Know your Poe!

“The death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world.”

Nice quote, eh?

Here is a link to the "shmoop" on Edgar Allan Poe (wink wink) More information may be found in Fields of Vision where you can read about Poe as a writer of American Romanticism (which we have read as a contrast/parallel to British Romanticism)
As always, sparknotes is also a valuable source.

The Macbeth play and superstition

Much superstition has surrounded stagings of Macbeth. Here you can read about it - e. g. what happens if a member of the audience utters Macbeth's name before a performance...
You can find more information on the play by following this link

Gothic elements

Here is a link where you can see the most common features of gothic literature

Black Swan

1. How can this film be seen as an example og horror?
2. Is it terror, horror or gross out? Elaborate and provide examples.
3. Compare the film to other texts/films from class

Horror project

Choose one of the songs/poems on the blog. You must listen to all of them.

You must give a short summary of the song/poem.

Analyse the content. Your focus should be on the themes and how they are conveyed. Yu must also apply relevant theoretical material.

Put the song/poem into perspective by comparing it to at least one of the texts we have read in class.

Product: Prepare a presentation of your work. You must post relevant notes as comments under the song/poem of your choice.

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Chris Brown - Wall To Wall

Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart

Suffer the little children

1) Wherein lies the horror?
2) What happens with Buddy Jenkins?
3) Is it all in Miss Sidley´s mind or are the children actually evil little monsters, or perhaps there is a third solution?
4) What does the title imply?
5) Who is the narrator and how does the language effect the story?
6) Think about the contrasting themes of good/evil; madness/sanity; chaos/order etc. in terms of message.

Apply the theories below to the story:
1) Freud´s model of the mind (id, ego, superego)
2) The Uncanny- Freud´s concept of things being familiar andforeign at the same time)
3) Cognitive dissonance (the uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously).
4) Thodorov´s literary theory of the Fantastic.

Dracula

1. Characterize the environment with a focus on gothic elements (look up the characteristics if you are in doubt)

2. How can we use Freud's model of the mind in our reading of this story? Provide textual examples.

3. What view on sexuality and death are depicted in the story?

4. Why is this story sooooo fantastic? - Objectively speaking(!)

Poe fan site

Here is a facebook fan site for Edgar Allan Poe - in case you're interested

Metallica - Enter Sandman

The Raven - narrated by James Earl Jones, Music Moonlight Sonata subtitles

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Henry Lee

Where The Wild Roses Grow

The Nightmare before Christmas

1. What horror elements do you see in the film?

2. What is the message of the film?

3. Why is the horror genre applied?