So now I've been inspired to spread the knowledge, and I thought it might be fun to do it in a tag format, since you don't - at least I don't - hear people talk about their favorite classical authors very often. To be expected, it's mainly modern names you hear - like John Green, J.K. Rowling, etc.
However, "classic" has a sort of broad definition, and a name that is considered a classic where you're at may not be considered one elsewhere. But essentially I'm using it here to mean any well-known pre-21st century author (preferably 1950 and earlier, but famous works must have been published before 2000).
Let's get into it!
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Favorite Classical Author Tag
(Image attached above)
- Pick any pre-21st century (before the year 2000) author.
- Answer the questions.
- Tag a few friends (no specific number required!)
Who is your favorite classical author?
Edgar Allan Poe.
Tell us a bit about your chosen author. What basic facts and details should we know?
Edgar Allan Poe was a 19th century American writer who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1809. As is common among writers (especially writers of the Poe kind), he led a fairly troubled life, though much of it is considered "shrouded in mystery" (even his death was a mysterious one - but more on that later!). Poe was the first at many things, and a large contributor to others. He dabbled in several different genres and types of writing, but most of his works involve (fittingly) mystery and the macabre. He has become one of the most familiar faces of Dark Romanticism, with his most famous poem likely being The Raven (1845).
Included in Poe's list of contributions, he is credited with furthering the development of the short story, as well as science fiction; he is also credited with inventing modern detective fiction, with works like The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841). And while I don't know for sure if he was the first, he was one of America's earliest writers who attempted to make a living mainly through writing alone - which didn't start out too well. His first ever published work was titled Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827), his first volume of short stories called Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1839).
If you'd like to learn more about Poe, this is a great site!
Which work by this author is your favorite?
Definitely his poem The Raven. The influence of it on my blog is obvious! Also, Annabel Lee is a lovely one, and The Tell-Tale Heart is a freaky-good short story.
What do you like about the work(s) you chose?
I'm a lover of mystery, both of the natural kind and (especially) of the supernatural kind; and The Raven is a beautifully-written poem that wonderfully incorporates a dark, dreary, and enjoyably mysterious atmosphere into every word. When used well, I also love the flowery language that is common in poetry; especially older poetry (er, I do, however, prefer it in modern English and in relatively modern forms - Shakespeare, for example, is a bit much for me). The Raven does this well, and it's part of the reason it has such a strong atmosphere. Also, the rhyme is great.
To keep it short but still mention the other two, Annabel Lee has a wonderful, easy flow and rhythm. The rhyme is obvious, but extremely well done. And The Tell-Tale Heart is simply a story that stays with you!
Share a favorite line or two of yours! (If possible)
From The Raven:
- "Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--"
- "And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor."
- "Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"
- "'Prophet!', said I, 'thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!'"
What are a few other fun facts about your chosen author?
- Edgar Allan Poe is known as "The Father of the Detective Story."
- He died in October of 1849, in Baltimore, Maryland. After he had briefly gone missing, he was found, according to Joseph W. Walker (the guy who found him), delirious on the streets of Baltimore, "in great distress" and "in need of immediate assistance." However, it isn't known why that was - and so the causes of his death remain disputed and as mysterious as his writing.
- Apparently he wrote some seriously scathing literary critiques.
Although I'm not going to tag anyone specifically (I have absolutely no idea how many, nonetheless which of you have a favorite classical author), I would love to see your answers to these questions! Here's a clean copy for those of you who would like to give it a go:
Who is your favorite classical author?
Tell us a bit about your chosen author. What basic facts and details should we know?
Which work by this author is your favorite?
What do you like about the work(s) you chose?
Share a favorite line or two of yours! (If possible)
What are a few other fun facts about your chosen author?
Thanks so much for reading, as always, and I hope you enjoyed! If you do happen to do this tag yourself, make sure to drop a link in the comments below so I can check it out! :)
Also, cheers to 30,000 pageviews! Thank you!
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I love Poe! Great choice. :) What a fun tag!
ReplyDeleteIsn't he excellent? :) Thank you!
DeleteI have *heard* of Edgar Allen Poe and I knew he wrote The Raven, but that's about it. Some of his works was one of those 'assigned reading' thingys for literature class, so I automatically decided to dislike it – for that reason. Silly me. ;)
ReplyDeleteThis was fun to read! What a great idea for a tag. :) I might tag myself if I have time and think of good author to use. Hmm...maybe L.M. Montgomery. ;P
Ahh yeah - gosh, that is such a shame the way that happens. So many things I know I would love right now if they hadn't been shoved down my throat in school lol.. At the same time, 99.9% of my knowledge of classical authors comes from my various high school literature classes (excluding the extra info about Poe).
DeleteGlad you liked it, though, Faith! :) Go for it! I've heard the name before, but I know little to nothing about L.M. Montgomery; would be great to learn more from you!
Interesting tag, and I'm glad to learn a few fun facts about E.A.P :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! :) He's such a fantastic, if strange, author.
DeleteInteresting post, I used love poems until I did Literature at school and the topic was WW2, it became too depressing for me which resulted in me not liking them anymore. But if you do want an old classic, I do love Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge is an old favourite of mine, Wilfred Owen and Sassoon are another one (I know they are WW2 poets, but some of their poems were really good). But interesting post indeed! :D
ReplyDeleteWW2 can be a tough subject to read about in poetry.. Anything like that. But wow, you can get such amazing information from those poets. That's one thing about Poe's works - some of them are very, very dark, covering themes related to death, insanity, loss; but they have that extra mystery factor and a different kind of language that, at least for me, makes them more intriguing and less depressing. Poems that dark that are more ..ah, real, I don't find as attractive.
