WEBVTT - How Did Edgar Allan Poe Work? 0:00:01.600 --> 0:00:14.160 I Heart three D Audio. Welcome to brain Stuff production 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:18.760 of I Heart Radio. Hey there, brain Stuff. Lauren Vogelbaum 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:22.400 here with a special three D episode. So make sure 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:26.280 that you have headphones or earbuds ready, because after we 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:28.720 talk a little bit about the life and times of 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:31.360 Edgar Allan Poe, we're going to have for you a 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:36.640 special three D reading of his poem The Raven. Whether 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:39.600 you were introduced to Edgar Allan Poe through his short 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:42.360 stories or his poems, a mention of his name is 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:46.080 enough to conjure up a sense of eeriness. This early 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:49.440 American writer has been credited with inventing the detective story, 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:54.640 pioneering science fiction, and of course, revolutionizing dark fiction. He's 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:58.280 the subject of three museums, the Poem Museum in Richmond, Virginia, 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:01.440 the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:05.600 and the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:08.959 Many fans of the writer also enjoy visiting his grave 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:13.679 at Westminster Hall and Burying Ground in Baltimore. Along with 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:17.600 his long lasting literary popularity, Poe was equally known for 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:21.280 his literary criticism and if his career as a writer 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:24.560 now seems inevitable. No one would have suspected it at 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:29.160 the beginning. Born in Boston to traveling actors in eighteen 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:32.080 o nine, Poe had become an orphan by the age 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.720 of three. A Scottish immigrant and tobacco merchant, John Allen 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:38.720 and his wife Francis, brought Poe to Richmond and raised 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:41.960 him as their foster child. His new father expected that 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:44.520 Poe would become a businessman like he was, but the 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:48.880 boy had other aspirations. Poe left home to study at 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:51.920 the University of Virginia in eighteen twenty six without much 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:55.120 support from Allen, who provided him with a meager allowance. 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:59.000 In an attempt to increase his income, Poe began gambling, 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:03.600 which led him to debt rather than prosperity. Allen refused 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:07.200 to cover his losses, and Poe dropped out of university. 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:10.920 The relationship with his father strained. Poe joined the U. 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:14.280 S Army and later entered the United States Military Academy 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:17.520 at West Point. By that time, he determined that he 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:20.720 would become a writer and published his first book, Tamerlane 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:25.400 and Other Poems, pieces, largely inspired by Lord Byron. His 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:28.360 time at West Point was cut short when he was expelled, 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:32.120 probably not as rumors have had it, for drinking, fighting, 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:36.240 or nudity, but rather for offenses like skipping class and chapel. 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:40.600 Perhaps the end of his military career was for the best. 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:43.360 Poe always knew he was meant to be a writer, 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:48.320 and he was right. After West Point, Poe returned to Baltimore, 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:51.200 got left out of Allen's will when he died, and 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:55.640 began publishing his own short stories, acquiring an editorial position 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:59.240 with the magazine Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond. Poe added, 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:02.120 literary critics is m to a skill set. His reviews 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:06.120 were known for their critical and exacting nature. But if 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:09.680 critics are sometimes accused of operating from a perspective of arrogance, 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:13.280 not having done the work themselves, Poe was different. He 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:16.840 was a writer himself. Indeed, Pope felt it was his 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:19.919 duty to bring American writers up to higher standards. According 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:23.600 to the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site for the 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:26.320 article this episode is based on How Stuff Works. Spoke 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:30.160 with Paul Voss, Associate professor of English at Georgia State University. 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:32.920 He said he was on the leading edge of what 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:35.800 it meant to be a professional writer. He was a craftsman. 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:39.960 He put in the time when Poe was writing, American 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:44.280 literature was still in its infancy. Post contemporaries included Herman 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.600 Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne, while Mark Twain was just a 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:51.120 teenager when Poe died. As a writer and magazine editor, 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:54.800 Poe campaigned to improve the profession, pushing for better pay 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:58.600 and copyright laws. At the age of twenty seven, he 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.760 married thirteen year old for Ginia Clem, his first cousin. 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:05.920 He continued writing, moved to New York and Philadelphia, and 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:10.400 struggled financially. His situation improved in eighteen forty five when 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:13.600 his poem The Raven made him a household name, but 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:17.719 two years later, in eighteen forty seven, Virginia died of tuberculosis, 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:22.080 and Poe would soon follow her to the grave. His 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:25.160 works include stories like The Tell Tale Heart and The 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:27.880 Fall of the House of Usher, plus poems like The 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:31.360 Bells and Annabelle Lee. If you're looking to dip your 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:34.159 toe in Poe's greatest hits, start with the select works 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:37.000 on the Poem Museum website. They're available in full for 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:39.599 free online as are his other works now in the 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:44.320 public domain. Following Virginia's death, Poe is reported to have 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:47.840 increased his alcohol consumption, but by the summer of eighteen 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:51.000 forty nine he had become re engaged to his ex fiancee, 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:55.400 Sarah Elmira Royster, but the two were not destined to marry. 