Edgar Allan Poe's Mental Health Issues, Home Life, and His Writings

How did Edgar Allan Poe's mental health issues and his home life affect his writings?
Edgar Allan Poe is thought to be one of the most controversial and famous writers. According to http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/17841865/lit/poe.htm and http://www.eapoe.org/papers/psbbooks/pb19871c.htm, Poe led a very tortured life, which may explain some of his writings. His father abandoned the family while he was a baby, and his mother died of TB before Edgar was three. Poe also married his COUSIN when she was only thirteen. Those things, along with his fascination of gory and Gothic themes allowed him to become a prominent writer, mastering the Gothic genre. Poe is thought to have had an unusually potent right cerebral hemisphere, which normally plays a part in visual imagery, music, emotions, reverie, and self-destructive urges. In one of his works, Rufus Griswold ruined Poe's reputation by misquoting his writings and overplaying his drinking problems. In all reality, Poe was probably just a "one beer wonder" who could not hold his alcohol. Poe's probable mental illness was manic-depressive, which greatly influenced him because of the fact that Poe wrote about dark things like death. He had an apparent fascination with the death of women, but that could be the cause of him seeing so many deaths of women close to him, like his mother and his young cousin-wife.
   (The second picture is the different cerebral hemispheres.)

Why did Washington Irving use pen-names?

What is a psuedonym? http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pseudonym defines it as a fictitious name used by an author to conceal his or her identity; pen name. This is what Washington Irving used when writing his short stories. According to http://classiclit.about.com/cs/profileswriters/p/aa_wirving.htm Washington Irving was born April 3, 1783 in New York City, and was the eleventh child to William and Sarah. His most famous works were "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." However, Irving did not use his real name as the author, which sparked my question. Why did Washington Irving use pen-names for his short stories? Irving used names like Dietrich Knickerbocker, Jonathan Oldstyle, and Geoffrey Crayon. I did not actually find a logical answer online for this, but I have some theories. I believe that he used these names in order to make the stories more interesting. I mean, who would rather read a story by Washington Irving than some random person named Dietrich Knickerbocker or Geoffrey Crayon? This way, Irving could read his own works and listen to how others reacted about the stories since they did not actually know who wrote them.
  

Frederick Douglass: The Real Story

Who was Frederick Douglass? According to http://www.who2.com/bio/frederick-douglass and http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/douglass/bio.html, Frederick Douglass was born as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in February 1818 in Maryland to a black slave woman and an unknown white male, who was probably his mother's slave master. When he was 20, he escaped to New York to obtain his freedom. In order to keep his freedom, he changed his name from Frederick Bailey to Frederick Douglass. He chose this name from a character in the book from The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott. This way, he was able to keep his freedom and marry a free black woman named Anna Murray in 1838. Frederick and Anna had four children between the years of 1839 and 1844. During these times, Douglass became an aid abolitionist for black suffrage and pushed to end slavery. He wrote What to the Slave is the Fourth of July on July 5, 1852 as a protest to July 4th. Douglass' wife Anna died in 1882, and two years later in 1884 he remarried, this time to his white secretary named Helen Pitts. Douglass' works were used as propaganda for the civil war in order to get African American slaves to fight against the south. Douglass died in 1895 from heart failure. This was the same year that Booker T. Washington became prominent by giving his Atlanta Exposition speech. Douglass is often referred to as one of the South's most famous examples of the region's mixed racial heritage.

Side-note: The year Douglass wrote What to the Slave is the Fourth of July, Phi Mu was founded and publicly announced. I thought that was very cool.

How much was Mary Rowlandson actually ransomed for?

Mary Rowlandson was captured in 1675 by the Wampanoag Indians and held captive for three months. Her husband paid her ransom of 20£. This made me wonder exactly how much she was ransomed for, so that is my question. How much was Rowlandson actually ransomed for? According to http://www.unitconversion.org/currency/british-pounds-to-us-dollars-conversion.html today 20£ would be worth about $31.63 US dollars. Today, however, one US dollar is worth 0.63£. That is not very much considering how much our US dollar has diminished in value over the years. After I found out how much Rowlandson would've been worth today, I began to wonder how much she was really worth in 1675. While I was doing research on that, I realized that there were no US dollars around in 1675. So, I found on http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_value_of_a_1675_British_Penny that a 1675 British Penny would be worth 12-100£ today, and that would equal about $18.98-$158.13. I am not sure exactly what that means about how much she was really ransomed for, but a 1675 British penny would be worth a lot today! So, what I found was Rowlandson's husband paid the equivalent of $31.63 to get his wife back.
 

Necessary Evils

Thomas Paine stated in Common Sense "Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one." With this being said, I began to wonder what other things would be considered "necessary evils." So my question is just that, What are some things that are considered "necessary evils" today? According to http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6084.html, conducting layoffs at work places are necessary evils. Sometimes there are too many people and not enough money to go around, so the managers just have to do it. A really interesting quote I found on that website was "We define a necessary evil as a work-related task that requires a person to cause physical, emotional, or material harm to another human being in order to advance a perceived greater good." This article was really interesting because it talked about how we tend to focus on the emotions of the person being laid off and not so much on the person who is having to carry it out. To put a necessary evil into easier terms to understand, I found the definition at http://www.englishclub.com/ref/esl/Idioms/N/a_necessary_evil_208.htm. According to that website, a necessary evil is defined as something you do not necessarily like but you understand that is has to be accepted sometimes or it has to exist. The example they used was "Sandra says money is a necessary evil. She thinks it causes many problems, but she can't imagine how the world could work without it." One thing I found particularly funny was an article from Marie Claire magazine entitled "5 Necessary Evils to Compete in the Dating World." http://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/men/necessary-evils-dating-world This article was talking to men about how to find a girl. The necessary evils were 1. Going to the gym, 2. Cleanliness and hygiene, 3. Intelligence, 4. Income, and 5. Effort. This was funny because those are things you should probably do on a regular basis! In general, this blog probably has nothing to do with Thomas Paine other than what he said about necessary evils, but I took that and looked more into it. 

