Purdue University Intercultural Communication & Art of Poetry Questions

Intercultural Communication: Explain what is meant by the statement “In studying other cultures, we do so very often from the perspective of our own culture.” 200 words

The Art of Poetry:Please discuss the theme of love in “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe 300 words. Purdue University Intercultural Communication & Art of Poetry Questions

Poem:

“Annabel Lee”

BY EDGAR ALLAN POE

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 wingèd 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 kinsmen came

And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulchre

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 her sepulchre there by the sea—

In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Information:Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was a great poet and writer of short stories and essays. However, he had a very troubled and problematic personal life, made all the more difficult by his struggles with alcoholism. Some of his most famous poems are “Annabel Lee,” “To Helen,” “The Raven,” “To —. Ulalume: A Ballad,” “Sonnet–To Science,” and “The Bells.” Some of Poe’s most important themes as a poet are love, beauty, death, and the inevitability of mortality.

In “Annabel Lee” the persona, the “I” of the poem, talks about a profound love in his life. He says that because the love which he shared with Annabel Lee was so beautiful and vital, the “seraphs of heaven” became jealous and killed Annabel Lee. Even though Annabel Lee is physically dead, the persona asserts that his soul and the soul of Annabel Lee are united forever. They are eternally one and noone can separate them. The final stanza of the poem shows how close the persona feels to Annabel Lee (and how devoted he is to Annabel Lee). For he lies down by her tomb by the sea. In “To Helen” the persona praises a woman for her extraordinary and classical beauty.

In “A Dream Within a Dream” Poe suggests that life is but a dream. Poe is especially concerned in this work about the inevitable passage of time and about the everpresence of mortality. In the second stanza when the poet writes that he cannot save even one of the grains of golden sand from the “pitiless wave” he expresses a concern about the mercilessness of mortality. The question which Poe raises in the last two lines of the poem: “Is all that we see or seem / But a dream within a dream?” applies not only to this poem but also to other of his poetic works as well. For one of Poe’s central concerns is the interrelation of dream and reality. Poe also wonders here about the nature of perception: is what we see in the world around us truly “real” or is it just a figment of our imagination?

In his essay “The Poetic Principle,” Poe wrote that a long poem does not exist. He also asserts: “I need scarcely observe that a poem deserves its title only inasmuch as it excites, by elevating the soul. The value of the poem is in ratio of this elevating excitement.”

Edgar Allan Poe is also well-known as a writer of stories and tales. Some of his most famous stories are “Ligeia,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Purloined Letter,” and “The Cask of Amontillado.”

The Art of Poetry:Please elaborate on one of the discussion questions.The first short essay, which should be two pages long, should show evidence of critical thinking and reflection.This essay is just an opportunity for you to explore one of the topics in more detail. (1500 words)

1. Discussion Question:Please discuss the theme of love in “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s Day”(Sonnet 18)By William Shakespeare.

Poem:

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s Day”

(Sonnet 18)By William Shakespeare 1564-1616

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,

Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,

When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.