January 19, every year a man in a dark coat and a scarf wrapped around his head goes to Poe’s grave and leaves a bottle of cognac and 3 roses on his grave. The Poe toaster comes every year and it is the spookiest traditions in the world. No one knows who the Poe toaster is but people guess that the original toaster died and his sons carry on the tradition. People believe that the roses are for Poe, Clemm, and Virginia Poe. No one tries to find out who the Poe toaster is and it still is a mystery to this day.
-Ben Lenhart
Brendan Curtin B Period
1.
• A good poem should be short to read and enjoy in one sitting
• A good poem shouldn’t be so brief that the reader does not get to experience any of the emotional feelings behind the words.
• A good poem is an experience in itself. It doesn’t need to teach lessons about life.
• A good poem can have a single purpose – to teach a truth, to encourage people to act one way, or to be an emotional and soulful experience.
• A good poem paints an accurate and unemotional of the beauty in the world around it.
2. Edgar Allan Poe took 18 years to finalize the poem “The Lake.” He changed the poem each time drastically to make it easier to read and to make it better. An amazing thing was that Poe never gave up on this poem. He had unbelievable patience. To take 18 years on a poem is an unbelievable mark. Poe was an unbelievable person, and he was one of the hardest working persons to live. He set his mind on a goal and he wouldn’t stop until he perfects the goal to the fullest ability.
3. The Poe Toaster is an unbelievable story. I find much interest in this story because it is such a mystery like Poe’s stories. The “toaster” is a mysterious man who shoes up to the cemetery where Poe is buried. He is named the toaster because he leaves cognac which can be related to a formal toast. He also leaves three roses to represent three people left in the cemetery.
4. The team Baltimore Ravens came from the famous poem of Poe “The Raven.”
The people of Baltimore chose this name in a poll. Now the Raven’s have 3 mascots all one of the names of Edgar Allan Poe. This is the team that came after the Baltimore Colts and it was a big hit to have a team back in town.
5.
1. How they made the famous house of Poe, where he lived as a child into a famous museum.
2. No one knows where Poe died.
steve tessier bock B
2.
Edgar Allan Poe wrote a lot of story that were horror. So that means for a writer he liked to make people afraid while they were reading his poem or short stories. All of his story he has the person wife or friend dies. He liked to change his work later life because he used words that were hard to read in earlier in his life when he started to write. Then later he started to fix it to make more sense and people would have a better understanding and made it more scary.
3. One of Baltimore’s spookiest traditions occur every January 19 that is on his birthday. He was a alcoholic. He wrote all his poems mostly when he was drunk. There was a man named Jeff Jerome a person who works at the museum of Poe. He knew a lot of stuff that Poe did or lived or wrote in his life back in the 1800’s.
4. The Baltimore ravens were a major part in the book called “The Raven”,The book Poe wrote. Back in the 1950’s the Baltimore Colts
5. ( now the Indianapolis colts) played in Baltimore. The reason the colts moved is the team “tanked” the season because they wanted to move. So they moved to Indianapolis in the 1970’s.
6. 1. Interesting fact is that Poe has his own museum in Baltimore. I think that’s important because you can find out things about him or where he lives , etc.
2. Another interesting fact is he wrote a lot of scary and legendary books. He wrote “the raven”, tell tale hart, mask of the red death. Black cat and even more great short stories or poems.
Tim deMartin
1.) A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting.
A good poem shouldn’t be so brief that the reader that the reader does not get to experience any of the emotional feelings behind the words.
A good poem can educate as well as entertain.
A good poem can include some elements that teach or illustrate a good lesson – as long as its primary purpose is to present a beautiful and emotional experience.
A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.
2.) Poe as a writer was different as Poe as a person. In his poems he shows dedicated writing the lake over three times over 20 years. His writing reflects more gruesome stuff but as person is very real. Poe also as person was not always serious but his poems reflect always serious. Poe was defiantly different as a writer from a person.
3.) Poe appears as an important figure to Baltimore honoring him with many events. Most of his writings affect Baltimore. He showed a lot of respect for his city. His toast was great effect on his writings. Poe proved an important writer in his city.
4.) Poe would defiantly be honored to have football team named after him. I think it is a good name football team perfect for Baltimore. The people’s vote proved that that the name was a good choice. It has been the name since there move from Cleveland for more then 10 years now.
6.) Poe was an orphan at the age of two but managed to master the most complex Latin works. Known as a one of Americas finest writers deeply connected with Baltimore.
7.)?
