(image courtesy of Wikipedia)
“And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.” (The Masque of the Red Death, Edgar Allan Poe)
The dramatic effect of those words on my 7th grade self, particularly that final line, cannot be overstated. I remember it as clearly as if it had happened yesterday…
(image courtesy of the Poe Museum)
There are three seminal events of my childhood that I can point to with great clarity as the foundation for my love of the kind of literature that dominates my October nights: the illustrations of Edward Gorey present in short story collections I checked out from the library, my reading at age 12 of Dracula by Bram Stoker (incidentally also checked out from the local library), and my first introduction to the works of Edgar Allan Poe.
From 7th through 10th grade I attended a small Christian school in my hometown in Nebraska. There are things I remember fondly from those days and things that even now make my blood boil…a typical middle school experience, I expect…but one of the things that could be either good or bad depending on the day was the fact that we all had individual cubicles or workstations. If you were wanting to check out your cute fellow classmates or goof off with your buddies, the dividers between desks were a great hindrance (though we did become very adept at the art of covert note-passing in those days). If you were wanting to read (or, God-forbid, study) these desks were the ideal set-up to become completely lost in what you were doing. My most cherished memories of those years were all the amazing works of literature I was introduced to in the English and American literature classes I took. The day that I discovered the works of Edgar Allan Poe stands out in particular.
“The ninety and nine are with dreams, content but the hope of the world made new, is the hundredth man who is grimly bent on making those dreams come true.” ~Edgar Allan Poe
Regardless of what we were reading in literature we had workbooks with fill-in-the blank questions based on the reading. I am not a teacher so I have never researched the efficacy of this learning method, however I do recall that it was easy to find oneself focusing on finding that particular word in that particular sentence to fill in the blank rather than reading purely for the joy of the story. This did not happen with Edgar Allan Poe. The story was The Masque of the Red Death and it opened thus:
“THE “Red Death” had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal — the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.”
Sure, I was every bit the book worm and the artistic soul that I am now even at that age but I was still a boy, through and through, and talk of death and blood and horror…in a Christian school no less, had me riveted to the page. I can recall so clearly that absolute vacuum of distraction as I sat in my designated space, walls providing the perfect noise barrier that allowed me to be engulfed in the imagination of this long dead author. When ‘Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all’ I came to the realization that it had dominion over me as well. I certainly had not understood everything that I read. I was not used to that style of writing. But I understood enough that I immediately reread it, not because I had work to complete from the assignment of the reading but because I wanted that delicious thrill again. I wanted to experience those images in my head conjured up by Poe’s words and I wanted to see how they would change and expand and grow with a better understanding of the tale. I do not know how much other work I got done that day, but I do know that I left school that day as a fan of Edgar Allan Poe.
“Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.” ~Edgar Allan Poe
I cannot recall clearly how soon after this experience I was able to visit the local library to check out a volume of his works but I do know that it was within a week, if not within mere days. The first story I read in that book, the story destined to be my favorite as much from the fact that it was the first I chose to read for myself as much as for its quality as a story was The Fall of the House of Usher.
“DURING the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.” (The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allan Poe)
I mean, how could you not be drawn in to the horror of an opening line like that?
Throughout the whole of my life, since that fateful day, I have remained a devout fan of the man who could arguably be called the greatest writer in the history of American literature. So much so that things even loosely associated with Edgar Allan Poe hold a fascination for me that is not always in keeping with the quality of Poe’s work.
For example, the many Roger Corman films ‘based’ (and I type that while laughing) on the works of Edgar Allan Poe are films that by and large I love even though they are a travesty in light of the stories Poe wrote. These are films that I recall seeing on television as a child and films that I have had the thrill enjoying again and again during repeated annual viewings thanks to their restoration on DVD. It is little wonder that when reading Edgar Allan Poe the voice in my head is not mine but that of Vincent Price.
If you have not sampled the works of Edgar Allan Poe you are truly doing yourself a great disservice. Though known for these more gothic works the man was brilliant in so many other aspects of his writing. A study of the man behind the stories, from his birth to the mystery surrounding his death, is every bit as fascinating as reading his fictional tales.
