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October 09, 2005
Poe Poems
Edgar Allen Poe (selections) -- American Literature, 1800-1915 (EL 266)
Epigram for Wall street
For this poem I chose the line, "take a bank note and fold it up, and then you will find your money in creases!" I thought that this poem was very interesting in relation to the way that we think of money today. Everything in society is so centered around money. Poe is using his humor and basically saying that the best way to make money is to save what you have and not be so greedy that you are always trying to make more money.
To Science
For this poem I chose the line, "The gentle Naiad from her fountain-flood? The elfin from the green grass? and from me the summer dream beneath the shrubbery?" This poem is talking about how the author dislikes science and the industrial revolution, and what it is doing to the world around him. He is saying that the rise of science has pushed everything out of its natural home. The last line says that with the rise of science, even the poet cannot relax under the trees and dream.
Posted by StacyEstatico at October 9, 2005 11:30 PM
Comments
Stacy, I like Poe's poem about money as well; I also used the same quote! I think he is using humor to convey a message, too, for a person to not to become so subdued in the idea of having a lot of money. Money, espescially today, can be such a serious thing, but he puts a lighter twist on it.
Posted by: AshleyHoltzer at October 10, 2005 03:21 PM
Very good point about the dislike of nature Stacy. I agree 100% with that. The only other thing that I got from the poem is that Poe is TRYING to appreciate science, and is trying to accept it into the society. But all he can do is just question its faults, instead of looking at it in a positive way. I understand completely why we did this poem first, then we did Walt Whitman's I Hear America Singing. There is such a contrast between the two, and the conflict is evident.
Back to Poe, I think that he is trying to appreciate silence, and possibly even embrace it, but can do nothing but question it, and with that becomes even more dislike for science. I discussed this poem on my blog. I hope you get to check it out.
Posted by: Jason Pugh at October 10, 2005 04:18 PM
"He is saying that the rise of science has pushed everything out of its natural home. The last line says that with the rise of science, even the poet cannot relax under the trees and dream."
Exactly. Science has really taken away the creativity in the world and made everything so logical. It rids the world of dreams and fairy-tales by explaining all the mysteries of this world. Those mysteries were his inspiration- and are now gone.
Posted by: Vanessa at October 10, 2005 10:10 PM