Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore.' / Why English Language and Literature?

Edgar Allan Poe is an author that has been important to me since I was a teenager, especially his poem The Raven and his story The Tell-Tale Heart, I love them both! Poe has inspired many artists; there are many film adaptations of his works and also a lot of paintings and other forms of art have been made based on his poems and stories, for example, The Alan Parsons Project's first album was called Tales of Mistery and Imagination and all of its songs were inspired by Poe's stories.

The Raven

"But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,

That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.

Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered -

Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before -

On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.'

Then the bird said, `Nevermore.'"

The Tell-Tale Heart

"TRUE! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth."

Edgar Allan Poe is considered one of science fiction pioneers, stories such as Mellonta Tauta, The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion and A Descent into the Maelström, among others, are early forms of science fiction.

Mellonta Tauta's story takes place in 2848 and it presents new technology as well as other science fiction characteristics. Damon Knight talks about Poe and science fiction in the following video.

Mellonta Tauta

"April 2. Spoke to-day the magnetic cutter in charge of the middle section of floating telegraph wires. I learn that when this species of telegraph was first put into operation by Horse, it was considered quite impossible to convey the wires over sea, but now we are at a loss to comprehend where the difficulty lay! So wags the world. Tempora mutantur -- excuse me for quoting the Etruscan. What would we do without the Atalantic telegraph? (Pundit says Atlantic was the ancient adjective)."

When I think about the elegance, mistery and innovative ideas in Poe's tales,the Steampunk subculture comes to mind with its awesome mixture of beauty of past times and different possible worlds in the future.

I thought about pursuing a degree in History or Art History and Theory, but I ultimately decided to study English Language and Literature because of Edgar Allan Poe's work.