159 years ago this month (on October 7th) Edgar Allan Poe passed away at the tragically young age of 40. As I rapidly approach that age myself I cannot help but ponder his life and what he accomplished despite the myriad tragedies that occurred in his all to brief time on earth.
I leave you with one of Poe’s more intriguing poems, The Conqueror Worm. It is not only deliciously haunting in its thinly veiled commentary on the eventual triumph of death, but it is the kind of poetic tale rich with vivid imagery. As I read it I catch glimpses of how it inspired Lovecraft in his tales of the old gods.
You could do much worse this weekend than to spend a little time with a gothic Master.
LO! ‘t is a gala night
Within the lonesome latter years.
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
In veils, and drowned in tears,
Sit in a theatre to see
A play of hopes and fears,
While the orchestra breathes fitfully
The music of the spheres.
Mimes, in the form of God on high,
Mutter and mumble low,
And hither and thither fly;
Mere puppets they, who come and go
At bidding of vast formless things
That shift the scenery to and fro,
Flapping from out their condor wings
Invisible Woe.
That motley drama—oh, be sure
It shall not be forgot!
With its Phantom chased for evermore
By a crowd that seize it not,
Through a circle that ever returneth in
To the self-same spot;
And much of Madness, and more of Sin,
And Horror the soul of the plot.
But see amid the mimic rout
A crawling shape intrude:
A blood-red thing that writhes from out
The scenic solitude!
It writhes—it writhes!—with mortal pangs
The mimes become its food,
And over each quivering form
In human gore imbued.
Out—out are the lights—out all!
And over each quivering form
The curtain, a funeral pall,
Comes down with the rush of a storm,
While the angels, all pallid and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy, “Man,”
And its hero, the Conqueror Worm.
I was a teacher of students who could not read or read poorly with great struggle, and definitely did not like to read. They did like to be read to, however, and even though I taught writing, I did get some reading time in. During the month of October, I would have them turn out the lights, close the curtains, and pull their chairs up close. I would have one sit next to me to hold the “kerosene” lantern.
When everyone was still, I would read our first October story:
“TRUE! nervous, very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why WILL you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How then am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily, how calmly, I can tell you the whole story.”
It scared the heck out of them, and they loved it.
Qugrainne: We had an actor come do a one man performance of The Tell-Tale Heart in high school and he was amazing. He really made the story come alive in ways that were much different than I had even though I had read it previously. I love reading Poe aloud and listening to Poe being read aloud.
Carl, to assuage your curiosity over whether the worksheets are considered effective in education circles — they’re not — but I think you knew that even as a student.
Have you, by any chance, read Matthew Pearl’s book The Poe Shadow? I didn’t think it was as good as his earlier book, The Dante Club, but it was pretty good, and I learned a lot I didn’t know about Poe.
Students always really like him. He’s a perennial favorite.
I love Poe! I loved The Black Cat and the Masque of the Red Death the best. I have a huge volume of his work that I have been leafing through this past month — it’s been fun but I haven’t had time to sit down and read anything other than The Tell-Tale Heart all the way through… Wonderful piece, here, Carl. Thanks.
I adore Poe! I discovered first through the Vincent Price movies (still some of my favorites) and then my mom bought me a Complete Works book when I was in about 6th grade.
I thought I’d lost it somewhere along the way over the years but a recent visit to my mom’s place revealed she’d had it all along! I was very happy to see it safe and she’s promised to mail it to me soon.
My favorite Poe tale is The Tell-Tale Heart. That damnable conscience will get you every time!
I hate to admit that I’ve never read Poe. Although now I’m going to go get me a big collection and save it for next years RIP challenge!!
I realize that I never read a whole story of Edgar Allan Poe’s story, just excerpts. The first time was “The Raven”, in primary school, I was around 8… Once again you make me want read some more but I’m still in “The Bloody Chmaber” right now 😉
Concerning “Dracula” I read it several times, the first time in French, after seeing Coppola’s movie at the theater and then, a few months later in English (at age 14), to savor all of it! (I was finally able to read a whole book in English and was so glad).
Once again, thanks for sharing Carl!