Justin St. Jean
Block: B
11/8/07
Quotes
1. A good poem should be short enough to read, and enjoy in one sitting.
2. A good poem shouldn’t be, so brief that the reader does not get to experience any of the emotional feelings behind the words.
3. A good poem is an experience in itself. It doesn’t need to teach lessons about life.
4. A good poem can have a single purpose- to a truth to encourage people to act in one way, or to be an emotional, and soulful experience.
5. A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world.
What the poem The Lake tells me about Poe
The fact that Edgar Allan Poe rewrote the poem The Lake three times over 20 years tells me that he definitely was a perfectionist. I say this because he didn’t need to rewrite it because people obviously liked it because it was published. This also tells me that he did not just write the poems that he did just to make money because why would he need to rewrite it he would have already gotten the money from the first time. He must of just loved to write the things that he did. He must of also been studying The Lake for years for his flaws because it took him 20 years to finally change it.
Response to the Poe toaster
I was fairly surprised that the Poe Toaster was not a Baltimore Ravens fan. The only explanation that I can see is that the Poe Toaster believes that the Ravens are mocking Edgar Allan Poe with their name. Also I think that the son theory sounds the most logical. I also think that the Poe Toaster may be a direct relation to Edgar Allan Poe himself. That would explain why he might not like that team named after his relatives greatest work. That is if they are even related.
Edgar Allan Poe
1. a) A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting
b) A good poem shouldn’t be so brief that the reader does not get to experience any of the emotional feelings behind the words
c) A good poem is an experience in itself. It doesn’t need to teach lessons about life.
d) A good poem can include some elements that teach or illustrate a good lesson – as long as its primary purpose is to present a beautiful and emotional experience.
e) A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world.
2. By reading these three versions of the same poem, I learned that Poe was a perfectionist. It showed me this because he worked on making the same poem better for 18 years until he thought that it was perfect. It also shows that Poe was persistent; he never gave up until the job was done. In addition to that it shows that he was never happy with mediocrity. The amount of changes and the years they were made in the poem show that he wouldn’t stop until he was genuinely happy with his work; until he felt it was excellent.
3. I thought that the Poe toaster was kind of creepy. I don’t see why someone wouldn’t just ask him who he is. I don’t think that asking his name would be disrespectful. The toaster seems like a pretty sketchy guy. I thought that the weirdest part of that story was the note that the toaster left about the football game. I think that the Poe toaster is a family of people keeping up a tradition.
4. I thought that “the Baltimore Ravens” story was sort of pointless. It didn’t really have anything to do with Poe. It didn’t teach me anything about Edgar Allan Poe. The only thing it could’ve taught me was that Edgar Allan Poe lived in Baltimore and he was buried there. Also, I could have taught me that Poe wrote a famous poem called, “The Raven”. I learned that Baltimore used to not have a football team, and that the Colts were originally from Baltimore. I didn’t really like this story because I don’t care about the NFL unless it’s the Patriots.
5. I did not know that the Poe house had undergone so many changes since Poe had lived there. I knew that it would have changed a little bit, but I didn’t know it had undergone so many big changes. I think it’s still good that they made Poe’s house into a museum even though it has changed so much. I think it would be really interesting to go and see where Poe lived. I like that the house leaves so much up to your imagination because it’s so much more fun.
Jill Wry
English block B
The poem offers direct correlation to Poe’s real life by his usage of words. Poe in the poem is stating that he has lost or loosing someone.
The questions and philosophies raised in this short work have a greater significance to both Poe and the critical reader because most likely this situation has happened to them in their life, and it relates aspects of life.
- Suzanne Keene
period B
1.) 5 Quotations:
1. A good poem should be short enough to read in one sitting.
2. A good poem shouldn’t be so brief that the reader does not get to experience any of the emotional feelings behind the words.
3. A good poem should educate as well as entertain.
4. A good poem could have a single purpose to teach a truth and encourage people to act one way.
5. A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.
2.) Poe, as a writer, was a really intelligent person. It took him 20 years to make his poem what he thought his poem should look like. He made changes, though not extreme, that made his poems all the better. When he fixed his poem in 1829 he had it longer than his final poem in 1845. This tells me that Poe is a dedicated writer.
3.) One of the mysterious traditions happens every year at Poe’s grave site. A man with a hat and a scarf comes and drops off a half full bottle of cognac and 3 roses.
Rachel Murphy
English F
• A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting.
• A good poem shouldn’t be so brief that the reader does not get to experience any of the emotional feeling behind its words.