0:04:56.080 --> 0:05:00.120 Stopping in Baltimore while traveling, Poe disappeared for five days. 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:04.080 He was spotted near a pub, possibly drunk, wearing strange 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:07.560 clothing that was not his, in and out of consciousness. 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:10.160 A few mornings later, he died in a hospital at 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:14.400 the age of forty. Many theories have been suggested about 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:18.760 his death, ranging from alcohol poisoning to epilepsy to tuberculosis, 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:22.760 but another theory posits that Poe fell victim to corrupt 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:26.760 politicians in Baltimore who attacked men, drugged and disguised them, 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:30.200 and took them to vote repeatedly at various polling places, 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:34.600 and then left them for dead. Originally buried in an 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:38.800 unmarked grave and an inauspicious location at Westminster, Poe was 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:42.119 moved thanks to Baltimore school children who raised enough money 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:45.320 with their eighteen seventy five pennies for Poe project to 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:47.679 earn him a monument and a place at the front 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:51.400 of the cemetery. He lies near Virginia and her mother, 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:55.280 Maria Poe clem among heroes from the American Revolution and 0:05:55.400 --> 0:06:00.479 the War of eighteen twelve. Outside of inspiring lovers of 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:03.440 the macabre, Poe's work has had a lasting effect on 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:07.000 the literature and popular writing that followed him. The Guardian 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:10.719 lists Arthur Conan Doyle, Peter Straub, and Jules Verne among 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:13.600 those who were influenced by Poe, and states that he 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:16.679 quote signals the beginning of what would become a great 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:21.720 Anglo American literary dialogue. The master of Celluloid's Spence, none 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.680 other than Alfred Hitchcock, has been quoted as stating, it's 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:27.680 because I liked Edgar Allan Poe's stories so much that 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:32.000 I began to make suspense films. But he was more 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:35.200 than a writer. According to Voss, Poe held the belief 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:37.440 that there was no puzzle that the human mind can 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:41.360 make that the human mind cannot then solve. He tried 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:44.599 to test that theory in The Purloined Letter by looking 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:48.200 at the operation of intellect and rationality. His was a 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:52.440 rational approach, even to something as carnal and visceral as revenge. 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:58.320 As Voss said, his stories still continue to fascinate. Also, 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:02.000 not many writers can boast a sports team being named 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:05.440 in honor of them, but Poe can. The Baltimore Ravens 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:08.520 NFL team owes its name to the hometown heroes most 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:14.280 famous poem, and fittingly, its mascot is named Poe. And 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:17.200 now this is where an episode would usually wrap up. 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:20.280 But please stay tuned headphones on if you've got them, 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:23.960 for a special three D presentation of Poe's poem The Raven. 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:33.520 Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:39.679 weary over many acquainting curious volume of Forgotten Law. While 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:44.960 I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came tapping, as of 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:51.080 someone gently rapping, wrapping at my chamber door. To some visitor, 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:54.240 I muttered, tapping at my chamber door, Only this and 0:07:54.320 --> 0:08:00.320 nothing more. Distinctly, I remember it was in the bleak samber, 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:04.800 and each separate dying amber wrought its ghost upon the floor. 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.440 Eagerly I wished to themorrow. Vainly I had sought to 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:12.640 borrow from my book secrease of sorrow, sorrow for the 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:17.080 lost Lenore, for the rare and radiant maiden whom the 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:24.119 angels named Lenore, nameless here forever more. And the silken, sad, 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:29.000 uncertain rustling of each purple curtain thrilled me, filled me 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:33.680 with fantastic terrors never felt before. So that now to 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:36.840 still the beating of my heart, I stood, repeating, tis 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:40.080 some visitor and treating entrance at my chamber door, some 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:43.480 late visitor, in treating entrance at my chamber door. This 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:49.200 it is, and nothing more. Presently my soul grew stronger, 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:53.600 hesitating than no longer, sir, said I, or madam, truly 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:57.280 your forgiveness, I implore. But the fact is I was napping, 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:00.440 and so gently you came rapping, and so ly you 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.360 came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, that I scarce 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:06.199 was sure I heard you here. I opened wide the door. 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:14.280 Darkness there, and nothing more. Deep into that darkness, peering long, 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:20.079 I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams. No mortals 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:24.800 ever dared to dream before. But the silence was unbroken, 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.720 and the stillness gave no token. And the only word 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:34.319 they're spoken was the whispered word lenor this, I whispered, 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:40.640 and an echo murmured back the word merely this and 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:47.000 nothing more, back into the chamber, turning, Oh, my soul 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:50.640 within me burning Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:55.520 louder than before. Surely, said I, surely that is something 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:58.480 at my window lattice. Let me see then what they're attics, 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:02.000 And this mystery explore, Let my heart be still a moment, 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:05.280 and this mystery explore tis the wind, and nothing more 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:10.760 open Here I flung the shutter, when with many a 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:15.160 flirt and flutter in their stepped a stately raven of 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:19.280 the saintly days of yore, not the least obesiance made 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:22.040 he not a minute stopped or stated he, but with 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:25.040 mien of Lord or lady, perched above my chamber door, 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:28.319 perched upon a bust of palace just above my chamber door, 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:34.480 perched and sat, and nothing more then this ebony bird 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:39.080 beguiling my sad fancy into smiling by the grave and 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:43.200 stern decorum of the countenance at war. Though thy crest 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:47.640 be shown and shaven, thou, I said, art show no craven, ghastly, 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:51.800 grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore. Tell 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:54.760 me what thy lordly name is on the Knight's Plutonian shore. 