DeleteThe Mayor of Casterbridge sounds familiar - I'll make sure to give those a look! Thank you! :)
Yes it is, so I agree with you on there! Well these poems did cover some dark themes like; death, sanity, loss, bloodshed etc and I agree even more darker themes are not just my type!
DeleteHaha..it might be ;). Its quite popular in the literature world! Let me know how you find it :)
I certainly will! :) Might be a while before I can get to it, though. I'm extremely bad with getting to new books lol. I'll be taking a British & World Lit. course next year, however - wonder if it'll show up there. That would be so perfect! Thank you for the recommendation, by the way. :)
DeleteYour welcome, really? That is so cool! I love people doing stuff like that, I am fascinated by it but I could never do it myself! Shame really :(
DeleteAll the best for it! :)
I'm sorry lol I published your comment, went off to do something else, and forgot to reply until now.
DeleteBut thank you! :) It's nothing major, though. Just a basic high school course! At least for now, I'm the same way as you - and maybe that's for the better. Some people do great with the things taught in courses, others learn so much more outside of them.. :)
Lol its fine, I do the same thing sometimes!
DeleteSomething is better than nothing is what I always say (I sound like a poet lol, that is what I tell myself). True, although I think you will do great in it but then again you will be amazing in whatever you choose to do :)
Haha! You should give poetry a go, then. You've already got the "wise words" down! ;) Really though, I agree. Something is always better than nothing.
DeleteVery sweet of you to say! Thank you! :)
Hahah.. it is funny you actually say that because my brain thinks its very poetic sometimes but then when the words never make sense. Lol, I am not sure I would agree although everyone does tell me I am wiser than my age ;)
DeleteYour welcome and it is true! Your amazing and don't let anyone ever tell you your NOT!!! :)
But isn't that the point of poetry, to elegantly not make much sense? lol! I think you'd come up with some great stuff. Sure, might not make sense, but then you can mess with it until it does! Or just leave it be and see how others interpret it. I love seeing what other people get out of a piece.
DeleteYou're too kind :') lol. Same goes for you, Aneesa!
It is and it isn't. The poetry does need to tell a story and have a theme to it, otherwise it is ambiguous don't you think? I just realised some of English is terrible, what was I thinking? *cries*
DeleteThat might not be a bad idea, hmm...you think so?
Thank you!..hhaha...I try to be. See all the weird awkward pauses? *runs away*
Yeah, you're right, it's not the true point of it. But it can sometimes seem that way to people who aren't into the language it tends to use lol. ^^ Although, I personally think a bit of ambiguity is a good thing - I usually don't have a specific interpretation in mind for my poems, or if I do it's often just a sort of basic outline. In all honesty, though, that's mainly because I don't fully flesh out my ideas. But I like the way that every reader gets something a little different from an ambiguous work.
DeleteI would hate to learn English as a second, third, etc. language! Agghh it'd be terrible. Despite my love for words, I actually really dislike language mechanics. :p And yes!! I do think so! Have some fun with it!
This is awesome! I kind of figured Poe would be your favorite. ;) But I didn't know all this about him. So very interesting!
ReplyDeleteOf course lol! :D I thought this would be a fun little thing to do - I learned a bit more about him through this as well. Thanks, Ashley!
DeleteI think this is a perfect way to spread the knowledge. You made it into a fun game and that is awesome. Also, we can definitely see how he influenced your blog.:D That is great! As always it's an amazing post. I always either learn something from your posts or simply just enjoy your writings.^_^'
ReplyDeleteWho doesn't like fun games? :) Now if only I could design better and really bring out the Poe atmosphere here! lol. Thank you so much, Heena. :)
DeletePOE IS BRILLIANT AGH. Yes, I definitely agree with you; The Raven and The Tell-Tale Heart are a couple of my favorites as well! The only one I really don't like is The Pit and the Pendulum, solely because it fREAKS ME OUT SO MUCH.
ReplyDeleteEllie | On the Other Side of Reality
Yes he is!! I remember the first time I read The Tell-Tale Heart - I was like, "What.. What did I just read?" lol. The Raven, though, was an instant love. I haven't heard or read of The Pit and the Pendulum, but the title sounds.. promising lol.
DeleteI screamed when I saw Edgar Allan Poe, I'm not massive on classics, but Poe keeps me going! The Raven was my first (and obviously good!) but I reckon my favourite is The Black Cat.
ReplyDeleteOne World, Too Many Pages
Exactly! If it wasn't for Poe, I wouldn't have a favorite classic. That's not to say there aren't many, many amazing ones out there - just that I've not explored much of them! Oh yeah, The Black Cat a great one! :)
DeleteThis is such an interesting post! It is always great to recognise non 'main stream' authors for their hard work. Youtuber's books are great but a good solid career book from an author is even better! :)
ReplyDeleteOh yeah! :) Considering that he's a famous classic, I don't know if Poe would be considered mainstream or not.. But he's certainly not one you hear about everyday, at least.
DeleteAbsolutely! It doesn't matter what kind of author you are - book, video, photography, art.. There are so many people out there with amazing talent, and only a fraction of them get the recognition they deserve. Non-mainstreamers are often overlooked, but anyone who has put some time and effort into their work deserves to have that recognized. :)