• A good poem is an experience in itself. It doesn’t need to teach lessons about life.
• A good poem can include some elements that teach or illustrate a good lesson- as long as its primary purpose is to present a beautiful and emotional experience.
• A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.
He can really capture all pf the feelings that a certain subject can give you and he was somewhat of a troubled man but when he wrote poems and short stories he knew how to phrase things so they would captivate the reader into enjoying them in a short period of time. And you can tell from his writing that he was a very troubled man who had went through very dark and depressing periods of his life.
I think that the Poe Toaster is really cool how some random person who is really unknown is able to toast the greatest short story and poem writer ever. And it is really cool that they have a ceremony on his birthday. It is held in Baltimore on January 19 every year.
That is really cool that the Baltimore Ravens were named after Poe’s poem “The Raven.” And it was also really cool that they have three mascots and their names are Edgar, Alan, and Poe. I don’t know where the other team name came from but it is weird that when they voted over three quarters of the 55,000 that voted for the name The Ravens.
No one knows who exactly Poe had died.
The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales were published the same year that Poe was born.
“A Dream within a Dream”
Of a surf-tormented shore (he had a tormented soul)
O God! Can I not save
one from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
but a dream within a dream? (WE can not save anyone because we are all just in a dream
~Rachel murphy English F~
1. - A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting
-A good poem can include just a few words
-A good poem is an experience in itself. It doesn’t need to teach lessons about life
-A good poem can include some elements that teach or illustrate a good lesson – as long as its primary purpose is to present a beautiful and emotional experience
-A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.
2. This poem tells me that Poe was really dark person and he didn’t he doesn’t seem very optimistic. He was sad and depressed throughout his life and that is reflected in his poetry. Many of his poems had to do with death and The Lake was no exception, as a writer his words have more meaning that what they appear. When you read his poems you have to search deeper to get the meaning that he was trying to portray.
3. I think that the Poe toaster is a mysterious figure that changes every year. I don’t believe that the same person would be doing it every year since Poe’s death. The cognac is supposed to represent that fact that Poe liked to drink a lot. If I took care of the graveyard then I would probably stop the Poe toaster from coming, because he sounds to weird.
4. I like that the team was named after Poe’s Poem. My favorite part of that essay was the part when they had people vote for the name of the football team and over 21,000 voted for the Baltimore Ravens. People liked that fact that the mascot was about Edgar Allan Poe. I personally did not like the essay because I do not really like sports and can’t tell each team for eachother.
6. -Poe studied French and Latin, as well as history and literature.
-No one has ever been able to really answer that question. There have been theories. But, no one knows the real story. Now, it's your turn to try to solve this mystery — one of the most engaging in all of literature
7. The poem is like Poe’s real life because is it very sad and depressing. “While I weep–while I weep! O God! can I not grasp. Them with a tighter clasp?” It mentions that he says piti and I imagine that his life was full of pity. People feeling bad for him and having his poetry not become very famous.
~~~Cassie Eagerman~~~
Tyana James
11-9-07
5 quotations from Poe
• A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting.
• A good poem can include just a few words.
• A good poem can educate as well as entertain
• A good poem can include some elements that teach or illustrate a good lesson ----- as long as its primary purpose is to present a beautiful and emotional experience.
• A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.
The Lake
It relates to Edgar Allen Poe because he was a very depressed person and he expresses it in his poems. He loves writing stories of people being stuck in a tomb or the death of women and innocent people. In the lake he talks about living with grief or he is being haunted by an inanimate object. He says the lake makes him scared and is making him feel terror. I think what he says mean that he did something bad and karma is coming back on him through the lake.
1. Yet, somehow it makes sense that the National Football League 2000 Super Bowl champions are named the Baltimore Ravens, after Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem "The Raven." After all, the poem is about the torment and anguish of fierce longing, something Baltimore football fans know all too well.
2. Here's the story behind the name. Once upon a time, in the 1950s and 1960s, to be exact, Baltimore was home to a legendary professional football team, the Colts. Led by quarterback Johnny Unitas and other Hall of Fame players, the team won three NFL championships. But in late 1970s and early 1980s, the team tanked. In 1984, the team owner relocated the Colts in Indianapolis. That was the end of pro football in Baltimore.
A dream within a dream
It relates to him because he is a very dark emotional person. He always looks at things a different way from everyone else. We think this is life this is how it is but he thought what if this life is only a dream and we’ll wake up and it will be done.
(1)
A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting.
