Poetry for Young People: Edgar Allan Poe

When in college, a professor who taught American Literature, loved Edgar Allan Poe. I confess that I wasn't drawn to his writings back then, nor am I particularly enamored today. But, I very much like the other books in the Poetry for Young People and want to read all in this series.

This book does a wonderful job of providing snippets of information regarding Poe's life and works. Focusing on details of various passages, and, even if the reader doesn't particularly like his poems, Poe can be appreciated for the fact that he kept with a specific theme throughout his works. Gloom, death, deceit, longing and travail are clearly written in dramatic fashion. Drawing the reader step by step into the basement of horrors that await, Poe sinks show more into the blackness of life and death. With no hope of sunshine, the reader simply shakes her or his head in pity at the poor, depressed, sad man.

A troubled soul, Poe died young as a result of alcoholism. Marrying is 13 year old cousin created quite a stir, and he became well-known, primarily through gossip, and for his epic poem The Raven. show less

A brief summary:
This book begins with an introduction to Edgar Allan Poe and his many works. The introduction describes the tragic and rough life that Poe lived and how it impacted the poetry and prose that he wrote. The book contains 13 poems and 8 excerpts from prose written by Poe.

My personal reaction:
Although Edgar Allan Poe's poems and other works tend to be sad and dark, I enjoy the authentic quality that they bring. I especially enjoy Poe's use of rhyme. For example, Poe uses rhyme in his poem Annabel Lee and it gives the poem a song like quality. I appreciate how this book provides definitions for difficult words so that students may better understand them.

A couple of uses:
- Have students select an American poet that they show more would like to study. Have each student research and learn more about the poet and have the project accumulate into an "American Poet Showcase" where students dress up, share poetry and teach their peers about the poet they studied.
- Use Poe's poems as examples of rhyming poetry that have musical qualities and have students write their own poems in this form.

Genre:
Poetry

Media:
Gouache show less

Definitely a more complex book of poetry for children. Probably best for 4th or 5th grade up. This is a nice collection of Poe's beautifully haunting poetry. Each poem begins with a brief synopsis and includes definitions for more complicated words. It ends with some "poems" that have been pulled from some of Poe's prose, but they have been altered by the editors to make the lines more rhythmic. While the editors explain themselves in the introduction, I don't think I would use these alterations in a class. The illustrations appear to be mostly pencil- they are simple and reflect the emotions of the poems accurately

I am never disappointed by this series.
The biographical introduction is illuminating. The pictures are not amazing, but are often interesting and are aptly disturbing. The annotations are concise and helpful. And I've def. come away with a new appreciation for Poe's talent.

I liked this book but I felt like it had some flaws. This is a good collection for younger readers who have not been introduced to Edgar Allen Poe. As always, Poe’s stories are creepy and come from a very dark place. The book does a good job making it feel dark enough to keep Poe’s emotion but light enough for a child. The book had the big ones like “The Raven,” “The Bells,” “Eldorado,” and “Annabel Lee” along with some less well known poems. There are illustrations for each piece of work that help younger persons visualize what is occurring in the poem. The illustrations included an arresting picture of The Raven, a back from the dead ghoast in The Bells, and even depiction the creepy of the narrator of The show more Tell-Tale Heart. The layout of having the poem on one side and interpretations on the other helped me and would probably help younger readers a lot but I can see someone just reading the interpretations and not trying to form their own interpretation. That being said, I enjoyed the selection of poems that were chosen and the interpretations did make a lot of sense. I can see a reader enjoying this book because it breaks everything down for them. Poe isn't easy for anyone, let along a child. show less

Library score

I wasn't really a fan of this poetry book for children. I don't know if Poe is the way to go when it comes to the youth. The photos are great and are a tool to get them to follow along but I think that concepts are too in depth to utilize for anything other than in introductory read.