Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there,
wondering, fearing, doubting,
dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.
Edgar Allan Poe
I’ve heard tell that celebrations for Edgar Allan Poe’s 200th Birthday Centennial are ongoing throughout the year. Writely Applied will celebrate right along. Look for an Edgar Allan Poe celebratory post on the 19th of every month. If you would like to celebrate right along with us please send a link to violetteb28 (at) gmail (dot) com. We’ll have a Writely Applied Edgar Allan Poe Blog Carnival.
Until then here are January’s footnotes on all posts Edgar Allan Poe.
News in the final week of our January celebration of the 200th birthday anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe should not go unnoticed. Here are a few items of interest in our treasure hunt for all things Edgar Allen Poe.
Read more about the debate that took place in Philadelphia during last week’s 200th anniversary of Poe’s birth. What could they be debating? How about which city should rightly claim Poe’s reputation? I’m torn between the two cities where his soul was tortured and of course perhaps a city where he might have been happy…Poe happy, not tortured…what was Poe’s quote about a dream again?
And if you wanted the answer to an earlier question I asked this month about what music Poe would appreciate here is an excellent article on the impact Poe has had on music. Read Two Creepy Centuries of Edgar Allan Poe.
Missing your copy of the Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe?
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While Baltimore’s Edgar Allan Poe celebrations continue this weekend I’ve got to share that I saw the web premiere of Poe Last Days of the Raven on Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday this past Monday. It was incredible and I will probably be purchasing a copy to watch again, share with friends and will set it on the bookshelf next to my Edgar Allan Poe collection.
If you didn’t get to see it I recommend you do. It was a step back in time, a sit down with Poe’s friends and family and a peek into his mind with his poems and a story interspersed within the start and end of the story of Edgar Allan Poe’s life.
Missing your copy of the Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe?
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I was a bit under the weather for a few days and unfortunately lost my posting streak I had committed to for 2009…I’m not going to cry about it. I did gain enough strength to post my 200th birthday tributes to Edgar Allan Poe at WritelyApplied and BigShoes. In addition I spent time catching up on the topic of Edgar Allan Poe at Today.com. Since it has been over a week since we last searched the network, it is time once again to share with you some of the sites talking Poe.
Virginia Clemm Poe had written a poem for Edgar Allan Poe that is known as her only surviving words. YouTube user poeshow posted her words “Ever With Thee” with images of the Poes. “Ever With Thee is part of the chamber musical “Edgar” and I thought it would be aproPoe to share this particular YouTube on Poe’s 200th birthday.
This weekend is the official start of the Edgar Allan Poe bicentennial in Baltimore Maryland, and if Poe isn’t on your mind, the presidential inauguration celebrations are. If you are one of the lucky to have tickets to any Poe Birthday events on Saturday, January 17th and/or Sunday January 18th, you’ll try your hardest not to miss this once in a lifetime celebration. On Saturday avoid City Hall as President Elect Obama passes through Baltimore Saturday at 4:30.
According to PoeBicentennial.com there are limited tickets available for this weekend but a second birthday celebration is scheduled for Saturday, January 31 and February 1, 2009.
I wish I was going to be there, but I’ll be happy for anyone who is and if you find us on the web, please share your experience with us.
Missing your copy of the Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe?
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Today is dedicated to Ricardo Montalban (November 25, 1920 – January 14, 2009) who passed yesterday at the age of 88. Ricardo Montalban was rightly applied. His attitude was “Ask not what the role can do for you; ask what you can do for the role.” He contributed to film, dance and to the cause of Latin actors.
I never knew that he was such the leading man…and could dance! Visit BigShoes for my tribute, including him cutting the rug with Cyd Charisse and Jane Powell.
He was quite the singer as well as highlighted in Ricardo Montalban’s Easter Seals Lifetime Achievement Award (links below). So for our WritelyApplied tribute I’ve selected Ricardo Montalban singing The Rhythm Of Life from Sweet Charity with Dean Jones (Disney movie fame).
Edgar Allan Poe’s The Bells, a poem of many meanings, but mostly a poem about the passage of our time. Some find a few of Poe’s work foreign. Where is the horror they ask? This is not the Poe I know. As with most poetry the reader will find and take something from the poet, not necessarily what poet offers.
Is there horror in The Bells? Certainly the bells ringing later in our lives are not the same carefree tinkling of bells that we heard ringing in our childhood.
Here is a YouTube of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Bells as read by Basil Rathbone.
Missing your copy of the Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe?
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Well it referenced in one of yesterday’s linked posts, the mention of The Simpsons, certainly a part of pop culture. So I couldn’t let the moment slip away to not find and share The Simpsons version of The Raven from one of those great Halloween episodes they put on every year….have we reached twenty years yet, I think we may have. I’m not certain I can picture any other “cartoon” that has made it this far and that has become such an ingrained part of our culture. I’ve been married as long as that show has been on TV.
This is the audio of the episode with the poem “Raven” in Simpsons posted by LifesLaban at YouTube.
Missing your copy of the Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe?
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I’m not the only one talking Edgar Allan Poe at Today.com. I’ve made my way around the network to see what great discussions are going on and I found a few places for you to travel to. It will take you less time than travelling up and down the east coast to visit Poe’s stomping grounds.
First stop A Poet’s View for Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven. Nice YouTube here. I’m happy she found it since I was tired of wading through some of other YouTube videos looking for just the right one.
Next stop The Pop Culture of Gus Lequerica for his thoughts on The Raven No More. It is a friendly stop that I’m sure you will enjoy.
Last stop Writing and Reading – The Unforgivable Rantings of a Wretched Writer, perhaps the last stop because you will never leave. Enjoy both Finding Discovery and Just Plain Literal, both great posts not exclusively Edgar Allan Poe, but creativity and ranting at its best.
Missing your copy of the Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe?
Visit The Literature Network