I just read a Poe anthology last week! My favorite was one I hadn’t read before, “The Oblong Box” – so creepy. Although I am not a particular fan of his, I do admire his gift for describing the macabre; I like to think he and Lovecraft are sit around discussing monsters in the afterlife.
Ella: The Oblong Box is a good one! And yet another movie that has almost nothing to do with the source material. But fun in its own way. I like the way you think, I can certainly see them sitting around doing just that.
Sabbio: The Bloody Chamber is great, so I completely understand. It is one I checked out from the library but am going to have to purchase for myself. Thanks for sharing about Dracula as well, I love to hear about peoples’ experience with that story.
Kristina: Great! I look forward to reading your thoughts on him for R.I.P. IV.
5elementknitr: The Vincent Price films are among my favorite horror films as well. I love that old-timey creepy feeling. What a great story about your Poe collection, I’m thrilled for you that it was still around for you to recover. I have several copies of Poe collections or partial collections around the house. I have a hard time resisting them when I see ones I don’t have.
Daphne: Thanks! For you Tell-Tale Heart fans, if you haven’t checked out The Tattle-Tale Heart by the Puphedz, you really should. It is delightful. You can learn more about it and see trailers here: http://www.puphedz.com/
Dana: Yes indeed, I figured as much. I have not read any of Pearl’s books though I do have a copy of Dante Club. I’ve read a few fictional books with Poe as a character and while they have been okay I generally like just reading Poe’s work better. However, I do really enjoy the book House of Usher by Robert Poe which is a modern story that weaves The Fall of the House of Usher into it. I’m sure it is no great work of fiction but I have enjoyed it on multiple re-reads. And I can certainly see how Poe would be a favorite with students each year, particularly during this time of year.
I am really disappointed because our local KC children’s theatre used to sponsor three act plays during Halloween featuring small casts acting out scary short stories, many being ones from Poe and they have not done that in a few years. It is sorely missed in my opinion.
What a lovely post. I’m very familiar with that feeling you describe, of reading a book at a young age and feeling that it’s somehow beyond your reach, and rather than being discouraged by that wanting to return to it again and again. Like Sabbio, I had that experience with Dracula when I first read it at 13 or 14.
I haven’t read Poe in a very long time. I really should revisit him.
What a wonderful post! Poe has always been a favorite throughout my life, as much for his amazing words as for his stories. In seventh grade I memorized “The Raven” for a school contest and I still remember it; it still makes me shiver with the beauty of the language and the melancholy of the story.
Earlier this year I visited the Poe House in Philadelphia, and although it was a rather bare historical site it was fantastic to get to use the stocked library – listening to a recording of “The Raven” with a great and knowledgeable park ranger.
Dana Huff, can I ask what you liked more about The Dante Club than The Poe Shadow? I’ve read the Dante but not the Poe, though I intend to – I liked The Dante Club well enough but thought I might like the Poe better since I’m more a fan of Poe than Dante/Longfellow.
“The Masque of the Red Death” was always one of my favorite Poe stories, that and “the Cask of Amontillado”. Its been a while though since I read anything by him, and I had never read the poem that you posted, but I like it.
Poe is always a great author to catch impressionable young minds with!
My favorite’s are “The Pit & the Pendulum” & “The Gold Bug”.
PS: there is a great Masque of the R.D. scene in The Terror, which I’m reading now…
Carl, I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this post!
thank you so much for that insight into your love for poe. i loved reading that.
those moments are so wonderful. those BIG moments in our lives which change every thing. its so scary to think what an influence they have – how much who we are now is dependant on just one fragile moment.
by the way, is there something funky going on with poe’s right in your pic?
I’m not sure, J.P. I always see him in drawings with those bags under his eyes, maybe that is why.
And thank you, it was fun to go back and think about that first experience with Poe. It really does seem like yesterday. And I agree, it can be scary to think of how much one small incident can effect our entire lives. Makes you want to really be careful to be good to those around you.
Debi: Thanks! I’m so glad, makes me smile.
Daphne: The more I hear about The Terror the more I want to read it.
SG Taylor: Gold Bug is another good one. I really enjoy so many of Poe’s stories and poems.
Chay: Cask is one I’ve seen acted out live by a two man troupe and it was great.