“Annabel Lee” Blog Post

By Sophie S.

            Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” was published posthumously in 1849, only two days after his death (Johnson). This poem deals with one of the author’s favorite subjects, the “death of a beautiful woman [which he believed was] unquestionably, the most poetic topic in the world” (Johnson).

Because this was Poe’s last poem to be published, many people questioned who the inspiration was for this poem. Although there were a few possible candidates, many people claimed that Virginia Clemm, Poe’s first wife, was “the only woman Poe ever loved” and must therefore have been the muse for his last poem (Jones). In fact, many interpret the line, “She was a child and I was a child,” as a hint to Virginia being Poe’s inspiration due to the fact that they were married when she was only thirteen years old, while Poe was twenty-seven, both being relatively young (Johnson). At this time, Poe had been living with his aunt, Maria Poe Clemm, and her daughter, Virginia, whom he eventually wed (“Edgar Allen Poe” 630). Unfortunately, when Virginia was only nineteen years old she began to have hemorrhages and five years later she died from tuberculosis (“Edgar Allen Poe” 631). It was said that Virginia Clemm was “the only stable element in [Poe’s] tempestuous life” and after her death he published a poem, “Ulalume,” that was inspired by his grief at the loss of his first love (“Edgar Allen Poe” 631).

Although many people believe that Virginia acted as his muse for this particular poem, there are also a few other possible candidates. Poe was later engaged at two other times in his life: first, to the poet Sarah Helen Whitman and then to Elmira Royster Shelton (“Edgar Allen Poe” 631-632). These and a few other women have either claimed to be, or were thought to be potential “Annabel Lees.”

Poe’s view on love was that it was “a spiritual passion that transcended human limits” (Johnson). Although he believed that poetry should strive towards beauty, he felt that its real topic should be love (Johnson). From this brief history of Edgar Allen Poe’s love life in reference to the poem “Annabel Lee”, we are able to see how death and love have not only had a powerful effect on his life, but also on his writing and the evident passion of his poetry.

 

“Edgar Allen Poe.” Author Introduction Overview. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Gen. ed. Nina Baym. 8th ed. Vol. B. New York: Norton, 2012. Print. 5 vols.

Johnson, Jeannine. “Overview of ‘Annabel Lee’.” Poetry for Students. Ed. Ira Mark Milne. Vol. 9. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. Literature Resource Center. Web. 13 Aug. 2013.

Jones, Buford, and Kent Ljungquist. “Poe, Mrs. Osgood, and ‘Annabel Lee,’.” Studies in the American Renaissance. Ed. Joel Myerson. University Press of Virginia, 1983. 275-280. Rpt. in Poetry for Students. Ed. Ira Mark Milne. Vol. 9. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. Literature Resource Center. Web. 13 Aug. 2013.

“The Minister’s Black Veil” Blog Post

by James T.

            “The Minister’s Black Veil”, first published in 1835, and again in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales [1837], takes place in Milford, Massachusetts.  Milford, settled in 1662, was part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, explaining the dominance of Puritanism in the story (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milford,_Massachusetts).  Hawthorne himself wrote mostly of Puritan New England before the American Revolution, a time that still had resonance in his own life, particularly because of his family’s long history in the colonies.  His great-grandfather John Hathorne was a judge in the Salem Witch Trials, and Hawthorne added the “w” to his last name to distance himself from this family history (Wineapple, 14).

Joseph “Handkerchief” Moody, the real-life minister whose life provides the basis for Hawthorne’s story, lived in York, Maine.  The town is 105 miles from Milford, but similar in its Puritan history as part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York,_Maine).  When he was twelve years old, Joseph Moody accidentally shot and killed his friend Ebenezer Preble and later covered his face with a linen cloth due to shame, until he died in 1753 (Preble, “Handkerchief Moody”).

Hawthorne’s story differs from that of Moody in that the motive for wearing the veil is unclear.  The text presents itself as a parable, defined by OED as “An allegorical or metaphorical saying or narrative; an allegory, a fable, an apologue; a comparison, a similitude”.  The allegorical nature of many of Hawthorne’s stories caused criticisms from Edgar Allen Poe, but “The Minister’s Black Veil” was not included in these criticisms.  To the contrary, in his 1842 review of Twice-Told Tales, Poe suggests that, while “to the rabble… the moral point put into the mouth of the dying minister will be imposed to convey the true narrative;… that a crime of dark dye, (having reference to the ‘young lady’) has been committed, is a point which only minds congenial with that of the author will perceive”, implying that the minister killed or in some way caused the young lady’s death and calling the true moral of the parable into question (66).

Symbols like the minister’s veil have biblical precedent as well, such as Jeremiah 27, where Jeremiah is instructed to wear a yoke as a symbol of servitude, or Ezekial 5, where Ezekial is instructed to shave his head as a symbol for death and destruction (Newman, 200).

 

“Milford, Massachusetts”. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.  12 Aug. 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milford,_Massachusetts.

