After reading Poe’s biography (by the editors) and the text by the author, (pp. 731-735, pp. 762-772), you now have some freedom in this week’s Paper Topic. We’ve delved into literary terminology (https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_terms/index.html) and theory a bit, so work to create your own analysis of Poe’s text based on information of your choosing – you can apply his biography to the text, choose a literary theory to use as a lens through which to assess his piece, focus primarily on applying literary terminology (which highlights how Poe writes, rather than what he writes about – the what tends to be more under the umbrella of theory).

Let’s do this in a mini-essay format that follows the five paragraph scheme – a single introductory paragraph that sets up your argument/analysis and includes a thesis, three supporting paragraphs that directly pull from the author’s story and uses quotes as support, and a concluding paragraph that can move in different directions (depending on how you want to close your ideas – some of you may tie all your ideas from the paragraphs together, some of you may want to point out additional questions you would ask if given more space/time, some of you might want to provide an overall assessment of the piece – you have freedom here and everyone will do something a little different with their closing).

Your goal here is to really show understanding on more than a summary level – work through the text in a particular way that you establish in your thesis (to review thesis statements, click here).

Answer preview

Historical Criticism of Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe is a known poet who advocated for free expression in poetry.  He wrote poems while studying in college; however, his artistry was disrupted by the hardships he faced after losing both parents. Poe’s foster parents could no longer support him. He was forced out of college, and he ended up being a gambler and alcoholic…

(600 words)