Work Cited

      "Annabel Lee - Poetry Foundation." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

      "The Cask of Amontillado." The Online Literature Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

      Edgar Allan Poe - Poem Hunter. "Eulalie Poem." Poemhunter.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

      "Edgar Allan Poe." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

      "Edgar Allan Poe Biography." Edgar Allan Poe Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

      "To -- -- --. Ulalume: A Ballad - Poetry Foundation." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

What I have learned from English 102

         There are many things that I learned in English 102. I learned how to take readings more deeply. I never did that in middle school. I never really liked to read back in high school. Now, taking the course I can understand poems way better than I could back in High school. I always struggled with those and never understood what I read in high school. I have read the Cask of Amontillado over about three or four times. I never really understood it until I read it again in college. It had a theme of revenge and death for Fortunado. I can improve from what I used to be and be better than that now on. I always struggled but from this class I can definitely do better.

         The class overall changed how I view literature. I never really liked it before. Now, I can improve and do better when it comes to writing essays. I thought my essays were good enough but now the class should I need a whole lots of improvement in my writing. I need to revise and go to the writing center often so I can be a better writer when it comes to writing essays. I liked all the poems that we read in class and that means a lot because I never really liked poems back in high school. I thought I would never understand any of these poems but I just need to take it line by line. Hopefully, I can do better in the future.

          I do not really know where I see myself in the future but I'll figure it out before next semester. I know I can do great things but I need to work harder and better for my future. I do not see myself as a writer but who knows what happen in the future. I can take reading would definitely be doing more often in my spare time. I never liked to read but the class had open my eyes to new meanings and I thought I could never be the person to read a book at all.

Losing A Long Time Bestfriend

        My long time friend I knew since the fifth grade. His name was Jesse and he was my basketball mate. I known him for the longest of time. We would always hang out and went to many parties together. One of the honest people I met. I remember back in middle school, He had challenged me to a Basketball game and I would only agree if I could get his Chicago Bulls cap. I won and the score was 16-4 points. I was completely joking about the cap but he gave it to me any way. To this day I still have that cap. We would always play ball together and on the same team. Even when I moved to Houston, he was still a close friend to me. I came back and It was like I never left. The friendship was still there. The day before he died, he had asked me if I could hang out with him. I said no and he said "alright man, Ill see you whenever". The next day, I came home and I got a phone call from my ex. She told me that Jesse had got into a car accident and died in the hospital. I was in complete shock and whole week was unbelievable. I had wore the green bracelet to represent the friendship I had with him. I never took it off ever since then. 

      It relates to Edgar Allan Poe because he lost many people that meant a whole lot to him. I understood how that felt and I thought that would never happen to me. It had made me able to appreciate the people I have in my life because you do not know when they will leave.

About Me

       My family is my mother and my step father. I only have one sibling and he is younger than me. My real father had left me when I was only three years old and I never heard of him ever since. My family would move every other few years. I grew up in Brooklyn up until I was ten and then I moved to Elmont which I stayed there for a few years until I moved to Farmingdale. I stayed there until seventh grade because my family got divorced. My mother and I moved to Houston which we spend there for a whole year until they got back together. I had moved back to Farmingdale and we never moved since. I always made new friends and I never really had a problem with any one. I always found a way to adjust to my situation because I am a laid-back or chill person. I have always played basketball to release the stress or go away from it. It was something I relied on and it had never failed me.

Houston

It relates to Edgar Allan Poe when he was younger. he never really stayed at one place and his own father leaving him at a young age.
I thought that it was pretty interesting that I could somewhat relate to what Poe when he was younger.

Video Games

                                                                                    

                   When I was not able to play Basketball, I would play video games. These video games create a great story for people to follow. Especially Fallout 4, which takes place in a completely devastated version of Boston or the Commonwealth. 2k16 is just an extension to my love and passion for basketball but, I do like playing games that have a story to share. The most interesting part of Fallout 4 which relates to Edgar Allan Poe. They showed a reference to the Cask of the Amontillado during one of the missions. 

        The reference was pretty cool since I did not expect to see that in a video game. It was pretty epic when I found out while playing the game. I went into the bottom of a castle and found bottles of Amontillado on the floor. I followed it and it brought me to the skeleton that is tied up in the wall. Finding these in video games are awesome because people would never expect that from the game. I never knew reading The Cask Of The Amontillado would appear in one of the many things that I like to do on my spare time.

