Edgar Allan Poe’s “ALONE”

     One specific poem that Edgar Allan Poe wrote that very much has appealed to me is named, “Alone”. This piece was first published in 1829 and I think that for anyone that feels the need or passion to write fiction, this poem seems to define their inner self. At least this has held true for myself. I have always been an introvert. Except when writing I have always held my thoughts and feelings close to my chest. In Poe’s Alone, he tells us that even as a child he felt that he couldn’t fine joy in the same things that others did. But it was his experiences, seen through his own eyes that grew into the thinking that occupied his mind later in life. The links below will provide the full text of this poem. It’s a very short read but definitely a good one.

Poe’s “ALONE”

A Gift of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven and Other Works"

     During the holidays I received a very nice copy of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”. This book included several other works, including “The Bells”. Since then I’ve been on a Poe Poetry kick and I have to say that for not being a huge poetry buff, I’m quite enjoying his work. Prior to this time I had only been acquainted with his short stories. If you are interested in reading some of Poe’s poems, Please check the link at "Classic Authors Page", for Poe and click on any of the blue highlighted poem titles. I am in the process of providing all of his poems on this site. There are many and I am about half way finished so there is currently a nice selection of his work available on Descriptive Phrases.com. Let me know what you think about Edgar Allan Poe’s poetry or any of his other work. I will publish any comments. Thanks for taking the time to view my site.

Summary of ERICH MARIA REMARQUE's - All Quiet on the Western Front

   “All Quiet on the Western Front”, written in 1928 by Erich M. Remarque is about the transformation of a young German teenager into a soldier. The story is told from the perspective of the main character, Paul Baumer as he tries to survive World War I. The reader is introduced to several of Paul’s close friends whom he fights alongside with, some of which he’s known most of his life. This is a very telling story of the experiences that faced soldiers of this error, and of war itself. This story, although a work of fiction was so powerful as an argument against war that it became one of the books that was burned during Hitler’s Third Reich. It was thought to give negative ideas about war and depicted the German solider as capable of fear in battle.

   Paul Baumer joined the German army at age eighteen along with his entire class because of the persuasion of their school master, Kantorek, a man who never fought himself. Any that refused to join faced criticism from family and friends; even their parents would call them cowards, in the end all of his classmates joined. The stories of the great German soldier and the propaganda promoting the war failed to meet the reality of the battlefield. Paul reflects that, “we were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; we had to shoot it to pieces.”

   Paul is separated from most of his classmates as they are divided up among the platoons. He, along with several others enter a platoon known to be the toughest. This platoon is run by Corporal Himmelstoss who never fought on the battlefield. The Corporal immediately took a dislike of Paul and his friends and spent his time making their lives as difficult as he could, continually seeking to give them punishment.

   The young men’s trials of survival begin almost at the very beginning of their army experience when dealing with their platoon leader. Himmelstoss’ lack of war experience becomes more reason for difficulties between himself and these young soldiers as they become more experienced at battlefield. Paul becomes aware of the great differences between those that fight and those that have not.

   One night the soldiers wait along a darkened path which Corporal Himmelstoss frequents when traveling home after leaving a pub. They ambushed him, cover him in a sheet and take turns beating him. Later in the story, Himmelstoss is eventually seen, cowering in a trench pretending to be injured. Following this first time on the battlefield, the next day he gets himself reassigned to as the cook. Himmelstoss now has a new view of the young soldiers who have survived day after day of battle. He gives them gifts of officer’s food out of what seems like respect.

   Throughout this tragic tale, the young men share in everything. The war has transformed their lives in every facet, changing boys to men under the shadow of a world at war. They changed from the very first bombardment that they experienced. They have become scavengers, constantly searching for food, cigarettes and equipment. Where they were once embarrassed to use open latrines in basic training they now convene outside in a circle, squatting over holes. 

   Each group of experienced solders has one man among them that seems to have a sixth sense which for Paul’s group is Stanislaus Katczinsky. Katczinsky, at 40 years old is the leader of this small group. Whether it is finding supplies or knowing how to cook a found meal such as a live goose or horse flesh, it is believed that they wouldn’t have survived as long as they did without him.

   The reader enters the novel during a meal at an army soup kitchen, following several days of fighting on the frontline. Immediately the reader gains an understanding of the great loss of lives that the soldiers have seen as few are alive to attend the meal.

