Why Edgar Allan Poe Isn't Just a Sad Boy

Why Edgar Allan Poe Isn't Just a Sad Boy | It's Lit

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We remember Edgar Allan Poe for his tales of horror and the macabre as well as inventing the entire Detective Fiction Genre. But unlike many of the great authors of Western classic literature, he has become an icon unto himself, recognized to this day by name and face almost more than the titles of his stories and poems. But his legacy is more complicated than school books may have lead us to believe.
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КОМЕНТАРІ: 286

@WarpedLord 2 роки тому

I think the fact that pretty much all of us likely thought... "Who???" when Rufus Griswold's name came up means Poe got the last laugh (even if it was postmortem).

@theintern2960 2 роки тому

I think Edgar would appreciate the humor in that.

@JeighNeither 2 роки тому

The best ones always do.

@youremakingprogress144 2 роки тому

Isn't that Chevy Chase's character in the Vacation movies?

@daltonallen7625 2 роки тому

Drunk history has stuck that dudes name in my mind

@LuisSierra42 2 роки тому

It's a lot like in the movie Amadeus

@firestorm1088 2 роки тому

Poe would probably have appreciated the irony that his enemies' rebranding campaign only added to his legend and helped secure his immortality.

@feinjir1695 2 роки тому

This reminds me of that quote I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made

@megb7715 2 роки тому

His hater only made him more powerful.

@SedatedGhostwriter 2 роки тому

"He wasn't goth. He was just poor." I FEEL ATTACKED.

@opoet007orpheuspoet9 Рік тому

He was tho . He was just goth before goth

@watching7721 Рік тому

Well, it is called gothic literature

@LoneStarWomanInACajunWorld 7 місяців тому

@@opoet007orpheuspoet9Well put.

@jacksquatt6082 6 місяців тому

Not poor... just Poe.

@NighttimeDaydreams 6 місяців тому

Me too hah

@theeducatedfool 2 роки тому

Teenage angsty me: I relate to Edgar Allan Poe Adult me, a musician and a music reviewer: I somehow relate to Edgar Poe even more

@mollywantshugs5944 2 роки тому

Griswold: “Poe has no point of honor” Also Griswold: *cheats Poe’s family and slanders his name over a minor personal slight* Yes, Poe was the scoundrel here

@ButterflySeraph612 2 роки тому

Poe was really just vibing and everyone went after him like school bullies on a playground

@skyden24195 2 роки тому

"To quote 'The Raven': 'haters gonna hate.' " - lol. I must've missed that version of the poem. Great video.

@destructoooo Рік тому

What was the original words? Of that phrase.

@rougenoir4287 Рік тому

@@destructoooo Quote the raven "Nevermore".

@CTheng 2 роки тому

In turning Poe into a sadboy icon, Griswold made it so that Poe become one of the most famous literary name ever, while he became irrelevant. The irony.

@donchon7580 2 роки тому

So I imagine that we should be thankful most of these guys didn’t have Twitter.

@mikaylamcfadden7866 Рік тому

Seriously Twitter is a tool but people have always been petty

@rachaelbao 2 роки тому

Just reading the names of his enemies was uplifting. To think someone was once named Elizabeth Fries Ellet.

@TheTimeMage 2 роки тому

delicious irony right there

@AnjelCaido69 2 роки тому

Edgar Allan Poe is an icon of literature and his legacy will last for millenniums

@grapeshot 2 роки тому

I love The Simpsons version of The Raven. James Earl Jones's narration was spot-on.

@KimberlyLetsGo 2 роки тому

I'll have to go check that out.

@hemidas 2 роки тому

You should check out the Christopher Lee version.

@JeighNeither 2 роки тому

Yes, good reference! Just remembering that episode made me smile. Wasn't it a segment from a Treehouse of Horror?

@ronbo11 2 роки тому

@@JeighNeither Yes it was a part of the Treehouse of Horror series. Season 2, episode 3. ukposts.info/have/v-deo/mnyajKCYh6eE2o0.html

@mrs.g.9816 2 роки тому

I especially laughed at the little Bart-ravens marching around Homer's head saying "nevermore nevermore . . ." ( Homer had just been conked on the head by a book.)

@JoshKnoxChinnery 2 роки тому

I didn't know Poe had sci-fi! To the library!!!