A good poem can include just a few words.
A good poem can educate as well as entertain.
A good poem can include some elements that teach or illustrate a good lesson – as long as its primary purpose is to present a beautiful and emotional experience/
A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it/
(2)
“the lake” written by Poe was changed many times, he is a perfectionist because in each poem he might add different spacing or an extra hyphen. The first line in his first copy is “ In youth’s spring, it was my lot”. His first line in the second copy was In youth’s spring it was my lot”. And the first line in his third version was “IN spring of youth it was my lot”. You can see the small changes in each version, and knowing he changed this poem for almost 20 years tells you that he is a perfectionist.
(3)
The “Poe Toaster” is a very mysterious person. Every year on Pose birth day he mysteriously walks over to Pose grave and leaves half a bottle for cognac and 3 roses.
Nobody knows his identity and due to the respect of Poe, and his privacy people don’t try to force him into revealing it. There are many mysteries about the Toaster and many questions people would like to ask him.
(4)
The Baltimore ravens, as many people don’t know are names after a poem. Poe wrote the raven, and Baltimore named there football teem after them. It doesn’t seem likely to name a foot ball teem with tough atleats to be named after an intellectual love poem.
But sense Poe was from Baltimore and it was one of the most famous pomes in the 19th century they decided to name there teem after it.
(6)
-Poe’s house was turned into a museum.
-81 films have been based on Poe or his writings.
(7)
A dream within a dream was written by Edgar Allen Poe. It talks about his drinking problems and his problems in his life.
-davidlittlefield-
1.
“And here in the beginning, permit me to say a few words to regard to a somewhat peculiar principal, which, whether rightfully or wrongfully, has always had its influence in my own critical influence of a poem. I hold that a long poem does not exist. I maintain that a phrase “a long poem” is simply fat contradiction in terms.”
“On the other hand it is clear that a poem may be improperly brief. Undue brevity degenerates into mere epigrammatism. A very short poem, while now and then producing a brilliant or vivid, never produces a profound or enduring effect. There must be the stead pressing down of the stamp upon the wax.”
“It has been assumed, tacitly and avowedly, directly and indirectly, that the ultimate object of all Poetry is Truth. Every poem it is said should inculcate a morals and by this moral is the poetical merit of the work to be adjudged, but the simple fact is that would we but permit ourselves to look into our own souls we should immediately there discover that under the sun there neither exists nor can exist any work more thoroughly dignified ,more supremely noble, than this very poem, this poem per se, this poem which is a poem and nothing more this poem is written solely for the poems sake.”
“It by no means follows, however, the incitements of Passion, or the precepts of Duty, or even the lessons of Truth, may not be introduced into a poem, and with advantage; for they may sub serve incidentally, in various ways the general purposes of the work: but the true artist will always contrive to ton them down in proper subjection to that the Beauty which is the atmosphere and the real essence of the poem.:
“He who shall simply sing, with however glowing enthusiasm, or with however vivid truth of description, of the sights, and sounds, and odors, and colors, and sentiments which greet him in common with all mankind-he, I say, has yet failed to prove his divine title.”
2.
The poem the lake describes Poe’s darker and painful side. The poem describes a spot which would usually be described as happy, but not when Poe describes it. “Terror was not fright but tremulous delight.” Poe is saying that the dark and what sounds like a scary lake and is saying this depressing place is full of delight or pleasure. He also says “In its stilly melody my infant spirit would awake.” I believe he is putting a happy spin to it, similar to his life he is pretty much miserable but for the amount of time his wife was alive he was sort of happy and that’s what he is getting at. “The Lake” is a dark miserable poem that strikes me as a description of Poe’s life.
3.
The excerpt on the Poe Toaster I found to be very interesting. The fact that a mysterious man come to Poe’s grave every year on his birthday strikes me funny, especially because he makes sure no one can see him. You would think that Poe would be a super Poe fan, obviously making him a Ravens fan, but he is not. The one year came with his three roses and cognac and a note a few days before the Super Bowl stating that he was a Giants fan. Perhaps he is not even from Maryland. Unfortunately nobody knows who the Poe toaster is.
4.
The Baltimore Ravens, as you know are a NFL team, and a fairly good one at that. In 1996 when the Cleveland Browns moved they’re franchise to Baltimore. They took a vote and the results by a land slide ended up the Ravens named for Poe’s famous poem.