   Paul and several of his friends go to a field hospital to meet another soldier that they knew from home. Doctors have already amputated this young man’s leg, but the men know from experience that he will soon be dead from infection anyway. Much like the lies told at home, they assure their friend that he will be sent home, because of his injury the war is over for him. During their visit, one of Paul’s friends asks to keep the amputated soldier’s boots, knowing that once he dies, all of his possessions will be picked through by the hospital staff. The boots, like the food and all supplies, including medicines are hard to find. They end up offering a hospital orderly several cigarettes in order to secure him a shot of morphine to stop his suffering for a short while. The pain killer was normally reserved only for officers because of the lack of supply.

   Paul waits with the dying man as trains arrive to take the injured to hospitals away from the front, but they leave him behind. The reader gains an understanding that they are just avoiding him until he finally dies. Paul watches as he wakes in a crying fit before death takes him.  In addition to the mass deaths of the battlefield, many injures end in death from the unsanitary conditions of the field hospitals and lack of medical supplies. Paul describes having to breath an “atmosphere of carbolic and gangrene” inside of the hospital. Following his death the staff is quick to remove him because they have been waiting for his bed.

   Most striking in this novel is what happens at the frontline. The groups of young soldiers move closer and closer to the front, they extinguish their cigarettes so they can’t be seen in the night. They walk through the smoky and tainted air left from their own artillery guns. Out ahead they can hear the roar and boom of explosions from the guns firing behind them. In front, the horizon glows red with returning fire from the enemy. Fear seizes the new recruits, but those that are more experienced focus on survival. Paul describes the front as Paul describes the front as a “mysterious whirlpool with a vortex sucking me into itself”.

   They sleep in holes, sometimes while bombs fall around them. The must wake to fight off rats who seek their food. The rats are fat from the meat of the dead. They have even attacked and ate other, larger animals found in the trenches.

   The soldiers know the sound of each incoming bomb. They know in advance whether it will fall short, pass by them or if they should take cover. They know from experience when the munitions carry a gas canister and they have to hold their breath and don a gas mask. The young men have become soldiers. They developed an ability to survive. The new recruits lack this instinct; many die in their first bombardment. Those that have lived through this over and over feel somewhat jealous of a recruit dying quickly, because they don’t have to become accustomed to war.

   As their own lines are constantly sent to the front and repeatedly beaten back, the enemy’s artillery becomes stronger. They can feel the strengthening of their forces. The army of the enemy comes close enough to see the features of their face. Body parts can be seen being ripped apart. Paul explains, “We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation.” The enemy retreats and they pursue. The battle is back and forth through the trenches and craters.

   They watch as new recruits, with zero knowledge of how to survive the battlefield, fill vacancies among the ranks. Throughout the fighting, new recruits snap. The experienced soldiers keep an eye on them, but at intervals they go mad. As one’s nerves shatter, his screams and attempt to escape sets off others to follow. The fear seizes the new recruits, but those that are more experienced focus on survival.

   During one bombardment a horse farm is hit. The horses run in all directions. Those that are injured cry out, hidden in the thick clouds of the battle. The dead men all around them, body parts scattered about, the constant threat of bombs and gun fire, all of this is endured by the soldiers. But the groans of injured horses are unbearable. The soldiers hide in craters and cover their ears, but it is still too much for them to endure. The men take aim and kill them to stop the screams of pain.

   Paul is given seventeen days of leave, after which he is to report to a training camp. He has trouble coping with home. He hates what he sees as fake kindness shown to a soldier by civilians, knowing that they aren’t helping those on the battlefield, but are just being kind to make themselves feel good. At home he is asked by his sickly mother how it’s been, but he can’t answer her. Paul doesn’t know how to answer, she would never understand. He could never tell her about the things he’s seen. He’s infuriated with those that haven’t been through what he has. None of them understand. Being around the civilians, he realizes how much his live has changed.

   Paul Baumer left his home with a desire to serve his county honorably. After returning during a break, he is troubled by the idea that those at home are misinformed and mistaken about the war. Paul believes that the war will end in a loss for Germany. In fact, he can see from each battle that they have already lost. His family and neighbors far removed from the frontlines only know what the German government tells them, none of which seems accurate. Further, they don’t seem to understand the realities of war and the real losses being inflicted on Germany’s young soldiers. They can’t imagine that the German army may actually lose. Paul allows the lies to remain in his family’s minds. His own mind remains on the safety of his friends that he left behind on the battlefield.

