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Edgar Allan Poe -- Blog Post #14

Edgar Allan Poe -- Blog Post #14

"The Purrloined Letter," "The Haunted Palace", & "Fairy-land"


Edgar Allan Poe's work has long been used as standard reading for the seventh and eighth grade. Though he's mostly know for his work Gothic horror, I've always been fond of his detective short stories revolving around C. Auguste Dupin. Though I've read several of his works, I didn't really appreciate them until I began reading them as an adult since they had advanced vocabulary and the use of Latin and French, at least in the detective series of short stories, was a common occurrence. Nevertheless, it's great that Poe is taught in classrooms nationwide and definitely think higher grades should still take a look at his work as I found it more understandable the older I became. Mostly because my lexicon of words grew as well so reading it felt less heavy and more forgiving.

What I chose to read this week was "The Purrloined Letter", "The Haunted Palace", and "Fairy-land". "The Purrloined Letter"is part of Detective C. Auguste Dupin's trilogy and discusses a letter that the Parisian Police are searching for in order to free a young woman (presumably of Royal status) of blackmail from the Prime Minister. As usual, Detective Dupin is ten steps ahead of both protagonist and the Parisian officer that sought his help.

The poems "The Haunted Palace", and "Fairyland" both provoke vivid imagery by Poe. The first, "The Haunted Palace" compares a palace to a human being, notable by the description of parts of the palace akin parts of a human being. "Fairy-land" has often been considered a sarcastic view of Poe's created fantasy land and the fae that people of his time were fascinated with.

Teaching Poe has become standard given his common presence in curriculum. I can see why he'd work well for middle school aged students because of the themes he employs though I also think think he'd work well for literary circles (with a handful of stories or poems). I'm a bit biased on Poe but I'd definitely use him in the classroom or at least have him on one of my shelves for easy access. Even if his life was tragic, his work speaks for itself, having mystified and engaged readers for decades. And so I think he's earned his place among the curriculum though the higher grades could definitely use him as well.

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