(ill post the rest later
Alexi Idreos
Lindsay White
English F
11/9/07
Edgar Allan Poe
All three of Poe’s poems are alike. They may have been written at different times but they all describe a lake. For him to rewrite this poem twice tells me that he, as a person likes dark gloomy scenes and just could get enough of this particular place. I also think that this place may be a way for him to interpret his own life. This tells me that he probably didn’t have a good childhood and as he got older it really didn’t get any better for him.
One of the interesting stories that have to do with Edgar Allan Poe is, “The Poe Toaster.” My opinion on the story is that it is strange and confusing. I asked myself, why would someone go to Poe’s grave every year and conceal his identity? Then I ask why he leaves a letter that curses the Baltimore Ravens and Poe. The only way to find out would be to confront that man and ask him, which no one has done for some reason. Strange and confusing as it maybe it was still a great short story to read that left me with many questions.
I am not one for football but this story about how the Baltimore Ravens received the name was quit interesting. I also think its interesting that the name won by a mile, 21,108 to 5,597. The fact that they choose a poem to be the name of a football team is truly astonishing. I would have never guessed that The Ravens would have been the name.
An interesting fact that I learned was from his school years. He attended Manor House School in Stoke-Newington, England. Poe, like all the other children attending lived in the school. Another fact I found is that no one really knows why Edgar Allan Poe died. Many people have their own theories and thoughts but the question still remains a mystery
Billy Major
A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy at once
A good poem can be just a few words
A good poem can educate and entertain
A good poem can teach a good lesson
A good poem gives emotional beauty
Poe was a perfectionist. He changed his work over 18 years. He was also a hard worker. He did not settle for mediocre work. He did not stop till it was perfect.
1. “A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting.”
“A good poem can include just a few words.”
“A good poem is an experience in itself. It doesn’t need to teach lessons about life.”
“A good poem can include some elements that teach or illustrate a good lesson- as long as its primary purpose is to present a beautiful and emotional experience.”
“A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.”
2. From the excerpts of “The Lake” the corrections made tell that he is a big perfectionist. To make all of those corrections over the period of 18 years is crazy on such a short poem. He must have had a lot of issues to not finish it and be happy with it for 18 years. To go along with Poe’s other problems he was a very special person with a talent to write. But in the end of all his editing he did make a good poem.
3. I think that the Poe toaster is a very nice man that is respected in the community of Baltimore. He does a very nice thing on Poe’s birthday by leaving the cognac and roses for him and is and should be remembered for it. This act once a year keeps people to remember it and is a great story to read about.
4. The story of how the Baltimore Ravens got named is a heartwarming tale of the people that live in the city. After the Baltimore Colts tanked in the late 80’s they left for Indianapolis so the people of Baltimore were deprived of football until in 1995 the owner of the Cleveland Browns brought his team there and had a telethon pole for the name of the team. And the majority voted for the ravens after Poe’s famous poem.
Derek Schwartz/F block/
Sarah Tenglin
Block F
1. - A good poem can be long or short. It doesn’t matter how long it takes to read.
- A good poem shouldn’t be so brief that the reader does not get to experience any of the emotional feelings behind the words.
- A good poem is an experience in itself, It doesn’t need to teach lessons about life.
- A good poem can include some elements that teach or illustrate a good lesson – as long as its primary purpose is to present a beautiful and emotional experience.
- A good poem gives substance to the beauty in the world around it.
2. Just the fact that he took twenty years in itself to write and rewrite the poem is amazing. When you take that much time to rethink and rewrite the single poem, that is how passionate and devoted he really was to his work. He changes the words slightly and that, I think, makes the poem more meaningful and worth reading. He also, in the second change, splits the poem up into three sort of sections and then he changes it yet again in the third time around and makes it into three stanzas. Even he changes the punctuation and that, even the smallest change, means that he really took his time.
3. This is a creepy ritual and I think that it reminds people of the death of Poe. It is defiantly interesting that someone would do something this strange every year but it sure has become a tradition. I bet there are many people that put on this display and it probably is a father son thing. That they placed a note on the grave is kind of weird because there was no football back then and I just think that it was someone trying to be funny but you never know. Also the fact that people in the museum for Poe has a signal for the Poe Toaster is cool in a way. The memory of Poe is obviously important to the people of Baltimore.
4. This story is interesting because the team was named after the poem that Poe wrote. Also the face that there are three mascots, Edgar, Allen, and Poe. When they held the vote it was obvious what the name would be considering the other choices. It just shows how many people enjoy Poe’s writing.
