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Philadelphia’s Influence on Poe
Kathleen Gilligan
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the greatest writers in American history. His stories are read everywhere and by everyone. Many wonder what inspired Poe, and how he came up with such unique and interesting ideas. Did they come from events in his life, crimes he heard of, or perhaps just the twisted genius that was his mind? While nobody will ever be able to get into Poe’s head, one thing is clear: every place Edgar Allan Poe lived had a dramatic effect on him and greatly influenced his stories and poetry. And what was Philadelphia’s impact?
Arguably the happiest times of Poe’s life were spent in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Now known as the Poe House, the building in which Poe lived with his wife and mother-in-law from 1842 until 1844 still stands. Many of Poe’s best known works were written in Philadelphia, among them “The Black Cat.” Those who have visited Poe house and ventured into the cellar will see the extreme similarity between it and the one in “The Black Cat.” Though the steep stairs, bricks, limestone, and plaster could resemble any old basement, there is one thing that without a doubt was the inspiration for 1843’s “The Black Cat.” The room, like the other rooms in the Poe house, is bare. It makes the experience all the more chilling. Poe writes, “… in one of the walls was a projection, caused by a false chimney, or fireplace, that had been filled up, and made to resemble the rest of the cellar.” (Poe 398) It cannot be mere coincidence that the cellar in “The Black Cat” had an exact replica of the cellar in Poe’s Philadelphia house.
The cellar in the Poe House in Philadelphia may also have, in part, inspired 1946’s “The Cask of Amontillado.” Though this story was published a few years later, when Poe was no longer living in Philadelphia, it too has one of the main characters walled up. (And perhaps Poe started writing it while he was in Philadelphia?) The sizes of the chimney in the Poe House and the crypt in “The Cask of Amontillado” are quite similar. In “The Cask of Amontillado” Poe writes of “…a still interior crypt… in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven. It seemed to have been constructed for no especial use within itself.” (Poe 501)
The remnants of the Poe House chimney still stand. Those who work and give tours at the Poe House say that supposedly a body is able to fit in the space, though they claim to never have tried… This boy, on the other hand, tried and succeeded!
Other influences??
“The Mystery of Marie Roget” was most certainly based on the murder of a New York woman named Mary Rogers in 1841. Supposedly this is the first mystery based on the events of a real crime.
“The Fall of the House of Usher” may have been inspired by The Usher House in Boston: legend goes that a jealous husband brought the house down around his wife and her lover.
Works Cited
Gruenemann. Cellar Niche, Edgar Allen Poe House, Philadelphia. 2006. Photograph. Philadelphia. Flickr. Yahoo.com. Web. 31 Mar. 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/gruenemann/493723068/.
Poe, Edgar Allan. Great Short Works of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. G.R. Thompson. New York, NY: Harper & Row, Inc., 1970. v-564.
The Metaphor of the Iron Forge
Katie Duffield – Image Gloss #2
365
Dare you see a Soul at the White Heat?
Then crouch within the door—
Red—is the Fire’s common tint—
But when the vivid Ore
Has vanquished Flame’s conditions,
It quivers from the Forge
Without a color, but the light
Of unanointed Blaze.
Least Village has its Blacksmith
Whose Anvil’s even ring
Stands symbol for the finer Forge
That soundless tugs—within—
Refining these impatient Ores
With Hammer, and with Blaze
Until the Designated Light
Repudiate the Forge—
-Emily Dickinson, 1862
Emily Dickinson wrote hundreds and hundreds of poems. One in particular starts with the phrase “Dare you see a Soul at the White Heat?” this poem is a metaphor for the desires people keep within themselves. The poem uses the heat and fire of the iron forge to describe the passions and desires that people carry within themselves only to fester and erupt. Dickinson starts the poem with a dare to her audience. She asks if people can see their own soul. The soul holds all the desires a person can have. Its holds all the things that people allow themselves not to have. Some do not allow themselves to love while others work in an unrewarding job both cases these desires are not fulfilled but they stay deep inside. The desires in the soul are like the iron ore in a fire. The fire is red hot but somehow the ore remains colorless, “It quivers from the Forge / Without a color,” as if the desires cannot be bound to the soul. Dickinson claims that “Least Village has it’s Blacksmith” this means that every person has a longing. It may not be audible but the pain can be felt by the human whom has that craving. This is when the iron ore grows impatient. It has become too hot for the forge to handle and soon the lighted ore is released from the forge. This describes the longings in the soul. In time these passions become too heavy and too pain the bare. The only way to stop the pain is to succumb to the desires.
