Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Andrew Devis.
Voice 2
And I’m Megan Nollet. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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Voice 1
It is night. A man shines a light through the gap in a door. Inside the room, an old man is sleeping. One of his eyes is open. But the eye is blind and clouded over. The younger man steps into the room. His hands shake with fear. He thinks that he can hear the old man’s heart beating. The sound begins to grow louder and louder. The young man raises a knife. He needs to silence the heart! He needs to close the strange eye! So, the young man brings the knife down. He murders the old man.
Voice 2
After the crime, the man tries to cover up what he has done. He cleans his house. He hides the body underneath the floor. The police come to investigate. But they can find nothing wrong. They interview him in the old man’s room.
Voice 1
The young man is calm at first. He believes no one will discover his crime. Then, he begins to hear a noise. From under his floor, he hears the beating of a heart. The noise grows louder and louder. No one else can hear it. But the young man is sure they can. He thinks they must know he is guilty. So he admits to everything. As he does so, he continues to hear the heart, beating louder and louder underneath the floor.
Voice 2
This is the plot of a story by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe. It is called “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Poe was well known for his strange, and sometimes violent stories. He was famous during his life. But people of his day often found his work frightening. Some did not approve of his work and his lifestyle. But today most recognize him as one of the most important writers of the English language.
Voice 1
Today’s Spotlight is on Edgar Allan Poe.
Voice 2
Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809 in the city of Boston. Soon after Poe was born, his father left the family. Then, a year later, his mother died. These events affected Poe strongly. Soon after, a wealthy man named John Allan took Poe in. Allan gave Poe an education. But Poe never forgot his mother or his life’s early sadness.
Voice 1
As Poe grew up, he began to develop strong emotions. He fell in love very easily. He would often become sad or angry. These emotions sometimes led him to make poor choices. He and John Allan fought often. They came to hate each other. And, in 1835, Poe married his cousin. Her name was Virginia. She was thirteen years old. Poe was twenty-six.
Voice 2
But Poe also used these emotions in his writing. When he was just eighteen, he published his first book. And, as he continued to write, more people began to notice his work. Soon, he began working at a journal called The Southern Literary Messenger. There, he worked as an editor. He also published many stories and poems. And, in 1845, he published his most famous poem. It is called The Raven.
Voice 1
The Raven is both a poem and a story. In it, Poe speaks as a man who loses the woman that he loves, named Lenore. As he mourns, a raven flies into his room. This large black bird lands on a statue. It speaks to him. The man asks the bird questions about death. He wonders if he will ever see Lenore again. But the raven only answers with one word: Nevermore. At the end of the poem, Poe writes:
Voice 3
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted—nevermore!
Voice 2
The man speaking in the poem will always be sad about Lenore’s death. In the poem, the raven becomes sad that he will never see her again.
Voice 1
The Raven made Poe famous. Some of his stories may have been strange. But people loved his dark imagination. And they liked that he was different. Poe’s work was also some of the first of its kind. He wrote what is probably the first mystery story. It is called the Murders at the Rue Morgue.
Voice 2
Poe loved people knowing who he was. He loved how they saw him, as dark, mysterious and intelligent.
Voice 1
But Poe had a difficult time in his personal life. And this made him famous in some ways he did not like. He often used alcohol to deal with mental pressure. Sometimes, he would drink at his job. And he had several very-public affairs. Sometimes he could not find work because of these scandals. People believed he could not be trusted. Or, they did not want to work with someone with his personality. He was popular. But he was also very poor.
Voice 2
Then, in 1847, Poe’s wife died. Her loss was very difficult for him. He started drinking even more. He had a hard time finishing his work.
Voice 1
Like the character in The Raven, Poe never really got over Virginia’s death. His health was also getting worse. Then, in 1849, Poe traveled to Boston, a city in Massachusetts. On October third, a man found Poe behind a bar. Poe was not thinking clearly. But it was not from alcohol. He shouted strange things. And he was not wearing his own clothes.
Voice 2
The man saw that Poe was in trouble. He brought him to a hospital. Poe stayed there several days. He spoke for hours and hours. But he was not speaking to anyone. And what he said made very little sense. Then, on the fourth day, Poe died.
Voice 1
Like many of his stories, Poe’s death was a mystery. No one knows why he died. No one knows why he was not wearing his own clothes. When he died, he was buried in a simple wood box. Fewer than ten people came to his funeral.
Voice 2
But, like the heart in his first story, Poe’s work lives on. Over one hundred and fifty years later, people continue to talk about his writing. William Jay Jacobs is an American historian. He wrote a book about Poe. In his book, he wrote that:
Voice 4
“Others have tried to copy him. They have tried to capture in poetry and short stories the fear that made him special. But his imagination was like a lonely castle. None have ever completely succeeded in climbing its walls. He was one of a kind. And it is in Poe’s difference that he finds his place in literature.”
Voice 1
Have you ever read anything by Edgar Allan Poe? What did you like? What did you not like? You can leave a comment on our website at www.spotlightenglish.com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and X. You can also get our programs delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
Voice 2
The writer of this program was Dan Christmann. The producer was Michio Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. No A.I., or artificial intelligence, was used in this program. Spotlight programs are written, voiced, and produced by real people for real people, no matter where in the world they live. This program is called, “Edgar Allen Poe: Master of the Strange.”
Voice 1
We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.
Question:
Have you ever read anything by Edgar Allan Poe? What did you like? What did you not like?
