Revenge

Explore either a) the effects of revenge on an individual, in a real or hypothetical situation, or b) the effectiveness of revenge, i.e. Does it actually make you “feel better?”

Repression

Explore either a) things people feel the need to repress or b) the effects of repression. Feel free to check out this link for thoughts or ideas: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/374718/what_is_psychological_repression.html?cat=72

Annabel Lee

Respond to this Poe poem in any way you feel appropriate:

“Annabel Lee”

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulcher
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulcher there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Authors and Their Works

Edgar Allan Poe had an extremely interesting (and twisted) personal life. He was an alcoholic, never held a steady job, and married his 13-year old cousin, Virginia Clemm.

This brings up two questions. Feel free to respond to either: 1) How much should we care about an author’s personal life? Should we consider a person’s life when we read and analyze his or her writings? 2) Often writers are crazy, depressed, and have faced serious trauma. Do people need to have awful things happen to them to produce powerful literature?