Edgar Allan Poe

A cura di P. Gorgerino e L. Palmer 
 Five famous and gripping tales by E. A. Poe - MS Found in a Bottle, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of the Red Death, The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat - are contained in this reader.
 The book also includes in-depth inserts on Poe's biography, the origin and structure of the short story and its evolution and division into literary subgenres, in addition to themes related to the tales themselves. 
 
 Teacher's Resources available online: Answer Key - Audioscripts - Summing-up Activities
 
 Cinque celebri e avvincenti racconti di E. A. Poe – MS Found in a Bottle, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of the Red Death, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat – sono contenuti in questo reader.
 Accompagnano il libro letture di approfondimento sui luoghi in cui Poe visse, sull’origine e la struttura del racconto, sulla sua evoluzione e divisione in sottogeneri letterari, oltre che su tematiche inerenti ai racconti stessi.

MS Found in a Bottle

Extension: The Baltimore Poe House and Museum

The Pit and the Pendulum

Extension: Short Stories

The Masque of the Red Death

Extension: Detective Stories and Horror Stories

The Tell-Tale Heart

Extension: The Beliefs in the Evil Eye

The Black Cat

Extension: Cats and Beliefs

Summing-up activities

Glossary

The author Edgar Allan Poe Life. Edgar Poe was born on 19th January 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. where his mother, Elizabeth Arnold Poe, worked as an actress. He was the grandson of Baltimore Revolutionary War patriot, David Poe Sr. His father disappeared a short time after his birth and his mother died of tuberculosis when he was only two. Fortunately, Edgar was brought up by the Allans, who lived in Richmond, West Virginia. Even though they never adopted him, he took their surname. John Allan was a tobacco merchant and was able to give him a good education. Edgar attended school in America and in England and then entered the University of Virginia. He soon proved to be a good student, showed a deep interest in literature and became a member of the Jefferson Literary Society. Unfortunately, because of his gambling debts1, he quarrelled2 with his foster father3 and was sent away from the family with no money. He had to leave his studies, went to Boston and in 1827 entered the army under the name of Edgar A. Perry. When Mrs Allan was dying, there was some sort of reconciliation and his foster father started helping him financially again. That allowed him to leave the army after serving in it for two years and enter West Point Military Academy. He was expelled4 from it the following year, though. Meanwhile, he published two volumes of poetry in Boston. When John Allan remarried and had a son, he sent Edgar no more money. In 1832 Poe went to Baltimore, Maryland, where he lived with his widowed aunt, Maria Poe Clemm, who had rented5 a house at 3 Amity Street, later been transformed into a museum. It was then that Poe, so far a poet, decided to write short stories and won the $50 prize offered by a Baltimore newspaper for best short story. The winning story was called MS Found in a Bottle. Another volume of poetry was published in 1832 and five of his prose tales appeared in The Philadelphia Saturday Courier. 1. gambling debts: money you lose when you risk it in the hope of winning more. 2. quarrelled: had an argument. 3. foster father: person that looks after a child as if he were his/her real father. 4. expelled: sent away. 5. rented: paid a monthly sum of money to live in a house which was not his. 4 

Poe lived in Baltimore until 1835, then he moved to Richmond, Virginia, to edit6 the Southern Literary Messenger. In 1836 he sent for7 Maria and Virginia Clemm, who were in financial difficulties. He and Virginia got married when he was 27 and she was only 13. Poe was always devoted to his wife. In 1838 his book Arthur Gordon Pym was published. In the same year he moved to Philadelphia, where he lived until 1844. We have little information about that period. We know that he was an editor of Burton s Gentleman s Magazine from July 1839 to June 1840, and of Graham s Magazine from April 1841 to May 1842. Those were difficult years: it was very hard for him to earn a living8 for his three-member family. In April 1844, Poe went to New York where he worked for the New York Evening Mirror. Meanwhile other poems and tales were published. He also joined C. F. Briggs to publish The Broadway Journal. The year 1846 was tragic: The Broadway Journal failed, and Virginia became very ill. Poe rented a little cottage at Fordham, where he lived for three years. In 1847 his wife died, leaving him sad and addicted to9 alcohol, whose effects were terrible on him. He took an interest in numerous women and decided to marry his first love, Mrs Sarah Elmira Shelton, at that time a widow. He never married her, though, as he was found unconscious in Baltimore, while he was travelling north. He died after three days, on Sunday, 7th October 1849, but the circumstances of his death remain a mystery. He was buried10 in the graveyard11 of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Baltimore. Works. Poe was a poet, a journalist, a literary critic, a writer of long tales and short stories. Here are a few.   Poems: Tamerlane, Al Aaraaf, Lenore, Israfel, The Raven, A Valentine, Ulalume, An Enigma, For Annie, To My Mother, Annabel Lee.   Long tales: The Murders In The Rue Morgue, The Mystery Of Marie Roget, The Gold Bug, The Narrative Of Arthur Gordon Pymm Of Nantucket.   Short stories: Ms. Found In A Bottle (1833), The Fall Of The House Of Usher, The Masque Of The Red Death (1842), The Pit And The Pendulum (1842), Ligeia, A Descent Into The Maelstrom, The Black Cat (1843), The Tell-Tale Heart (1843). 6. edit: make a book or magazine ready to be published by correcting it. 7. sent (send   sent   sent) for: asked her to go to him. 8. earn a living: earn money to live on. 9. addicted to: incapable of stopping drinking. 10. buried: put in the ground during a funeral ceremony. 11. churchyard: area around/in front of a church where people are buried. 5 

Scopri cinque racconti di E.A. Poe: MS Found in a Bottle, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of the Red Death, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat.

The Black Cat Collana RAINBOWS

Level B1 • Pre-Intermediate - Collana RAINBOWS

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