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Edgar Allen Poe: Master of the Strange (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced.
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  Speaker 2: I'm Andrew Davis and I'm Megan Nolette. Spotlight uses a
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people
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  Speaker 2: to understand no matter where in the world they live.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: It is night. A man shines a light through the
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  Speaker 1: gap in a door. Inside the room, an old man
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  Speaker 1: is sleeping. One of his eyes is open, but the
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  Speaker 1: eye is blind and clouded over. The younger man steps
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  Speaker 1: into the room. His hands shake with fear. He thinks
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  Speaker 1: that he can hear the old man's heart beating. The
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  Speaker 1: sound begins to grow louder and louder. The young man
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  Speaker 1: raises a knife. He needs to silence the heart. He
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  Speaker 1: needs to close the strange eye. So the young man
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  Speaker 1: brings the knife down. He murders the old man.
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  Speaker 2: After the crime, the man tries to cover up what
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  Speaker 2: he has done. He cleans his house. He hides the
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  Speaker 2: body underneath the floor. The police come to investigate, but
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  Speaker 2: they can find nothing wrong. They interview him in the
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  Speaker 2: old man's room.
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  Speaker 1: The young man is calm at first, he believes no
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  Speaker 1: one will discover his crime. Then he begins to hear
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  Speaker 1: a noise from under his floor. He hears the beating
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  Speaker 1: of a heart. The noise grows louder and louder. No
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  Speaker 1: one else can hear it, but the young man is
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  Speaker 1: sure they can. He thinks they must know he is guilty,
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  Speaker 1: so he admits to everything. As he does so, he
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  Speaker 1: continues to hear the heart beating louder and louder underneath
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  Speaker 1: the floor.
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  Speaker 2: This is the plot of a story by the American
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  Speaker 2: writer Edgar Allan Poe. It is called The Tell Tale Heart.
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  Speaker 2: Poe was well known for his strange and sometimes violent stories.
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  Speaker 2: He was famous during his life, but people of his
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  Speaker 2: day often found his work frightening. Some did not approve
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  Speaker 2: of his work and his lifestyle, but today most recognize
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  Speaker 2: him as one of the most important writers of the
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  Speaker 2: English language.
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  Speaker 1: Today's spotlight is on Edgar Allan Poe.
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  Speaker 2: Edgar Allan Poe was born in eighteen hundred and nine
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  Speaker 2: in the city of Boston. Soon after Poe was born,
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  Speaker 2: his father left the family, then a year later, his
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  Speaker 2: mother died. These events affect Poe strongly. Soon after, a
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  Speaker 2: wealthy man named John Allan took Poe in. Alan gave
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  Speaker 2: Poe an education, but Poe never forgot his mother or
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  Speaker 2: his life's early sadness.
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  Speaker 1: As Poe grew up, he began to develop strong emotions.
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  Speaker 1: He fell in love very easily. He would often become
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  Speaker 1: sad or angry. These emotions sometimes led him to make
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  Speaker 1: poor choices. He and John Allen fought often. They came
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  Speaker 1: to hate each other, and in eighteen thirty five Poe
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  Speaker 1: married his cousin. Her name was Virginia. She was thirteen
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: years old Poe was twenty six.
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  Speaker 2: But Poe also used these emotions in his writing. When
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  Speaker 2: he was just eighteen, he published his first book, and
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  Speaker 2: as he continued to write more people began to notice
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  Speaker 2: his work. Soon he began working at a journal called
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  Speaker 2: The Southern Literary Messenger. There he worked as an editor.
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  Speaker 2: He also published many stories and poems, and in eighteen
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  Speaker 2: forty five he published his most famous poem. It is
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  Speaker 2: called The Raven.
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  Speaker 1: The Raven is both a poem and a story. In it,
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  Speaker 1: Poe speaks as a man who loses the woman that
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  Speaker 1: he loves named Lenore. As he mourns, a raven flies
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  Speaker 1: into his room. This large blackbird lands on a statue.
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  Speaker 1: It speaks to him. The man asks the bird questions
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  Speaker 1: about death. He wonders if he will ever see Lenore. Again,
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  Speaker 1: but the raven only answers with one word never more.
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  Speaker 1: At the end of the poem, Poe writes.