@dracodis 2 роки тому

My favorite of his burlesques is probably "X-ing a Paragrab," not only because it's story is more general humor instead of topical, but also because it just might be the earliest use of "X-treme" in printed English, and the thought of this very 80s-90s pop-feelign word appearing in an 1849 short story of famous "Sad Boy" Poe just tickles me.

@wren_bean 2 роки тому

What's crazy is that we don't think about E.A.Poe the way we do about Oscar Wilde; a profoundly creative, if sometimes eccentric, razor-sharp wit. It's tragic that his honesty and refusal to take life too seriously in his own time was twisted so cruelly into a false caricature that lives on in posterity.

@mypal1990 2 роки тому

Edgar Allan Poe conveys so much emotion with his poems.

@LoneStarWomanInACajunWorld 7 місяців тому

I agree, it's beautiful! ❤

@mrs.g.9816 2 роки тому

I'm glad people are learning the true cause of Poe's death. I also read somewhere that he might have contracted a deadly disease and was delirious. It was NOT alcoholism!

@Lucius1958 2 роки тому

One source claims that it might have been rabies, iirc...

@julietfischer5056 2 роки тому

@@Lucius1958 - The symptoms fit. A bat bite could go undetected, and his reputation for drinking would have been all the answer his detractors needed.

@madlycan 2 роки тому

I always wondered why people only ever associated him with haunt and horror. a huge body of his work was with a great dose of humor. thanks for filling in the gaps : D

@julietfischer5056 2 роки тому

Humor requires social context. Some of Shakespeare's comedies don't work nowadays because (duh) we don't live in Elizabethan England. Poe's humor is not what we're used to, so it's easy to miss. There's a reason _The Cask of Amontillado_ makes it into high school English classes, but not _How to Write a Blackwood's Article_ or _The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherezade._

@garrettstambaugh6271 2 роки тому

Hans Pfaall was one of my first exposures to Poe outside the schoolhouse canon, and it's what really turned me into a fan. It's killer parody, humorous and scathing all the way through, and full of bright, colorful ideas. And so much of his work is more like it than the dark and dreary.

@dianne1851 2 роки тому

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain thrilled me filled me with fantastic terror never felt before..... In 1962 in 5th grade I memorized the whole poem.Thought it was the most beautiful ever written. Have read it to my kids and grandkids. Still moves me. Thanks for posting this.

@ILikedGooglePlus 2 роки тому

And neither the angels on heaven above Nor the demons down under the sea Could ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee

@johnopalko5223 2 роки тому

If you want to see just how scathing Poe's satires of other writers could be, and get a good laugh at the same time, read "How to Write a Blackwood Article. A Predicament."

@RemyDonahey 2 роки тому

I just did. Wow... When I learned today that he was a critic, I thought it made sense that he had a lot of enemies. I see now that I vastly underestimated the situation. That burned, even not understanding most of the contemporary references. I second the recommendation!

@julietfischer5056 2 роки тому

@@RemyDonahey- Long live Psyche Zenobia, aka Sukie Snobs! (Someone has to have one of those names for their online persona.)

@penny_the_wiser413 2 роки тому

I love the story Murder at The Rue Morgue. Poe is one of my favorite writers. T.S. Elliott also.

@samwill7259 2 роки тому

Damn, she put some SPICE on the word "Macabre." I can dig it. Gotta have some theatricality. Lord knows it's something Poe would have appreciated.

@GregoryTheGr8ster 2 роки тому

I recently visited the Poe Museum in Richmond. It is small, but any fan of Poe must visit it at least once!

@uWu-fp2lc 2 роки тому

Alright... from this day forth, I shall address thee as "Edgar Poe" and no more

@kelleyceccato7025 2 роки тому

Am I the only one who thinks "The Cask of Amontillado" is actually quite funny, in a super-dark way? "Yes, Fortunato, I am a mason" (shows trowel).

@jessicadecuir5622 6 місяців тому

You know what really makes it funny? It was written as an act of revenge. From Course Hero: The origin of "The Cask of Amontillado" itself reflects one of the story's main themes: the desire for vengeance. At the time of its writing Poe was feuding with another writer, Thomas Dunn English, and had publicly ridiculed English's work. English returned the favor and included an alcoholic, dysfunctional character modeled after Poe in one of his novels. The character, Marmaduke Hammerhead, is described as a man who "never gets drunk more than five days a week." Poe modeled the antagonist Fortunato after English in retaliation.