Francisco Goya “The Forge” 1817
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This could be in reference to anything and anyone. The one thing humans have in common with each other is their emotions. The use of the forge to express this metaphor was specifically chosen. Dickinson could have compared the longing soul to nature or even religion but she used something manmade. This could be because she is trying to express human emotions that cannot be used in any other medium. The heart wants what it wants. Someone may be able to turn to nature and religion to relieve some of the pain but the desires are always there. The tragic stories of “Romeo and Juliet” and Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener” are examples of humans succumbing to their passions. Romeo and Juliet love each other so passionately that the only way they can be together is in death. Bartleby’s passion is to detach himself to the outside world which he finally does in his death. Also, the forge is physically hot. The pain someone can feel in their soul can be heard in the pounding of the hammer on the ore. Passion is often given the color red for its intensity. The feeling of the release of these desires can be like the colorless ore in the forge. The release gives off such light which is colorless to the eye.
Images:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forge_%28Goya%29
Black Cats: Superstitions and Beliefs
This video is showing us different beliefs and superstitions that various cultures have about black cats. In “The Black Cat,” Poe held his black cat responsible for the bad events that were happening in his life. “Upon its head, with red extended mouth and solitary eye of fire, sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder and whose informing voice had consigned me to the hangman.” P.2526
Employment & Imprisonment
Dead Letter Office
“This view might have been considered rather tame than otherwise, deficient in what landscape painters call, “life”. But if so, the view from the other end of my chambers offered, at least, a contrast, if nothing more. In that direction my windows commanded an unobstructed view of a lofty brick wall, black by age and everlasting shade; which wall required no spy-glass to bring out its lurking beauties, but for the benefit of all near sighted spectators, was pushed up to within ten feet of my window panes.” (Melville , 2626)
Interior of the Tombs
“The surrounding walls, of amazing thickness, kept off all sounds behind them. The Egyptian character of the masonry weighed on me with its gloom.” (Melville, 2650)
Herman Melville was a merciless critic of capitalism. This is quite evident in the short story, “Bartleby, the Scrivener”. In the preceding quotes, he captures the oppressive environments of a cramped office and a prison. Through highly descriptive writing, Melville creates a parallel between office work and imprisonment. Melville shows the effects of the stultifying environment and repetitive, mind numbing work through the characters of Bartleby, and to a lesser degree, Turkey and Nippers. They have been dehumanized by their jobs and react to the dehumanization in varying ways; Turkey and Nippers through rage and Bartleby in a kind of passive, fading protest.
Bartleby’s protest results in imprisonment at the Tombs. The Tombs was a nickname for the The Halls of Justice, so named because the design was based on an Egyptian mausoleum. The Tombs were built in 1838 and were notorious for bleak architecture and unsanitary conditions due to the swampy land the structure was built on. It was rebuilt in 1902, replaced in 1941, “closed down for security and health reasons” in 1974, remodeled in 1983 and additions were made in 1990.
The Tombs in the 1850s, at the time “Bartleby the Scrivener” was written, were known for their miserable conditions: “the watery foundation and the lightless solidity of the building were largely responsible for its reputation as an egregious, unsanitary hellhole”. That Bartleby ends up staring at the walls of this prison just as he stared at the walls in the office is telling. Melville is clearly making an unflattering statement about both environments.
