The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe

Directions:  Click on the following sites to answer the questions.  Your answers should be written as complete sentences.

http://www.poedecoder.com/Qrisse/bio/eliza.php

1.    Who is the woman in the picture?

2.   By the age of fifteen, Eliza was an accomplished _______________.

3.   Edgar Allan Poe’s father was ____________________.

4.  Why was David jealous of Eliza?

5.   Why did David leave his family?

6.  How many siblings did Poe have?

7.  What happened to Eliza after her husband abandoned the family?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe  

8. Poe was a(n) ___________________, ____________________, ________________, and literary critic. 

9.Poe was one of the earliest practitioners of what literary genres? _______________________, _______________________,and ____________________

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daguerreotype

10. Look at the picture of Poe on this site.  What is a daguerreotype

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe

11.  What happened to Poe after his mother’s death?

12.   What happened to Poe’s military career?

13.   What is a pseudonym?

14.  What caused Poe to finally become estranged from his foster father? 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Eliza_Clemm_Poe

15.  After ending his relationship with his foster father, Poe lived with his aunt, Maria Clem.  Who is Virginia Clem?  What was Poe’s relationship with Virginia?

 

http://knowingpoe.thinkport.org/person/amity.asp

(You will need to use your headphones for this section. Click on the 203 N. Amity St. icon to begin the tour).

 

16.         Poe lived with his young wife, aunt, and grandmother at 203 N. Amity St. in Boston.  Check out this site to view the house, its rooms, portraits, and Poe memorabilia. List five items (pictures, rooms, furniture, ect.) that you find interesting.

 

http://www.eaglesweb.com/Sub_Pages/poe_poems.htm

Click on “The Raven” icon to listen to Poe’s poem, “The Raven”.  Answer the questions that follow.  You will need to use your headphones to listen to the poem.

1.             What is the mood of the poem?

2.             What is the setting? (time and place)

3.             Briefly discuss the plot of the poem.

4.            Who do you think Lenore is?

5.             What does the narrator hear when he opens his door?

6.            What comes to visit the sad narrator?

7.            What is the visitor’s name?

8.             Where does the visitor sit?

9.             When the narrator says to his visitor, “On the morrow he will leave me…” what is the visitor’s reply?

10.         In whose chair is the narrator sitting?

11.         What words does the narrator use to describe the visitor?

12.        Describe the scene at the end of the poem.

 

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paris/cata/catacombs-worddef.html

17.        We will be reading Poe’s story, “The Cask of Amontillado”.  The majority of the story takes place in dark catacombs.  What are catacombs?  Click on the picture to see an example catacomb.

 

http://www3.sympatico.ca/tapholov/pages/catacombs.html

18.          View these catacombs.  List at least five things you see.  What would it be like to walk in these catacombs?

 

http://knowingpoe.thinkport.org/person/death.asp

19. Go along on a virtual field trip with a student who is researching Poe’s death.  Answer the following questions as you go along on this journey. (Click the “It Will be the Death of Me” icon)

1.             The librarian offers the girl two suggestions on how Poe died.  What are her suggestions?

 

Read the section called, “You’ll read about Poe’s death” and answer these questions.

2.   Why did Poe leave his home in New York?

3.   How much money did Poe have on him during his visit in Richmond?

4.            After visiting with Dr. Carter, Poe had dinner at a restaurant.  What did Poe mistakenly take with him to the restaurant?

5.             How did Poe travel to Baltimore?

6.            The next time anyone hears about Poe is on October 3, 1849.  Joseph W. Walker finds Poe near death and writes a letter to Dr. J.E. Snodgrass.  What does the letter say?

7.            Poe was taken to Washington College Hospital.  When did he die?

8.             What were Poe’s last words?

9.             What was odd about Poe’s clothing at the time of his death?

10.         How was Poe behaving in the hospital before he died?

 

Advance to the file cabinet and summarize the clues you find.

11.         What five clues suggest that Poe died of mercury poisoning?

12.        What two clues suggest that Poe died of consumption, or tuberculosis?

13.        What three clues suggest that Poe died from heart complications?

14.        What three clues suggest that Poe died from brain lesions?

15.        What four clues suggest that Poe died of carbon monoxide poisoning?

16.        What four clues suggest that Poe might have been a victim of fowl play during a dirty election?

17.        What three clues suggest that Poe died from alcoholism?

18.         What five clues suggest that Poe died from rabies?

 

You play the detective!  Look over your list of clues and what you’ve read about the night Poe died and determine how you think he really died.  Write your theory in the form of an expository essay.