6. According to Poe in your life, “Baltimore writer Laura Lippman's 2001 novel In a Strange City is a murder-mystery set in modern-day Baltimore. It explores a plot to unmask the Poe Toaster, the shadowy figure who visits Poe's grave every year on the anniversary of the writer's birthday.”
Also, “In 1999 The Hollywood Reporter reported that singer Michael Jackson was slated to star as Poe in a feature film to be called "The Nightmare of Edgar Allan Poe." The status of that film project remains unclear, but it seems even the King of Pop wants to pay tribute to Poe.” This is interesting because even the rich and famous like Poe’s work.
7. It is depressing in the way that his life was slipping away. He felt that he could not wake up from a nightmare and that he needed to just slip into a deep sleep or wake up and start his life over.
1.
• A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting.
• A good poem shouldn’t be so brief that reader does not get to experience any of the emotional feelings behind the words.
• A good poem can educate as well as entertain.
• A good poem can include some elements that teach or illustrate a good lesson – as long as its primary purpose is to present a beautiful and emotional experience.
• A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.
2.
Poe cares about writing so much that he spent about 20 years trying to make “The Lake” perfect. He changed it three times to finally get it to his standards. He even changed a lot of punctuation to make the poem more exciting for the reader. He changed a lot of the vocabulary to make it more challenging to read but a lot better for the reader. Its amazing that Poe cared so much about his writing that he spent 20 years just to do these changes.
3.
The Poe Toaster is a really weird and strange story. First of all how can you like the Giants more than the Ravens with big Ray Lewis? The Poe Toaster has been there since 1949 I don’t think that it’s the same guy I think what they said “Some think that the original Poe Toaster died, and his sons keep up his tradition.” Is true that his son took over. Every January 19th he goes to his grave. People like how the Poe Toaster gives Poe that celebration. That’s why no one tries to figure out who its is.
4.
The Baltimore Ravens got there name from Edgar Allan Poe and his story “The Raven”. I knew that that’s were the Ravens got there name from but I didn’t know it was just in 1996. Also I never knew that there were three mascots named Edgar, Allan, and Poe. That is a really cool thing that the Baltimore Ravens and there fans did to celebrate Poe’s famous story “The Raven”.
6.
Poe’s most famous story was “The Raven” which tells the story of a man who gets a late-night visit from a mysterious bird that speaks only one word: "Nevermore." Poe had a thing called secret writing that he would do. One of his things look like this IBWF ZPV SFBE UIF BTTJHONFOU?
mike twitchell per. F
1.
• A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting.
• A good poem shouldn’t be so brief that the reader does not get to experience any emotional feelings behind the words.
• A good poem can educate as well as entertain.
• A good poem can include some elements that teach or illustrate a good lesson – as long as its primary purpose is to present a beautiful and emotional experience.
• A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.
2. The lake shows that Poe was a perfectionist. Poe wrote the poem and completed the final copy eighteen years later, showing how he wanted this poem to be the best it could possibly be. This poem shows early signs of his darkness in poetry and signs of poetry being the most important thing in his life. Poe was a perfectionist to the point where it was a mental necessity for everything to be in order. Having obsessive compulsive disorder symptoms like this could lead to future mental state being harmed.
3. The Poe Toaster sounds like a legend everyone in Baltimore has grown to love. People are not sure whether it is still the same person, or the original person is dead and his sons carry on the tradition. The tradition is to leave three roses and a half bottle of cognac on Poe’s grave on January 19, Poe’s birthday. The toaster gets his name from leaving the cognac “in toast” to Poe. Every year the man comes out of the woods wearing a black hat and coat, with a scarf concealing his face. In 2001 the Poe Toaster left a note right before the super bowl when the Ravens were playing Giants. The note read “The New York Giants. Darkness and decay and the big blue hold dominion over all. The Baltimore Ravens. A thousand injuries they will suffer. Edgar Allan Poe evermore.” How could he note be a Ravens fan, they were named after Poe’s poem “The Raven.”
-Max Wiese
1. “A good poem can be long or short. It doesn’t matter how long it takes to read.”
“A good poem can include just a few words.”
“A good poem is an experience in itself. It doesn’t need to teach lessons about life.”
“A good poem can include some elements that teach or illustrate a good lesson- as long as its primary purpose is to present a beautiful and emotional experience.”
“A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.”
2. Poe was a perfectionist in writing. The first version of “The Lake”, from 1827, was very educated and filled with detail and mood. Poe thought he could make the poem even better, and it was changed in 1829 with even more detail and it held more stanzas. The third version was made in 1845, and it was the final version. Poe is a perfectionist in writing because all versions were good but they were changed since he knew he could do better which took him over 15 years. This shows that writing was something Poe took a lot of time on and really cared about.