Modern Day Office
Sources:
Melville, Herman. “Bartleby the Scrivener”
http://www.officemuseum.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tombs
http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/nycdoc/html/histry3a.html
Scott Wooton Image Gloss 2: The Quakers
The Quakers
The Quaker movement began in England during the mid 1600s. The Quakers believe that there is a part of God in each person, and thus all people are children of God. Since every person is a child of God they believe that all people, regardless of race and gender, are equal. The Quakers also believe in peace, close community, and a relationship with God without the need for a religious hierarchy. Quakers do not worship in churches, or celebrate traditional Christian holy days. (www.bbc.co.uk)
In England, the Quakers began the first active anti-slavery movement. The Quakers were soon persecuted for their actions and beliefs. The Quaker’s approach of worship without a church or clergy led to as many as 6,000 Quakers being imprisoned in England between 1662 and 1670. When the Quakers began arriving in America, they brought with them these ideals of equality and peace. (www.bbc.co.uk)
Given a close examination of the Quaker characters in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, it would appear that Stowe may be portraying Quakers as the ideal Christians. The Quakers share Stowe’s belief that the institution of slavery should be abolished, and treating runaway slaves as equals. Self-proclaimed Christians who own slaves in the novel, with the notable exceptions of George Shelby and Evangeline St. Clare, either use religion as their excuse for slave ownership, or are simply unwilling to relinquish the wealth and comfortable lifestyles that slavery affords them.
Image Source – http://ushistoryimages.com/images/quakers/fullsize/quakers-2.jpg
Works Cited
“Quakers.” bbc.co.uk. Web. 8. Mar. 2010.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/quakers_1.shtml>
“The shot heard around the world”
The Concord Hymn is a poem written by Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1836 in commemoration of the first battles of the American Revolutionary War, in Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.
The American Revolutionary War, which began in 1775 and ended in 1783, initiated as a war between Great Britain and the thirteen former British colonies in North America. The war formally ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783. The Treaty of Paris acknowledged the thirteen colonies as all free, sovereign and independent states.
The Concord Hymn was written by Emerson for a ceremony unveiling the completion of the Obelisk Battle Monument on July 4, 1837. It was sung to the tune of Old Hundred, and has since then held its place in regards to commemorating the American Revolutionary War. Examples of the Concord Hymn’s prominence as a historical piece on the war show in its popularity in the newspapers of that time and schools’ requirement of pupils to recite the poem by memory. The first five lines of the hymn are inscribed on Daniel Chester French’s Minute Man Statue (shown below) to honor the men of the American militia utilized for their high mobility and quick response which allowed the colonies to quickly respond to potential threats during the war.
Emerson’s fiery ode to this historical event may have been due to his ancestral ties to it. His grandfather fought in the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the house Emerson resided in, The Old Manse (shown below), located near the bridge his father was stationed on, was the place where Emerson wrote the hymn.
The Dial
The Dial, whose title intended to bring to mind a sundial, was an American magazine published sporadically from 1840 to 1929. The first form of the magazine served as a main publication for the Transcendentalists in 1840 to 1844. Then, it later metamorphasized into a political magazine in the 1888’s. Finally, from 1920 to 1929, it was an influential outlet for Modernist literature in English.
It first began in October 1839, when the Transcendental Club (a group of New England intellectulas) began to discuss a creation vehicle for their essays and reviews in philosophy and religion. Influential journals at the time, like the North American Review and The Christian Examiner, refused to accept their work for publication. Orestes Bronson, a New England intellectual, activist, and publicist (affiliated with the Trans. Club) among other things, proposed to utilize his recently-established periodical Boston Quarterly Review, but the club just thought a brand new publication would be better. Frederick Henry Hedge, one of the original founders of the club and a New England Unitarian minister, Theodore Parker, a reforming minister of the Unitarian church and an abolitionist (his words and quotes influenced Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr.), Ralph Waldo Emerson, the essayist, philosopher, and poet, best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement of the 19th century, were originally considered for the role of editor. On October 20, 1839, Margaret Fuller, a journalist, critic, woman’s right activist, and transcendentalist, accepted the editorship, although she didn’t begin to work on the publication until the first week of 1840. The first issue was published in July 1840, with Emerson calling it a “journal in a new spirit” and it remained in this publication form (transcendental) until 1844. The Dial was criticized, even by other transcendentalist, expecting it to be more radical than it was. Moreover, the journal was never financially stable, so the publication ceased .