Newman, Lea Bertani Vozar. A Reader’s Guide to the Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1979.  Print.

“parable, n.”. OED Online. Jun. 2013. Oxford University Press. 12 Aug. 2013.      http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/137268?rskey=6PJDP4&result=1&isAdvanced=false.

Poe, Edgar Allen.  “Twice-told Tales”.  Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Contemporary Reviews.  Ed.   John L. Idol Jr. and Buford Jones.  New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.  Print.

Preble, Kenneth J. “Handkerchief Moody”. Los Angeles Times. 2 Feb. 1992. Online. 12 Aug. 2013. http://articles.latimes.com/1992-02-02/books/bk-1777_1_joseph-moody-life-of-         nathaniel-hawthorne-short-story

“York, Maine”.  Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.  12 Aug. 2013.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York,_Maine

Wineapple, Brenda. “Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1804-1864: A Brief Biography”. A Historical Guide to Nathaniel Hawthorne.  Ed. Larry T. Reynolds.  New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.  Print.

“The Long Black Veil”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50k18gL76AU

The Story of Rip Van Winkle Blog Post

Lucas Sparks

The story of Rip Van Winkle is one of the forerunners of the ghost story genre.  However, the significance of the story goes well beyond the introduction of a new genre.  One of the most notable aspects of the story is the unique way that the Revolution, which he overtly celebrates, is questioned and examined.  The story where one person, or a group of people in some cases, fall asleep and wake up hundreds of years later is actually fairly common in literary history.  One such instance of the story comes from Christian tradition with the story of “The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus”, recounting a group of early Christians who hid in a cave about 250 AD, to escape the persecution of Christians during the reign of the Roman emperor Decius.¹

In this specific case, the time lapse is used to show two completely opposing ideas, and to ingrain in readers the idea that time’s natural progress will lead to the given outcome, verifying it as the correct way of thought.

While the version of the story from antiquity has more grim undertones throughout, one of the most endearing qualities of  the Rip Van Winkle story is the humor that goes along with the audacity of the situation.  His wife is essentially pestering him and his decision is to go up into the hills and sleep.  Another aspect of the story that solidifies the story as one of irony and humor is that even though some things have changed significantly over the course of twenty years, there is still the feeling that nothing important has changed.² Especially coming from a character with such impassioned views about the Revolution he is trying to escape.

Washington Irving himself can almost be seen in the character he creates. As the scholar Martin Roth points out, Irving was a writer who was “favored by the gods” and lived a comfortable life with his works gaining increasing amounts of popularity.³  Having been translated into multiple languages and studied by scholars for decades, Irving’s stories continue to capture the attentions of readers with a unique and humorous view into the Revolution and how it changed the Nation in the every day life of a citizen.

1. Surat Al-Kahf (18:9-26) – The Holy Qur’an
2. Blakemore, Steven. “Family Resemblances: The Texts and Contexts of ‘Rip Van Winkle.'” Early American Literature 35, no. 2 (2000): 18712.
3. Roth, Martin. Comedy and America: The Lost World of Washington Irving. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Blog Post

Post by Angelica P.

The Old Dutch Church

            Washington Irving gathered much of his sources for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” from excursions to Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow while visiting his friend, James K. Paulding, during the 1790s (“History of the Village”). The church that he mentions in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” was just as important a landmark in the story itself as much as it was in the daily lives of those who lived in the surrounding area. While Irving visited the area during his youth, the church was the only place of worship available for the community, and also served as a place to socialize. When Irving wrote about his visit to the area thirty years later in his essay “Sleepy Hollow”, he noted how the church’s relevance had faded some due to the establishment of the newer Sleepy Hollow Cemetary that was built nearby (“Sleepy Hollow”). The two today are often confused for one another since the smaller, two-acre church burial grounds are unmarked and located right next to the other cemetery (“The Old Dutch Church”).

The church’s origins go back as far as the 17^th century, when America was still held as a British colony. It was in 1664 that the British took hold of the colony of New Netherlands and renamed it New York. During this time period, a Dutchman by the name of Frederick Philipse bought large tracks of land east of the Hudson River from the local Native American tribes in 1684. He was able to accomplish this due to the influence had had with the current English governors. This land encompassed all of the area that would today be known as Sleepy Hollow, and became his property through the Pocantico Purchase. He commissioned the church to be built along with a manor and mill in 1685, and was laid to rest at the crypt in the Old Dutch Church with his second wife (“History of the Village”). Today, the Old Dutch Church is known for being the oldest church in the state of New York and continues to be held by the members of its congregation (“History of the Village”).

Sources:

“History of the Village.” Village of Sleepy Hollow. http://www.sleepyhollowny.gov/index.php?Option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=63

“The Old Dutch Church.” The Sleepy Hollow Cemetary. http://www.sleepyhollowcemetery.org/sleepy-hollow-country/the-old-dutch-church/

“Sleepy Hollow – An Essay by Washington Irving.” Introduction by Henry Steiner. http://henrysteiner.com/DIRcomm/sleepyhollow/article.htm