Basketball

                   Basketball for me is something I've been doing since I was born. It something that has never changed about me. I play basketball almost every day and is definitely my passion. To other people its just a sport but for me, it is something that means a lot for me. It can be a great stress reliever or something I can always do on my spare time. People have always doubted me over the years but proving them wrong is the best part of the sport for me. From never being picked to being picked first is one of most favorite things about the sport. People would focus on looks or how a person would dress to play the sport but in the end. I always love proving them wrong and seeing the look on a person's face when you hit twelve out of fourteen shot attempts is definitely an amazing feeling. Overall, nothing can change how view the sport I grew up playing my whole life and I would ignore the negative comments just to prove them wrong. It all adds to the motivation I have for this sport.

Eulalie

I dwelt alone
In a world of moan,
And my soul was a stagnant tide,
Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride-
Till the yellow-haired young Eulalie became my smiling bride.

Ah, less- less bright
The stars of the night
Than the eyes of the radiant girl!
That the vapor can make
With the moon-tints of purple and pearl,
Can vie with the modest Eulalie's most unregarded curl-
Can compare with the bright-eyed Eulalie's most humble and careless
curl.

Now Doubt- now Pain
Come never again,
For her soul gives me sigh for sigh,
And all day long
Shines, bright and strong,
Astarte within the sky,
While ever to her dear Eulalie upturns her matron eye-
While ever to her young Eulalie upturns her violet eye. 

           Edgar Allan Poe was completely in love and he wrote this to describe his lovely wife Virginia. A young man marries a lady named Eulalie and he describes her as the star that outshines other stars. They were happy together and she was love of his life. The man used to walk in darkness until she came along and changed his life. The poem represented Edgar Allan Poe before his wife died in 1947. He was a very happy man until then. Everything after was severely depressing and he would never recover from it.

Annabel Lee

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.

              Its a story of a young boy who falls in love with a young girl. Its a memory of when the boy was young. The boy said the angels were jealous of the love they had so they made her sick. She eventually dies, her relatives come to pick her up and they put her in a tomb.

He still thinks of her after all those years because he said death is not going to separate me from her. He dreams of her all time and in the final lines he said he goes to her tomb just to lie down right next to her. 

Ulalume

The skies they were ashen and sober; 

      The leaves they were crispéd and sere— 

      The leaves they were withering and sere; 

It was night in the lonesome October 

      Of my most immemorial year; 

It was hard by the dim lake of Auber, 

      In the misty mid region of Weir— 

It was down by the dank tarn of Auber, 

      In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir. 

Here once, through an alley Titanic, 

      Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul— 

      Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul. 

These were days when my heart was volcanic 

      As the scoriac rivers that roll— 

      As the lavas that restlessly roll 

Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek 

      In the ultimate climes of the pole— 

That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek 

      In the realms of the boreal pole. 

Our talk had been serious and sober, 

      But our thoughts they were palsied and sere— 

      Our memories were treacherous and sere— 

For we knew not the month was October, 

      And we marked not the night of the year— 

      (Ah, night of all nights in the year!) 

We noted not the dim lake of Auber— 

      (Though once we had journeyed down here)— 

We remembered not the dank tarn of Auber, 

      Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir. 

And now, as the night was senescent 

      And star-dials pointed to morn— 

      As the star-dials hinted of morn— 

At the end of our path a liquescent 

      And nebulous lustre was born, 

Out of which a miraculous crescent 

      Arose with a duplicate horn— 

Astarte's bediamonded crescent 

      Distinct with its duplicate horn. 

And I said—"She is warmer than Dian: 

      She rolls through an ether of sighs— 

      She revels in a region of sighs: 

She has seen that the tears are not dry on 

      These cheeks, where the worm never dies, 

And has come past the stars of the Lion 

      To point us the path to the skies— 

      To the Lethean peace of the skies— 

Come up, in despite of the Lion, 

      To shine on us with her bright eyes— 

Come up through the lair of the Lion, 

      With love in her luminous eyes." 

But Psyche, uplifting her finger, 

      Said—"Sadly this star I mistrust— 

      Her pallor I strangely mistrust:— 

Oh, hasten! oh, let us not linger! 

      Oh, fly!—let us fly!—for we must." 

In terror she spoke, letting sink her 

      Wings till they trailed in the dust— 

In agony sobbed, letting sink her 

      Plumes till they trailed in the dust— 

      Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust. 

I replied—"This is nothing but dreaming: 

      Let us on by this tremulous light! 

      Let us bathe in this crystalline light! 

Its Sybilic splendor is beaming 

      With Hope and in Beauty to-night:— 

      See!—it flickers up the sky through the night! 

Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming, 

      And be sure it will lead us aright— 

We safely may trust to a gleaming 

      That cannot but guide us aright, 

      Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night." 

Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her, 

      And tempted her out of her gloom— 

      And conquered her scruples and gloom: 

And we passed to the end of the vista, 

      But were stopped by the door of a tomb— 

      By the door of a legended tomb; 

And I said—"What is written, sweet sister, 

      On the door of this legended tomb?" 

      She replied—"Ulalume—Ulalume— 

      'Tis the vault of thy lost Ulalume!" 

Then my heart it grew ashen and sober 

      As the leaves that were crispèd and sere— 

      As the leaves that were withering and sere, 

And I cried—"It was surely October 

      On this very night of last year 

      That I journeyed—I journeyed down here— 

      That I brought a dread burden down here— 

      On this night of all nights in the year, 

      Oh, what demon has tempted me here? 

Well I know, now, this dim lake of Auber— 

      This misty mid region of Weir— 

Well I know, now, this dank tarn of Auber— 

      In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir." 

Said we, then—the two, then—"Ah, can it 

      Have been that the woodlandish ghouls— 

      The pitiful, the merciful ghouls— 

To bar up our way and to ban it 

      From the secret that lies in these wolds— 

      From the thing that lies hidden in these wolds— 

Had drawn up the spectre of a planet 

      From the limbo of lunary souls— 

This sinfully scintillant planet 

      From the Hell of the planetary souls?" 

                It simply means that he still misses his love one because he goes to visit her tomb which she has been buried in for a whole year. He starts up in an area filled with dead trees near a dead lake with a mist hovering the whole area. It represents his life because he went through a lot of heartbreak including the lost of his own wife Virginia and he had truly loved her. He wrote it because he had lost him wife right before he wrote this poem.

The Cask Of Amontillado

           Montresor is the main character and Fortunado is his rival. Montresor is planning on getting his revenge on Fortunado. He plans on tricking the drunk Fortunado into the cellar so he can kill him there. He uses wine to trick him because Fortunado has a great love for wine. Fortunado follows Montresor because he is constantly giving him wine. He finds everything that Montresor does is funny because he is intoxicated. He would make gestures to see if Montresor is trustworthy and he would fail every single one but he ignore those facts because it was funny to him.

           Eventually, they go to a complete halt and Montresor ties Fortunado up, Montresor starts building a wall in front of Fortunado. Fortunado starts yelling at Montresor but Montresor is yelling right back at him. He eventually patches up the wall and hears nothing but silence. He knows Fortunado will never be discovred, so he made his way out of the catacombs.

Edgar Allan Poe's Biography

                               

          He was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the son of actors, so he never really saw them. The father David Poe Jr, left the family and his mother Elizabeth Poe died when Edgar was only three. He orphaned by a man named John Allan who was a tobacco trader in Virginia. As he got older, he went to the university of Virginia but would not have the funds to pay for school.
He would turn to gambling to help pay for his debts. It did not work and made him more financially unstable. He went home and found out his fiancee was married to another man. He was completely heartbroken which made a major setback on his life. He would soon leave the family and go to West Point. West Point was a military academy and he excelled greatly at the academy. He was later kicked out of the academy after a year because he was unable to handle his duties at West Point. After he left the Academy, he was focused on his passion which was his writing. He stayed at his Aunt's house with her daughter Virginia. He would eventually fall for his her and she became a literary as well as a love interest for him.

He ended up working for many things that included his writings. Those were the Southern Literary Messenger, The Narrative Of Arthur Gordon Pym, Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, and finally The Broadway Journal.

He had soon published The Tales Of The Grotesque and Arabesque. It was a collection of stories that contained tales that were very suspenseful. Eventually, he had won a prize in literacy due to his works. It was called The Gold Bug which represented his tales of secret codes and treasure hunting.
One of the best of his works is called The Raven because it was a sensation to people of the time. It had greatly explored the common themes of his life which were death and loss. He had amazing short essays or stories which are The Philosophy of  Composition, The Poetic Principle, The Rationale of Verse, and The Cask of Amontillado. Also the great poems such as Ulalume and The Bells. It had given him the nickname "The Father of The Detective Story".

Edgar Allan Poe's death is as mysterious as much of his own writing. No one knows how he died but it is estimated that he died of congestion of the brain. He had recently lost his love life a few years back and he died about two years after. He was on his way to Philadelphia but was found in Baltimore. He was sent to the Washington College Hospital, he died there and his last words were "Lord, help my poor soul."