In 1860, the magazine turned into a publication of politics and literary criticism, founded by Francis Fisher Brown, who was the editor for over 30 years. It was then sold by the Browne Family and bought by Scofield Thayer, an American poet and publisher (also known for his art collection in the Metropolitan Museum), who established The Dial into a literary magazine; the form that was the most successful and best known. It published influential artwork, poetry, and fiction by well-known people like Yeats, T.S. Elliot (a good friend of Thayer), E.E. Cummings, Ezra Pound, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisee, and a host of other incomparable writers and artists. After the magazine moved through a series of editors, the new owner, Scofield Thayer, fell ill, and the pubication stopped in July 1929.
Works Cited
http://en.wikipedia.orf/wiki/the-dial
http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/dial/dialhist.htm
The Angel of Death
The wild eyes blazed with a too–too glorious effulgence; the pale fingers became of the transparent waxen hue of the grave, and the blue veins upon the lofty forehead swelled and sank impetuously with the tides of the most gentle emotion. I saw that she must dies–and I struggled desperately in spirit with the grim Azrael.
-Edgar Allan Poe (Ligeia)
Death has been a morbid fascination of mankind since we became self-aware. We spend all our lives with other people, observing them, interacting with them, and then suddenly we’re looking down on their bodies. What we knew to be them, to be their souls, is gone. What really happens when you die? Is it really the end? It’s a frightening idea because most of us aren’t ready to die. Most of us, if we could, would opt for longer lives.
The idea of death as a sentient being arose in many different cultures. In the Hellenic tradition, death was inevitable and therefore was not represented as purely evil. Thanatos (Death) is often portrayed as a bearded and winged man, but has also been portrayed as a young boy. Thanatos’ sisters, the Keres were the spirits of violent death. They were associated with deaths from battle, disease, accident, and murder. They were portrayed as evil, often feeding on the blood of the body after the soul had been escorted to Hades. They had fangs, talons, and would be dressed in bloody garments.
In Germanic folklore, Death was a guise of Odin, the father of the Norse gods. To the Welsh Death is Angeu and Ankou to Bretons, and is regarded as a man in a hooded robe (invariably black) sometimes carrying a scythe. Old Slavic tribes viewed Death as a woman in white clothes with a never-fading green sprout in her hand, the touch of which would put a human to an everlasting sleep. Lithuanians named Death Giltinė, deriving from word “gelti” (to sting). Giltinė was viewed as an old ugly woman with long blue nose and deadly poisonous tongue. The legend tells that Giltinė was young, pretty and communicative until she was trapped in a coffin for seven years. The goddess of Death was a sister of the goddess of Life and Destiny, Laima, symbolizing the relationship between beginning and end.
Death as a female.
In English, Death is often given the name the “Grim Reaper” and from the 15th century onwards came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood. It is also given the name of the Angel of Death stemming from the Bible. In some cases, the Grim Reaper is able to actually cause the victim’s death, leading to tales that he can be bribed, tricked, or outwitted in order to retain one’s life. Other beliefs hold that the Spectre of Death is only a psychopomp, serving to sever the last ties between the soul and the body and to guide the deceased to the next world without having any control over the fact of the victim’s death.
Reference: http://www.wikipedia.org || referencing “Azrael,” “Archangel of Death,” and “death personified”
American Renaissance II 