@tremorsfan 2 роки тому

I can't remember the name of the story but there is one where the narrator describes going into a panic thinking that there is a monster headed toward earth only to discover that there was a bug on the telescope.

@Lucius1958 2 роки тому

It was a 'death's head' moth, as I recall...

@mathieuleader8601 2 роки тому

when it comes to Poe's relationship with Griswold this really exemplifies the phrase with friends like these who needs enemies

@Moonbeam143 2 роки тому

My favorite poems of his are "The Raven", and "Annabel Lee".

@Lucius1958 2 роки тому

I wonder whether "The Raven" was inspired by his meeting with Dickens on one of his American tours. Dickens had several pet ravens, whom he immortalized in the character of 'Grip' in 'Barnaby Rudge'. (BTW, the original 'Grip' is preserved at the Free Library of Philadelphia).

@Shatterverse 2 роки тому

My grade school was named after him, so we read The Raven, I think, surprisingly young. No point just a story.

@merlapittman5034 2 роки тому

Edgar Poe (and I always refer to him that way because it was his preference) has been one of my favorite authors since I discovered him in my early teens. I pretty much knew everything in this video from my own research for various school/college papers, and I still enjoyed it immensely! Thanks for this video!

@Poohze01 2 роки тому

Wonderful! I've loved Poe my whole (long) life, as much for his wit, humor and rejection of pathos as for his mastery of the grotesque and arabesque. He was ahead of his time. Thank you for a great video, and I love that shirt!

@jagyaaseni 2 роки тому

He WAS actually the "genius of originality" though. I've never read his work and thought "hmm, this author from that time also writes like him". In fact, even modern authors can't match his level even now.

@hectorrobertocontrerasmiranda 2 роки тому

"he wasn't goth... he was just poor" lol thank you Princess

@mascadadelpantion8018 2 роки тому

As a modern Gothic human being I am forced to say with all my heart and soul 💯 EDGAR ALLAN POE IS EASILY THE HISTORY'S WORLD'S GREATEST WRITER KNOWN TO ALL MEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!💯💯💯💯💯💯

@grandthanatos 2 роки тому

You guys have covered Stephen King, Anne Rice, and now Edgar Allan Poe. Will you guys do HP Lovecraft in the near future? Maybe Robert Chambers and the King in Yellow too?

@roswynn5484 2 роки тому

Well, Lovecraft was unabashedly racist, so I don't know how Princess would feel in talking about him. He is one of the most important horror writers ever though. I'd like to hear what she'd have to say about him, honestly.

@AnjelCaido69 2 роки тому

@@roswynn5484 Lovecraft was more like xenophobic he was afraid of everything even Italians and Welsh people

@not.applicable. 2 роки тому

@@AnjelCaido69 both attributes can be true at the same time. The channel, In Praise of Shadows, has a wonderfully deep dive on Lovecraft that addresses both the legacy of his work and the circumstances of his upbringing and beliefs. It's a long video but it presents the most complete assessment of the man I've ever listened, to and really pulls back the veil on the depth of his extremely hateful inner thoughts.

@gentlerat 2 роки тому

@@roswynn5484 Princess Weekes isn’t afraid to dive head on into talking about accusations that certain authors were problematic although she tends to talk more about gray area stuff than Lovecraft who was unambiguous.

@nunyabiznes33 2 роки тому

@@AnjelCaido69 Lovecraft was so horrified of everything that he's afraid of draft and I don't mean the military kind.

@taekwongurl 2 роки тому

I've never heard of these "authors" either! We recognize your beauty Poe! Sorry that it took the masses so long to get it together, there were some rich, literary snobs working against you for awhile there.

@julietfischer5056 2 роки тому

I recognized a few of them. They're still taught and read, but don't have Poe's pop culture name recognition.

@taekwongurl 2 роки тому

@@julietfischer5056 yes, you're correct, but as a part of the barely literate masses, Poe is Poetry King.

@yamakaze951 2 роки тому

Honestly, some of the names look like made up names in a fantasy story or something

@julietfischer5056 2 роки тому

@@yamakaze951- The 18th and 19th Centuries were known for interesting (to us) names.