3. The Poe Toaster is a very different tradition. The honoring of Poe is very respectful since his grave is in Baltimore. The activities I found different were that the man was in disguise, and it happened at night on Poe’s birthday. It was also weird how it has been happening since 1949, and the man still leaves a half-full bottle of cognac and three roses every time. He then fades into the darkness. The Poe Toaster is a very scary and odd tradition in Baltimore.
4. I think it is very interesting that the Baltimore football team was named after Edgar Allen Poe. It is interesting how he was such a popular poet, and his poem “The Raven” was so great that many people of Baltimore voted it the team name. Poetry and football seem like the total opposite activities, but the football team name represented such a great poem. Poe is such a successful poet that the town football team was named after his poem. Many people in the town voted the name to be the Marauders, but The Baltimore Ravens beat that name at a voting of 21,108. Poe is a very great poet.
5. Many people consider Edgar Allan Poe to be one of the finest literary critics of his time. It is a mystery of how Edgar Allan Poe died.
6. “All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream.” This quote is stating he is living the dream.
-Val Hall
1. Checklist:
A good poem can be long or short. It doesn’t matter how long it takes to read.
A good poem shouldn’t be so brief that the reader does not get to experience any of the emotional feelings behind the words.
A good poem can educate as well as entertain.
A good poem can include some elements that teach or illustrate a good lesson- as long as its primary purpose is to present a beautiful and emotional experience.
A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.
2.
I thought that ‘The Lake’ was a beautiful piece of work it all just seemed to flow together when you read it, but I personally thought the first two versions were best.
I believe that ‘The Lake’ showed that Poe loved the outdoors and anything spooky in the outdoors, which is plainly shown in the lines, “In youths spring, it was my lot to haunt of the wide earth a spot the which I could not love the less; so lovely was the loneliness.” Poe obviously thought being alone, or in fear, or where anything that would get your heart beating a little faster made a good poem. To me, this shows that he had some depressive periods and was just a fan of the macabre, and also loved being scared in a good way, as it says in the line, “My infant spirit would awake to the terror of the lone lake yet that terror was not fright – but a tremulous delight, and a feeling undefin’d, springing from a darken’d mind.” One thing I notice about some poets that write dark work is that usually they have something stressful going on or had gone on in their life and their work seems to embody it like Poe’s does.
3.
In “The Poe Toaster”, the first thing I noticed is that the tradition started in 1949 and still continues today, and then I noticed that some people think it’s a father-son tradition. To me, that makes perfect sense. The original man could have been a close friend to him or to his family, or just a huge fan of his writings, and then his sons caught on and enjoyed Poe’s work also, and it goes on from there. The initiation one makes sense, too. I also think that perhaps the man may be an apparition, if you believe in them, but since they respect the Toasters privacy I don’t think anyone will really know.
4.
One thing I love is when towns or places take things from its history and interject it into modern day society, like the Baltimore Ravens. Its cute how the mascots are named Edgar, Allan and Poe, too. I think Poe would have found it amusing how HIS name is used for football, since his name is usually associated with despair and dark things. I’m not a fan of football but I think if they have chosen the Marauders or the Americans it wouldn’t have been as interesting.
5.
Some interesting facts I found were that Poe was extremely interested in secret codes and writing, so much so that he included it in some of his works and that he only had one change of clothes. I think the first one shows he was heavily into the macabre and weird things and the second one shows how poor he was.
6.
In ‘A Dream Within a Dream”, when I was done reading it, my first thought was that he was saying that no matter how much he tries to gain money, he still stays poor and that he if often saying goodbye to his hope. I figured out the money situation in the lines, “And I hold within my hand grains of the golden sand- how few! yet how they creep through my fingers to the deep, while I weep–while I weep! O God! can I not grasp them with a tighter clasp?” Golden sand seems to correlate to gold, obviously as in coins, money, whatever and he states that no matter how hard he tries to hold on to it, it still slips through his fingers. I figured out how he keeps on losing hope through the lines, “Yet if hope has flown away in a night, or in a day, in a vision, or in none, is it therefore the less gone?” He is saying that if hope is gone, how much hope does he have now because he already has none to lose. I think the questions and philosophies make this work more significant to the reader because it really makes you think about how your life is and where your hope lies.