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  Speaker 3: And the raven, never flitting still, is sitting still, is
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  Speaker 3: sitting on the pallid bust of palace, just above my
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  Speaker 3: chamber door. And his eyes have all the seeming of
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  Speaker 3: a demon's that is dreaming. And the lamplight o'er him
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  Speaker 3: streaming throws his shadow on the floor, and my sore
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  Speaker 3: from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
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  Speaker 3: shall be lifted nevermore.
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  Speaker 2: The man speaking in the poem will always be sad
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  Speaker 2: about Leonor's death. In the poem, the raven becomes sad
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  Speaker 2: he will never see her again.
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  Speaker 1: The Raven made Poe famous. Some of his stories may
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  Speaker 1: have been strange, but people loved his dark imagination and
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  Speaker 1: they liked that he was different. Poe's work was also
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  Speaker 1: some of the first of its kind. He wrote what
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: is probably the first mystery story. It is called The
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  Speaker 1: Murders at the Rue Morgue.
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  Speaker 2: Paul loved people knowing who he was. He loved how
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  Speaker 2: they saw him as dark, mysterious, and intelligent.
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  Speaker 1: But Poe had a difficult time in his personal life,
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  Speaker 1: and this made him famous in some ways he did
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  Speaker 1: not like. He often used alcohol to deal with mental pressure.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes he would drink at his job, and he had
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  Speaker 1: several very public affairs. Sometimes he could not find work
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  Speaker 1: because of these scandals. People believed he could not be
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  Speaker 1: trusted or they did not want to work with someone
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  Speaker 1: with his personality. He was popular, but he was also
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  Speaker 1: very poor.
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  Speaker 2: Then, in eighteen forty seven, Poe's wife died. Her loss
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  Speaker 2: was very, very difficult for him. He started drinking even more.
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  Speaker 2: He had a hard time finishing his work.
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  Speaker 1: Like the character in The Raven, Poe never really got
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  Speaker 1: over Virginia's death. His health was also getting worse. Then,
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  Speaker 1: in eighteen forty nine, Poe traveled to Boston, a city
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  Speaker 1: in Massachusetts. On October third, a man found Poe behind
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  Speaker 1: a bar. Poe was not thinking clearly, but it was
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  Speaker 1: not from alcohol. He shouted strange things, and he was
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  Speaker 1: not wearing his own clothes.
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  Speaker 2: The man saw that Poe was in trouble. He brought
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  Speaker 2: him to a hospital. Poe stayed there several days. He
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  Speaker 2: spoke for hours and hours, but he was not speaking
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  Speaker 2: to anyone, and what he said made very little sense. Then,
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  Speaker 2: on the fourth day, Poe died.
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  Speaker 1: Like many of his stories, Poe's death was a mystery.
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  Speaker 1: No one knows why he died. No one knows why
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  Speaker 1: he was not wearing his own clothes when he died.
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  Speaker 1: He was buried in a simple wood box. Fewer than
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  Speaker 1: ten people came to his funeral.
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  Speaker 2: But like the heart in his first story, Poe's work
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  Speaker 2: lives on. Over one hundred and fifty years later, people
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  Speaker 2: continue to talk about his writing. William J. Jacobs is
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: an American historian. He wrote a book about Poe. In
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: his book, he wrote that.
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  Speaker 4: Others have tried to copy him. They have tried to
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  Speaker 4: capture in poetry and short stories the fear that made
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  Speaker 4: him special. But his imagination was like a lonely castle.
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  Speaker 4: None have ever completely succeeded in climbing its own. He
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  Speaker 4: was one of a kind, and it is imposed difference
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  Speaker 4: that he finds his place in literature.
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  Speaker 1: Have you ever read anything by Edgar Allan Poe? What
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  Speaker 1: did you like? What did you not like? You can
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: leave a comment on our website at www dot Spotlight
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: English dot com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: and x You can also get our programs delivered directly
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: to your Android or Apple device through our free official
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Spotlight English app.
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  Speaker 2: The writer of this program was Dan Chrisman. The producer
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: was Micho Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted
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  Speaker 2: for this program and voiced by Spotlight. No AI or
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: artificial intelligence was used in this program. Spotlight programs are written, voiced,
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: and produced by real people for real people, no matter
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: where in the world they live. This program is called
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: Edgar Allan Poe, Master of the Strange.
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  Speaker 1: We hope you can join us again for the next
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Spotlight program. Goodbye,