   While at home he feels impelled to see the mother of the young man that he watched die at the hospital. She wants to know how if her son is dead, why Paul survived. He lies and swears that her son died instantly and didn’t feel any pain.

   At the training base he runs into trouble because he doesn’t salute a passing officer. Near the training base is a Russian prison camp. The prisoners spend their days digging through the soldiers’ trash looking for anything to eat. Most of the soldiers ignore the prisoners; Paul can’t help but stare at them while on duty as a guard. They are the enemy he fought in the field, but look nothing like it here. Before going back to the frontlines, Paul finds out that is mother has cancer and they are worried about the cost for her treatment.

   Upon his return to the front, Paul searches for his friends. When he does find them he shares the food brought from home. He has returned in time for an inspection. For days they drill and polish their uniforms as if there is not war at all. They question what they are fighting for and for further, what their enemies are fighting for. They wonder who could be benefitting from the war as it was certainly not those that had to fight it, on either side.

   The battles flow back and forth between attack and retreat as the dead fill the same craters that they hide in. The men that don’t die right away but waste away slowly far from any medical help, scream day and night until they fall unconscious or die. One such sole who screams for help for days is searched for several times but his voice seems to travel and he can’t be found. The screams are accompanied by the sound of the decomposing of bloated bodies. The days pass alternating from attack and retreat. The down time is filled by repairing trenches and the constant replacement of recruits to fill the ranks.

   Feeling that he owes his the platoon because of his leave, Paul volunteers to scout the strength of enemy positions. He is taken by surprise by a falling bomb and is disoriented. He has lost something needed form survival during his visit at home but is renewed when hearing the voices of his friends behind him. Paul pushes further on, crawling from hole to hole. He eventually gets lost and can’t determine which direction he is heading in. As he realizes this, an attack begins. Enemy troops pass over him as he lies in a water filled crater.

   While lying and waiting for the bombs to stop another body falls on him. Paul stabs the man in the dark. Machine gun fire is spraying just above ground level, he’s stuck. As light begins to fill the crater, he tends to the dying man. They wait together for hours as the man slowly bleeds to death. Paul thinks about the man he killed with his own hands. He thinks about what he would have been doing tomorrow, and about his family and the future that he took away from him. After the man finally dies, Paul apologizes.

   Days go by without being able to leave the crater that he now shares with the man he killed. Paul didn’t bring any food or water with him. He is finally able to leave the hole but now fears that his own men may shoot at him as he tries to return. Instead his friends find him with a stretcher in hand.

   Following this latest trip to the front, they are all reassigned to protect a supply dump. They find makeshift furnishings and food. The smoke from their cooking is seen by the enemy and bombing on the town begins. They remain for days relaxing as bombs tear the small town apart around them. Before long they receive more orders sending them to evacuate another village. Paul and one of his friends are injured during this mission and sent to a field hospital. They are told that they will be going home because of their injuries.

   The two soldiers are sent to a hospital away from the front for recovery. Here they are again surrounding by dying soldiers. The hospital place patients that they know are going to die in one particular room that becomes known as the dying room. The dying soldiers come in so rapidly that this reserved room isn’t large enough to contain them all.

   Paul is operated on and is sick for several days afterward. While recovering from surgery he sees more deaths and new patients arrive. The doctor seems to be finding things to operate on beyond the injuries that the soldiers are there for. He is experimenting on the wounded soldiers. Paul recovers enough to move on his own and sneak around the hospital. He finds that on other floors the injuries are even worse. He begins to realize the extent of the pain and death that the war is having on the world. Paul is finally given leave to return home where he finds his mother is much sicker than when he last left.

   He once again returns to the frontline. The battle is still fought by attack and counter attack, back and forth. The trenches have been ripped apart and are almost non-existent. Pockets of fighting continue as the front crumbles. Paul’s group is surrounded in a number of attacks and has to bury another of their friends. They are tired, starving and running out of supplies. They are supported by new recruits that don’t know how to fight, only how to die. They have given up all hope. Armored tanks now join the fighting effectively for the first time in history.