0:10:55.800 --> 0:11:03.199 Quote the raven never more much. I marveled this ungainly 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:06.839 fowl to hear discourse so plainly, though its answer little meaning, 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:11.080 little relevancy bore. For we cannot help agreeing that no 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:14.679 living human being ever yet was blessed with seeing bird 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:18.600 above his chamber door, bird or beast upon the sculptured 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:21.760 bust above his chamber door, with such name as never more. 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:27.280 But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.079 only that one word, as if his soul in that 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:34.040 one word he did outpour nothing farther than he uttered, 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:37.719 not a feather than he fluttered, till I scarcely more 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:41.160 than muttered other friends have flown before. On the morrow 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:45.360 he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before. Then, 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:52.000 the bird said, never more. Startled at the stillness broken 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:56.000 by reply so aptly spoken, doubtless, said I what it 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:59.400 utters is its only stock and store caught from some 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:04.600 happy master, whom a merciful disaster followed fast, and followed 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:08.640 faster till his songs one burden bore till the dirges 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:12.960 of his hope, that melancholy burden bore of never never more. 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:19.960 But the raven still beguiling all my fancy into smiling Straight, 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:22.240 I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:26.480 bust and door. Then upon the velvet sinking, I betook 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:31.600 myself to linking fancy and to fancy, thinking what this 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:37.559 ominous bird of Yore, Oh, what this grim, ungainly, ghastly, 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:42.240 gaunt and ominous bird of yore meant in croaking? Never more? 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:48.880 This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:52.120 to the foul, whose fiery eyes now burned into my 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:56.240 bosom's core. This and more I sat divining, with my 0:12:56.400 --> 0:13:00.080 head at ease, reclining on the cushion's velvet, lining the 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:04.800 the lamplike gloated. Or but whose velvet violet lining with 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:12.280 the lamplike gloating, Or she shall press nevermore? Then methought, 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:17.320 the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censor swung 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:22.440 by seraphim, whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor. Hrett 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:26.200 I cried, Thy God hath lent thee by these angels. 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:28.640 He hath sent thee rest spite, rest spite, and the 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:32.480 penthee from thy memories of Lunore quaf o quaff this 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:36.320 kind of penthey, and forget this lost Ludore. Quote the 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:43.240 Raven never more profit said, I thing of evil profits still, 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:47.200 If bird or devil, whether tempter sent, or whether tempest 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:51.199 tossed thee here ashore, desolate yet all undaunted on this 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.480 desert land, and shaunted on this home by horror, haunted, 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:58.720 Tell me truly, I implore. Is there is there balm 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:03.120 in Gilead, Tell me, tell me, I implore. Quote the 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:10.240 raven nevermore profit said, I think of evil profits still, 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:13.600 if bird or devil, by that heaven that bends above us, 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:16.960 by that god we both adore, Tell this soul was 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:19.680 sorrow lad, and if within the distant aid and it 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:23.240 shall clasp the sainted maiden whom the angel's name Lenore, 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:27.480 clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angel's name Lenoir. 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:32.920 Quote the raven nevermore be that word our sign of 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:35.840 parting bird of fiend, I shrieked up, starting get thee 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:39.160 back into the tempest and the night's plutonian shore. Leave 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:41.680 no black plume as a token of the lie thy 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:45.520 soul hath spoken, Leave my loneliness unbroken, Quit the bust 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:49.160 above my door, Take thy beacout from my heart, and 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:54.760 take thy form from off my door. Quote the raven nevermore, 0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:03.040 and the raven never flitting still, is sitting still, is 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:07.560 sitting on that pallid bust of palace just above my 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:12.080 chamber door. And his eyes of all the seeming of 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:16.520 a demon's that is dreaming, and the lamplight or him 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:21.200 streaming throws his shadow on the floor, And my soul 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:24.960 from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:40.080 shall be lifted nevermore. This episode was brought to you 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.440 an i Heeart three D audio. To experience more podcasts 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.200 like this, search for i Heeart three D audio in 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:48.840 the i heart Radio app. It was based on the 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:52.040 article Life and Mysterious Depth of Edgar Allan Poe on 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:55.480 how stuff Works dot Com, written by Carrie Whitney. Brainstuff 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:57.400 is a production of I Heart Radio in partnership with 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:00.000 how stuff Works dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:03.480 Or more podcasts in general from my heart Radio, visit 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:06.120 the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:07.400 listen to your favorite shows