Poe Project
Poe Project
Poe Project
By now you have likely read several Poe stories/poems and have
some understanding of the Danse Macabre. I would like to take our
understanding of these topics further and develop projects.
Your Task: Develop a Project on an APP of your choice (Google
Slides, Prezi, PowerPoint, etc.) on a topic you find interesting or
unique within Poe or Danse Macabre. Topics may include
Masque of Red Death
1. How does social-economic status affect if one survives or falls
victim to the Red
Death?
2. There is no allusion to where or how the Red Death originally
began, only to how it
spreads. Why?
3. What do you make of the colors of the chambers? Furthermore,
there is an emphasis
on the most eastern chamber being blue and the most western
being black velvet and red.
Why might this be?
4. Since time is referenced so often, what is its importance to the
story? And what is the
meaning behind the hourly striking of the clock?
5. How do the prince and his guests act like a disease in a body?
6. How do you think the Red Death enter
3. Notice how cautiously the narrator sets up the murder of the old
man? How does he do this? Why does he take so long before killing
him?
4. Notice all those places in the story when the narrator identifies
with the old man. Discuss the nature of this identification.
The Raven
1. Discuss the use of symbols in Poe's "The Raven."
This essay should identify the major symbols used in the poem, and
discuss what effect each has. The most important symbol is the
raven itself, with its dark and gloomy appearance lending a sense of
inevitability. Other symbols include the Bust of Pallas, who is the
Goddess of Wisdom, and the beautiful chamber, which is
reminiscent of the beauty of the lost Lenore.
2. Explore the parallels between "The Raven" and Poe's own life.
This essay should explore how the different elements of the poem
combine to create this atmosphere of doom. Elements which should
be discussed include the poems subject matter, rhyme and meter,
symbolism and word choice.
This essay should focus on the melancholy and dreary mood of the
poem. This is created by the choice of words (Gaunt, dreary. . .), the
chain of events and the foreboding of the repeated word
"Nevermore."
6. Is "The Raven" just a tale of a talking bird? What deeper themes
does it explore?
Reminders