   Paul’s friends die or are injured one by one as the fighting continues. The German soldiers all know that they are losing. They hear rumors of a possible peace. They are overrun by allied aircraft all around them, yet the fighting continues. Paul carries a dying Katczinsky to safety but is too late, he is dead. Still the talk of peace is spread but the fighting continues. Paul knows that the war will soon end and he’ll be going home. He never makes it; he is killed before peace is agreed.

Summary of Edgar Allan Poe’s “Eulalie” – A Song

This lonely man lived alone deep in depression.
Even his soul remained unmoved, until he married a woman named Eulalie.
His blond haired bride brought happiness to his life withher smile.


Even her eyes shone brighter than the stars in the night sky.
A snow flake created by nature cannot compare to the beauty and uniqueness of even a strand of hair or the most unkept curl on her head.


With her in his life, he never feels doubt and never experiences pain anymore.
In marriage their souls have become one.
Every day begins bright and sunny for as long as Eulalie lives on.

Plot Summary of Leo Tolstoy's THE DEATH OF IVAN ILYICH

     The Death of Ivan Ilyich was written by Russian author Leo Tolstoy around 1886. The writing of this short novel follows the religious transformation of Tolstoy’s own life. The reader can see a similar religious awakening in the main character, Ivan Ilyich as he dies a slow painful death.

     Ivan Ilyich’s life was described as simple. Likewise in his early career he neither excelled nor failed but tended to follow those in charge. He made every effort to adopt their likes and dislikes, never standing out. Ivan performed his duties at work with complete and exacting detail and never allowed distractions into his life. Following law school, Ivan worked as an assistant on special commissions to the governor. After several years he moved to become the examining magistrate. This new position granted him much more power. It was while working at this new position and town that he met his wife.

     To this point in his life, Ivan had planned his activities and acquaintances to fit with a pleasurable and respectable life. His chosen bride seemed to compliment his desired lifestyle. However Ivan’s life changed abruptly once his wife become pregnant with the couple’s first of several children. She suddenly became extremely jealous and demanding. Ivan used his work as a getaway and the last remaining sanctuary of freedom that he had left from her overcrowding. As his wife tried to occupy more of his attention, he worked more and more out of the house. From this commitment toward work, Ivan soon gained advancement, first to become the assistant public prosecutor then the public prosecutor in another new town.

     Married life for Ivan became even more unbearable. An increase in the cost of living strained the family’s finances. During this same time period, Ivan and his wife saw the death of several of their children. Ivan’s wife blamed him for all their misfortunes. For his part, Ivan simply worked more and stayed away from his home and family.

     After years of living above their means, his job became intolerable when Ivan got passed over for several promotions that he thought he was entitled to. He felt underappreciated and wanted an appointment with a new ministry. A change in several high ranking officials placed one of his friends in a position that was fortunate for Ivan. His friend appointed him back to the ministry of justice where he began, along with a salary for which he had been seeking. His life seemed to be back in order.

     This new position required a move to another new city. Ivan and his wife were finally happy together. Before his family joined him, he spent months purchasing furniture and decorating the apartment exactly as he had once dreamed of living. He was so passionate about his new home that he did some of the work himself. On one occasion he fell from a ladder and injured his side on a window pull.

      Ivan’s work kept him busy, they entertained guests in their new home and their lives finally seemed to be at peace. This tranquility was eventually disrupted as the pain in Ivan’s side worsened instead of healing. The constant soreness made him miserable. What had begun as a slight discomfort increased months later to make the simple act of eating into a painful chore. Along with this pain he began to experience an awful taste in his
mouth.

     Ivan consulted doctors about his painful illness and became absorbed in learning about health and wellness. He received numerous cures and advice but nothing seemed to help. Day by day his illness continued to worsen. He felt alone, no one seemed to understand what he was going through. His wife hated him for disrupting their life. His friends disliked being around while he suffered in pain. Even his co-workers treated him
differently.

      He receives evaluations from many doctors and specialists with a number of different treatments, none of these cured him. Ivan begins to understand that he is dying, little could he believe that it was actually happening to him. The reality of death invades his every thought, even distracting him from his work.