Sara Meadows
The poem “A Dream within a Dream” offers direct correlation to Poe’s real life because it is sad like Poe’s life was. For instance, when he says, “O God! I can not save them.” Maybe he meant his parents and how they died, maybe he blames himself. The questions and philosophies raised in this short work have significance to both Poe and the critical reader. Question I have is what’s with the sand? And why is this dream a sad dream? This short story was truly a significant way to get to the reader.
lindsay white
F block
A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one setting.
A good poem can include a few words or phrases.
A good poem can have a single purpose to teach a truth, to encourage people to act in one way,to be emotional and a soulful experience.
A good poem gives emotional substance to beauty and the world around it.
A good poem is an experience in it-self. It doesn't need to teach lessons about life.
Poe is an incredible writer. By him rewording/rephrasing his poems it makes him a better writer and makes better work. Poe makes sure his poems arent diffucult to comprehend, but makes it enticing to read. Poe improved over the years.
I didn't think Poe the Toaster was great I thought it was okay. I do think it was cool that he left a note about Super Bowl 21 about the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Giants.
I thought Baltimore Raven was cool. I thought it was cool because it tells me how the Ravens got their name. I never knew they had 3 mascots representing his name Edgar, Allan, and Poe. I also never knew they changed their team name from Cleveland Browns to Baltimore Ravens. Thats why I thought it was cool.
Poe didn't like being a bad writer at all. A matter of fact he is a perfectionist. All the poems he wrote he made sure each word, each sentence was no less then perfect. I like how he strived to make his work perfect. Those are
my interesting facts.
A Dream within a Dream, is sort of a surreal place for Poe. His life was'nt great but this poem shows he wanted it to be like a Dream within a Dream. Poe wanted to wake up from hsi bad life and be in a Dream within a Dream. Otherwords in Poes' mind the perfect place/life.
Charlie Duquette B Block.
Meg O'Neal
Block F
1. A good poem should be short enough to read and enjoy in one sitting
- A good poem shouldn’t be so brief that the read does not get to experience any of the emotional feelings behind the words.
- A good poem educates as well as entertain.
- A good poem can have a single purpose –to tech a truth, to encourage people to act one way, or to be and emotional and soulful experience.
- A good poem gives emotional substance to the beauty in the world around it.
2. Poe was a very indecisive man. He worked on that poem for a good few years and always changed it. Poe liked change. He always knew he could make his work better and he did that. Poe was obsessed with making his work as great as possible. He learned so much from that poem that he worked on it for 18 years.
3. I think that the Poe toaster is cool, because most people don’t do that to famous people. I think it’s weird and cool at the same time. I like the whole mystery thing and how no one knows who’s doing it. It’s weird that he goes there every yea on Poe’s birthday. H probably hasn’t missed one since. He’s been doing it since 1949, he must be old, but it might be right that that Poe toasters sons or daughters do it.
4. I think its cool how the Baltimore Ravens got there name. It’s probably true that most of the players on the team don’t know that it’s a famous poem. They probably don’t even know who Edgar Allan Poe is. I guess the name suits them since the poem is about “anguish and fierce longing”. So I think it’s neat to have a football team named after a poem made in the 19th century.
6. “An orphan at the age of two...” that’s so sad. Maybe that’s why he could write such deep poems. Maybe that’s why he wrote of sad depressing things. Poe must’ve thought his life was sad, and it is. ”A schoolboy who had mastered even the most complex Latin works by the time he was a teenager...” he seemed like a very smart man. To know all of that while only being a teenager. That’s probably why he was such a great writer, because he was so smart and he knew what he was talking about.
7. “And, in parting from you now,” that connects to his real life because he had to part from his family. “That my days have been a dream;” meaning it doesn’t seem real, it seems like a dream that he had lost his parents so fast. The questions and philosophies raised in this short work have a greater significance to Poe maybe because he wrote the poems and he knew exactly how he meant and felt at the time, the critical reader can guess how he feels, but they won’t know how it feels exactly.
Having learned all this about what makes a good poem, what are some the best poems you have read?
Also, is it rue that a good poem should be short enough to read in one sitting? What about the Iliad, Paradise Lost? Beowulf? Hmmmm
If a good poem is an experience in itself, what is a poem you have experienced? Having looked at some of the art work on Mr. Kefor's blog, I am reminded of how truly remarkable William Blake was. I am especially reminded of his Auguries of Innocence. My favorite four lines:
To See a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower
To hold infinity in the palm of one's hand
And eternity in an hour
Powerful stuff if you think about it.
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