@davidcashin1894 2 роки тому

Isn't it great that we remember Poe and not his critics! LOL

@nattmazzoni 2 роки тому

OMG yes!!! His humorous stories are some of my favorites, The Spectacles is probably the most outrageous thing I have ever read. I'm glad to see such a great video on one of my favorite writers

@RemyDonahey 2 роки тому

Just looked it up. That was hilarious! (Though the laser-corrected nearsighted pedant in me wants to pick some nits in his eyesight physics.)

@JKJ1900 2 роки тому

I appreciate Poe's humor. Hans Pfall has some really funny parts

@terencesilva4499 2 роки тому

I remembered as a 10 year old kid reading his poem bells bells bells and not sleeping for a week 😂 I was hooked ever since

@sock2828 2 роки тому

That story he did where people fly to the moon in a balloon was totally autobiographical.

@jeremyt2212 2 роки тому

So we largely believe now that it was a brain tumor that killed him? That's a detail that I didn't know. Poe really is in an elite club, along with Dostoevsky and Van Gogh, artists whose tortured lives were as fascinating as their brilliant works.

@floramew 2 роки тому

I read a couple of his humor stories in... high school I think? On my own time. I was unimpressed, and right up until you said otherwise I had assumed that was bc poe was just not great at humor. That totally makes sense, though, that the context of humor changes a lot more than the context of horror & tragedy. Shame that he's been immortalized bearing the name of his hated stepfather, though

@petroglyph888mcgregor2 2 роки тому

I thought that Poe's story "X-ing a Paragrab" was hilarious the first time I read it. The second time, not so much.

@baysidedaze 2 роки тому

Baltimore resident here! That Ravens comment may be true but so outta pocket

@kayleighmel4554 2 роки тому

I feel cheated, he wrote all the other fun stuff and I had to be mildly traumatized by his horror stories when I was 12!

@antiformsora 2 роки тому

Poe was the first to solve Olber's Paradox (why is the night sky so dark?), with a scientifically sound answer, and he was right. Not just a sad boy for sure.

@vimorrah 2 роки тому

I greatly appreciate this show. As someone with mild dyslexia and basically got bullied out of reading in my school years by my teachers for enjoying reading TOO MUCh (skipping multiple chapters ahead of where the class should be.) I enjoy learning about other authors.

@mathieuleader8601 2 роки тому

I really appreicate the greyscale dress with butterflies and the charcoal lips really sets the mood

@c-allanwats4239 2 роки тому

i love how his nemiss's did so much to belittle him. yet they are famous for bieng the enemy of poe

@danatrick4868 2 роки тому

I have long waited for this episode. Very overjoyed to see it today!!!

@PogieJoe 2 роки тому

Such a wonderful defense of Poe! Thanks, Princess and crew.

@jared1870 2 роки тому

I cannot love this enough. Thank you.

@hauthot287 7 місяців тому

Debussy was a big fan of Poe and planned on writing an opera based off one of his stories

@klisterklister2367 2 роки тому

Always happy when princess weekes shows up

@zrodger2296 2 роки тому

Well now I'm going to have to break out my old book with so much of his work and re-read (or read for the first time!) some old stories and poems! Thank you!

@tumbleddry2887 2 роки тому

Great review of Edgar Poe!.....never knew much of this....Thank You!

@unaanguila 2 роки тому

Thanks for sharing and for the subs!

@HarlequinDrFaustus 2 роки тому

Love Poe, and this was very informative. He was the first writer to influence me, as a kid, and I did several of his pieces on stage, including THE RAVEN several times (and made a video, too); at one point while researching on that poem I came across an essay he wrote about its creation, which was really fascinating, and insightful.

@Jgift_9x 2 роки тому

Awesome!!! Thx u

@MrKruchinski Рік тому

Congratulations on doing a great job of bringing classical literature to younger audiences.

@chiarabeltrami1891 2 роки тому

Thank you for this, it's very interesting...

@brandonriley950 2 роки тому

To qoute the Raven never more. love the line sounds fantastic & thanks to the channel for another interesting video

@hotgun2469 2 роки тому

I like to think that Poe had a bunch of enemies because he was super petty and always dunked on them in a very public setting.

@ceciland18 2 роки тому

And this is why hard to decipher satire is called Poe. I absolutely love it!

@jessicadecuir5622 6 місяців тому

The Spectacles is a great example of his humorous side. I also enjoyed Never Bet the Devil Your Head.