     After three months of painful suffering, Ivan had lost much weight and has trouble even walking. He lay in bed thinking about his illness and his coming death. He hates those around him that offer advice and pretend that his was an illness that he’d soon recover from. He knew he was dying and wanted everyone to stop acting like he wasn’t. He wanted more than anything else to be missed. He wanted someone to care for and worry about him like he were a sick child. He found no pity but from one unexpected man.

     Gerasim was a young peasant man whose chore it was, among other things to clean Ivan’s bed pan. Ivan held some embarrassment for not being able to clean up after himself but Gerasim assured him that he didn’t mind helping someone that was ill. He only hoped that if he were ever as sick, someone would be kind enough to help him. Ivan saw the compassion in Gerasim that he was missing. For long hours he would talk with Gerasim while the young man held his legs which seemed to ease Ivan’s pain.

     In this time of his most self-pity, Ivan was visited by more doctors. His wife had a specialist examine him, but Ivan only saw more fake performances and lies. He is visited by his wife, two children and his daughter’s fiancé. He now more than ever hates his wife, he can see the disruption he is causing his daughter and the sorrow in his son’s eyes.

      In the night he asked Gerasim to leave his bedside. Ivan finally breaks down and begins to cry. He argues to himself about what life and death was even for. He begs to know what the reason for pain and agony was. Ivan decides that, “life is a series of increasing sufferings as it flies further and further towards its end.”  He realizes that his life may have been a waste. He’d lost a chance for happiness because he had only focused on
money.

     During the final three days of Ivan’s life he lay on the couch and screams. On the last day he sees the pain in his wife’s face and the heartache he has been causing his son. He realizes that they did feel sorry for him. And he likewise felt sorry for them. He knew that he had caused them pain and was sorry. After trying to apologize he witnesses a vision of light. While he once feared the blackness of death, he now saw the light and didn’t fear it. His last two hours of life he accepts death and is at peace. Ivan died at age 42. 

      In 1882, it was announced that Ivan Ilyich was dead, after having suffered from an incurable disease for months. The death notice is read in the newspaper at the court house where he worked as a judge. Hearing the news, Ivan’s former coworkers selfishly think to themselves about the possible promotions that will result.

     Pyotr Ivanovich, a close friend of Ivan’s felt obligated to make an appearance at the widow’s home for the funeral service. While suffering in pain, Pyotr had even introduced Ivan to another friend who was a doctor. Pyotr is uncomfortable and doesn’t know how to act in the room where Ivan’s body was laid out. He is approached by the widow of Ivan Ilyich. She tells him of the suffering that Ivan lived through in his last few
days before death. The widow questions him about her possibly gaining more money from the government because of Ivan’s death. Pyotr doesn’t think that this is possible and is excused. He leaves and begins thinking about his own mortality. He stands quietly through the service and immediately following its conclusion, Pyotr is the first to leave.

     The story of the agony of illness and torment of knowing one is sinking into death seems to end how it began. Ivan pleads that those around him don’t understand what he is going through. He himself is troubled in believing that he could be dying. Those around him watch his demise but never gain insight into their own lives much the way Ivan hadn’t until it was too late.

The Raven's Shadow

Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site Philadelphia PA


     Maintained by the National Park Service, Edgar Allan Poe’s historic home can be viewed within walking distance of the restaurants and shopping center of downtown Philadelphia P.A. Outside of the three story red brick building; resting upon a 4x4 steel column sits the large statue of a Raven. At midday the Raven, with wings spread wide, casts its shadow across the brick wall of the house. I couldn’t miss the opportunity to get a picture of this image while on a short stay in the city of brotherly love.
Edgar Allan Poe National Historic House

Is Suzanne Collins’ THE HUNGER GAMES series an accurate prediction of the future of human society?

    I can’t remember the last time that I read a book based in the far future where society was better off. There always seems to be the wealthy singular governance which preys upon the have-nots. In Suzanne Collins’ THE HUNGER-GAMES series, the world’s working class is dominated by the wealthy ruling class. Granted this is simply a well thought out plot in a novel and not a declaration of the possible future that the world is heading to, I think that it is interesting that many authors see the future with little optimism. Although the ruler is titled as a president, the futuristic setting of THE HUNGER GAMES is similar to that of a time of kings and queens, which ruled their kingdoms with absolute control. Could our future generations see a great limiting of their rights which have been fought over for more than 2000 years?
Is there an alternative or is human nature so destructive that it is inevitable that governments will fall and society will crumble?