Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Why Poor Poe?
It was brought up yesterday in class that Poe should be given a break perhaps or that we should pitty him for his efforts and getting nothing in return. His sacrafice of his style and tones in his experimental writing is not in need of pitty I don't believe. I think that it was extremely hard for him to get started and noticed for his talents but it was his choice in the first place to make those sacrafices and he did and look where it got him today. He was the one that fell so deeply in love with writing and expressing himself on paper, so I don't think that he would even want pitty, he would probably want praise and admiration for a job well done. We even say today that if you had a choice between a job that will pay you $100,000 a year that you hate and a job that pays $50,000 that you absolutely love, most would pick the one that they love. This is exactly what Poe did and I don't have pitty for him and don't think that he should have been given a break because if he was given one, who knows if he would be the great writer that he became!
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7 comments:
I do not pity him either. Being successful doesn't have to come with financial gain to make someone happy. When you make a choice as to have a career you love sacrifices have to be made in order to have success (success not being monenatry gain). I do feel that Poe didn't feel successful because of his financial situation but I am sure he was happiest when writing and doing critiques. If he was given a break I do not think he would have taken things so seriously or written so passionately.
I don't pity Poe at all. I mean, I pity that he died in his prime but I don't pity his situation at all. He was highly ambitious and pursued his dreams. He kept failing but he kept trying. He could have easily given up and pursued a different career but he continued writing. If we pity those who don't get what they want then I think we can pretty much have pity for everyone. If a break was to be given to him then a break needs to be given to all. Life isn't fair all the time and it wasn't for Poe. He was an artist and it influenced his works. Probably made him a better artist because of it. If anything we should be glad that Poe went through what he did and never got successful.
Poe is not "poor Poe" in any respect. As Nicole said, he sacrificed to do what he wanted to do. It was the fact he was not as well received as he might have been that we might have sympathy--along with him dying so young.
I completely agree with everyone else's comments thus far. Poe, like many people (including myself), had to give in order to get. He was a very successful man and one of the most famous poet/short story writer. I'm sure he would be honored and probably speechless to know that every middle school and high school student around has studied his work. I would think this would be beneficial enough. (Forget the money, I want to be remembered!) Isn't this a thought that many people have? Maybe not when you're starving, but in the long run, fame is a pretty big reward for doing something you love.
As many have said in response to this post, there is a propensity among many to label Poe as the martyr of the literary world. I find this view to be unjust. Although in comparison to Thoreau or Emerson, Poe's life was far more difficult; I believe that his harsh attitude, affinity for alcohol and unrequited love is not enough of an authority to designate Poe as “Poor Poe.” I can not help but to think, “so what?” We all have difficulties that we must work through. Our tendency to label him as “Poor Poe” is not derived from his life, but from our perception of what his life would have been like through the lens of his literary work. We read the “Raven” and make an assumption as to his life and how he must have felt after losing Virginia with little definitive evidence from his actual life. I believe that it is our own desire that turns our perception of Poe into this lowly urbanite.
I agree with you...no pity for Poe!!! It is a sad fact that the works of many people of genius are not realized during their lifetime; I believe this is because their art and ideas were just to ahead of their time to be appreciated. Today, Poe is one of the most well known authors in the world. He has influenced writers and culture in such a big was that he can never be erased. I'm sure that if Poe had the choice, he wouldn't do anything in his life differently...so why should we pity a man who (eventually) got everything he wanted?
This is a good question. Why Poor Poe? I don't know if I pity him or not, but I feel sad that his self destructive behavior prevented him from reaching his full potential. It seems we have all come to look the other way and make excuses for artistic temperament in our literary heroes but I can't help wonder what he would have written sober and not hung over.
But like everyone else, I don't pity him. I feel grateful that he had the skill and the inclination to write what he did.
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