@Sakura790 2 роки тому

Thank you for making him justice

@Purplenightshades Рік тому

Excellent, thank you!

@Pescasaurus 2 роки тому

That was great, really well made and presented by Weekes

@animalsrcute5762 Рік тому

Love Poe 💖! His adapted father real piece of stuff and same to his haters.

@tonyplaysguitar101 2 роки тому

Love this!

@ChristinaB9782 2 роки тому

Very interesting and very well presented!!!

@b.f.2461 2 роки тому

Poe's criticisms are hilarious, which you might not expect. When a poet he critiqued wrote "Better to be forgotten/than to lose equipoise," Poe murmured, "Perhaps better to be forgotten than to lose equipoise on top of a shot tower."

@rafaela00002 2 роки тому

a podcast? yeeees!

@TheTerranInformed 2 роки тому

Wow that’s really interesting!!! (I recall vaguely hearing before that his reputation had been slandered!)

@michaelraun4459 2 роки тому

What about the fact that H.P. Lovecraft was Poe's number one fan-boy??

@emmanuelboakye1124 2 роки тому

True👍👍

@roxannateofanov1031 2 роки тому

Never heard of Griswold. Guess his hate campaign on poor Edgar backfired. Karmic justice.

@carlosdiaz7573 2 роки тому

Poe was one of the best writers in the English language. We owe everything to him.

@idigamstudios7463 2 роки тому

Princess' sign off here is why she's an icon and a queen.

@brendakrieger7000 2 роки тому

Fascinating

@jessthenerd420 2 роки тому

He actually prefers to go by his goth name; Night Pain

@emmanuelboakye1124 2 роки тому

🤣🤣

@RJ_Ehlert 2 роки тому

I had no idea. Thank you.

@richardengelhardt582 2 роки тому

Very interesting literary biography, made excellent by a wonderfully compelling lecture delivery - knowlegeable, obviously, and personal almost intimate

@grapeshot 2 роки тому

Edgar Allan Poe the 19th century Stephen King. The very definition of what they called depression in the 19th century, melancholy.

@bluemooninthedaylight8073 2 роки тому

Nah, Poe is Poe. King cannot hold a candle to his name.

@grapeshot 2 роки тому

@@bluemooninthedaylight8073 yes you are right Poe is in a league all by himself. I was just saying somebody in our time line that is close to him.

@bluemooninthedaylight8073 2 роки тому

@@grapeshot That's cool, I've nothing against your take.

@AntediluvianRomance 2 роки тому

The guy who brought me to read poetry in English although I still didn't fully understand how it worked.

@MostHighEmperorPalpatine 2 роки тому

Poe will always be an O.G. writer period! His poems are some of the best and my personal favorites!

@LovlyHorror 2 роки тому

So if I can low key brag for a moment, I may be distantly related to Edgar Allan Poe. The story in my family goes that his father had a child with a cousin of ours however many times removed.

@user-sw9iu7gp7v 2 роки тому

"This cursed planet". I agree, both figuratively and literally speaking..

@davidkermes376 2 роки тому

I guess I wouldn't call it a "cursed planet" so much as an aggravatingly annoying one. Oh well, one can only do one's own part in returning the sentiment....

@Rahru 2 роки тому

10 seconds into the video and I'm already relating to Princess' (apparent, from my pov) bafflement at the existence and pronunciation of such a word as "macabre" in english.

@tanjahorvatserbiaoldslavsh4685 2 роки тому

I am from Serbia ( ex Tito's Yugoslavia, Balkan peninsula, Europe ). I heard about Edgar Allan Poe but I think that he wrote an only horror stories. The legend about him is a bigger dark mystery than his real-life story. His enemies helped his writer's reputation. He is a writer legend.

@NATURECAMHD Рік тому

Thank you for an interesting, and wonderfully informative piece on one of the true great writers. I never heard of Griswold until I saw this video. Poe's haters helped him ultimately. How ironic.

@JeighNeither 2 роки тому

I played Linus of Peanuts fame in a high school musical production of "Snoopy". One of my songs was a long expose about ♪♪ Poe, Edgar Allen, American poet; he wrote the story of Marie Roget ♪♪... My apologies. I haven't been able to speak of Poe w/o breaking into song ever since.