This tutorial was so much help, and gave me some new insight to the writings of Poe. When I read works, I have a hard time not taking it for face value. But now I know that when things don't look quite right, I should read those passages over again and try to connect them to other things that are "against the grain." With Poe, I just always had assumed that he was a morbid, scary writer, which he is in his own right. However, there is always much more. As in The Black Cat, when I read through it the first time, I recognized some things; the oddities of the narrator's character, lynching of the cat, and a wall that didn't burn down. Through discussion, my group understood the interpretation of the work. That the black cat represented black slaves in an uprising, and all the events in the story give support to it. It was fun to be able to discuss and work through the piece together!
Additionally, I thought this workshop was helpful because I now understand the step-by-step process of creating a thesis. It was a little muddled before.
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You know Poe was certainly an alcoholic but most interesting are his untraditional marriages. His first wife was very young and also his cousin! She died tragically of disease and he never really got over it. Then he married another young cousin. I'm not really sure about mental disease or anything like that, He was not a happy man.
ReplyDeletei agree that poe is quite a morbid yet interesting character. i feel however that usually to fully grasp the underlying meanings and symbols in his writing i definetly need a guide like a class to learn about what he is truly trying to say. just like you i was glad we had the workshop. it helped me tons!
ReplyDeleteNora,
ReplyDeleteI had no historical context of his life! That makes his literature a little easier to grasp. Even though it may be an excuse for his morbid literature, he still creep me out a little bit!
Charlie,
ReplyDeleteI agree! For me, it has been interesting that there are all of these underlying meanings to texts that I never knew. It really helps me to be in a structured setting to help me understand!