How do people get their points of views across to others?

Jonathan Edwards constantly campaigned to win sinners' souls to Christ by scaring them into salvation. This made me think of all of the ways that celebrities and other people or companies get their points across to viewers. So, my question is: How do people get their points of views across to others?  I have split points of views into four groups: Christ, Getting fit, Finding the perfect someone, and Finding a cure. First of all, many people have tried to persuade others to Christ. http://www.christianpost.com/news/tim-tebow-praises-tom-brady-and-jesus-christ-66990/ Today, Tim Tebow is probably the first person that anyone thinks of. He is a true man of God who shows his love by putting scriptures on his eye blacks and "Tebows" (kneels and prays with a fist on his forehead).(This second picture shows my brother and some other high school boys from our church "Tebowing" on a youth trip in Gatlinburg this past January).  As for getting fit, there are many ways to do it. Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers have commercials on TV constantly. They offer different ways to lose weight with different options of food. http://www.livestrong.com/article/38863-jenny-craig-vs.-weight-watchers/ The most common commercial today for Jenny Craig is seen at this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZL3qjTSb00 Michelle Obama is very involved with how the country gets fit. I believe that she is convinced that everyone is overweight and needs to get into shape. This is not necessarily true, what about those that are actually fit or underweight? That is all beside the point, but Mrs. Obama has traveled the country helping kids get fit by dancing and doing things like a Platypus Walk. http://www.letsmove.gov/ Since its so close to Valentine's day, dating sites like eHarmony, match.com, and christianmingle.com are set on helping you find that perfect someone! If you would like to know exactly how dating sites rank, visit http://www.top10bestdatingsites.com/?kw=dating%2520site%2520reviews&c=9362027227&t=search&p=&m=e&adpos=1t1&a=1&gclid=CKOE78C7ma4CFRBW7AodS2Ut4Q. One site that I did not see was christianmingle.com, their commercials always make me laugh, but I will let you have your own personal opinions on that by watching this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBqEd7JWLoY. Finally, on to those commercials that everyone always changes the channels for, those showing animal abuse, children with cancer, or starving children in Africa. I will not post any videos because they make me sad. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is dedicated to giving children with life threatening diseases proper treatment that is of no cost to the parents if their insurance covers it. http://www.stjude.org/stjude/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=f87d4c2a71fca210VgnVCM1000001e0215acRCRD The ASPCA has the most moving commercials in my opinion because they show animals with the worst beatings or scars and have the heartfelt music playing in the background. The starving children in Africa seem fake to  me honestly. I know that there are starving children, but why not bring them to America to be adopted instead of asking me to call a 1-800 number to donate so much money to possibly get a picture of a child that they say is starving? That is also beside the point, but I sometimes like to voice my opinions. In conclusion, there are many ways that companies or individuals get their points across to viewers. A few of the categories for points of views are Christ, getting fit, finding the perfect someone, and finding a cure.

Anne Bradstreet: Changing the Country, One Work at a Time

When we were assigned this blog, I thought finding an interesting topic about Anne Bradstreet and the Puritans would be fairly easy, but I was proved wrong. I finally found a question that interested me about Anne Bradstreet when I was searching Anne Bradstreet on Google. 

How did Anne Bradstreet influence/change the country through her writings?

Anne Bradstreet, as we have already discussed slightly, was the first woman poet in America (New England), as well as the first "American" poet, period. She was also a Puritan, and their society was very hostile to any imagination whatsoever. According to http://www.english-e-corner.com/americanliterature/contents/ColonialPeriod/default.htm, her writings were unsurpassed by any American women until Emily Dickinson 200 years later. The first book published by an English settler was Bradstreet's The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America (1650), and most of her poems were imitative. In http://www.reformation21.org/shelf-life/anne-bradstreet-the-guided-tour-of-the-life-and-thought-of-a-puritan-poet-1.php, Heidi L. Nichols allows Bradstreet's work to speak for itself in her book Anne Bradstreet: A Guided Tour of the Life and Thought of a Puritan Poet. According to Nichols, Bradstreet's deep intellectualism along with her love for her husband and children oppose the common misconceptions of Puritans as being unfriendly, narrow minded people. Bradstreet was also significant in church history because she can still relate to today's readers and emphasize the need for God. Nichols believes that Bradstreet's writings were a letter to the nation and about her faith that still speaks to us through her works. I found a website completely dedicated to Bradstreet's works at http://www.annebradstreet.com/. On this website, the authors say that Bradstreet's works serve as a testimony to the struggles of a Puritan wife against the adversity of New England colonial life in the seventeenth century. Most of Bradstreet's poems were written when she was lonely because her husband was away on political affairs. This website said that Bradstreet is a positive, inspirational role model because of her disregard to material wealth, humility, and spirituality (regardless of religion).

So, in conclusion, I think that Bradstreet's writings greatly influences our country because different works can relate to different emotions. I really enjoyed learning about her and how we can relate to her works even today. She was prominent in history both in literature and in the history of the church, and I really thought that was impressive considering what time period she lived in and the face that she was a woman.