Celebrate Creativity

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 384 Drake the Rake. After devoting an episode to Fitz Green Halleck, I thought I would devote an episode to - well, I don’t think lover is exactly the right word - but the person who was an extremely close friend of Fitz Green Halleck. And we have the ghost of Joseph Rodham Drake right here. Ghost sound Hello I am Mr. Bartley. And you may call me...

Send us Fan Mail No name in the poetical world is more firmly established than that of Fitz-Green Halleck. (Ghost of Poe voice) Edgar Allan Poe wrote these words about Fitz green Halik for Graham’s Magazine in 1843. This episode will take a look at Halleck as inspiration for some of America’s first homoerotic works.  My name is George Bartley, and this is Episode Episode 383 - to clasp thy hand in...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to celebrate Poe this is episode 382 - Poe’s Pit and Pendulum. Ghost sound Glad you're there Mr. Poe.  You know in the previous episode we discussed the Raven. I would like to take a similar look at what I personally feel is one of your Best stories - the pit and the pendulum - although the black cat, the mask of the red death, the fall of the house of usher, and espe...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to celebrate Poe - episode 381 - Edgar Poe Explains the Raven. Sorry if I gave you the wrong idea in the previous episode, but in this episode I want to delve more into Poe’s most famous work. GHOST SOUND Hello Mr. Poe Greetings Mr. Bartley Very welcome to see you today Mr. Poe.  I was just saying that I wanted to deal into your most famous work in today's podcast epi...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe - This is episode 380 (getting on up there) called More Supernatural Elements. Mr. Bartley: I have the Ghost of Mr. Poe here, and would like to dive right into Mr. Poe’ s  basic belief about his character’s struggles. Mr. Poe: Ah, Mr. Bartley - permit to emphasize that it was important to frequently examine the duality of human nature—the conflict between...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe - This is episode 379 - Supernatural Elements Well How are you, Mr. Poe - and waiting to begin our conversation Very tolerable, Mr. Bartley -and most eager to share our thoughts. Mr Poe - It seems that you often employ eerie and decaying settings to create an atmosphere of dread and suspense.  For example, in The Fall of the House of Usher, the crumbling m...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe. Episode 378 -  Chilled Into Stone Well, in the previous episode Mr. Poe and I were engaged in a vigorous - don’t know if that is the right word for it - a vigorous discussion about what many consider to the his best story - The Fall of the House of Usher - although to be honest, I prefer The Tell Tale Heart or possibly The Cask of Amontillado - but I bett...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 377 - The House is a Vampire! My name is George Bartley, and for the rest of this series, I want to really look into a house that might not make it into Better Homes and Gardens - but is often classified as Edgar Allan Poe’s greatest work.  The story is definitely Gothic in tone, complicated from a psychological standpoint, and a great example of...

Send us Fan Mail Mr. Bartley - plain font Mr. Poe - italics font Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 376 - A Crawling Shape In this episode, I would like to slightly change the subject to early Gothic novels such as The Castle of Otrano - literature that most scholars believed influenced Edgar Poe’s works. Ah, Mr. Bartley - I know that some scholars have said that I must have been familiar with the...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 375 - Tormented I have the ghost of Mr. Poe here - and I would like to ask Mr. Poe a very basic question that many readers of your work have - Mr. Poe - why did you use so much gruesome imagery in your works - imagery that would be difficult for many readers in the mid19th century to handle. Ah, Mr. Bartley, my use of gruesome imagery often serve...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate. Poe. Episode 374 - PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES where the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe and myself continue our discussion of how the writer surpassed the boundaries of Gothic literature We begin this episode by continuing our discussion on how the theater might've affected your writings. Mr. Poe: Ah, Mr. Bartley, Now the dramatic storytelling inherent in theater f...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe - What Is Gothic - Episode 373 - the first of a extended series of podcasts - at least 10 podcasts under the general subject title of Poe and Gothic literature. This podcast episode begins with a few bars of  “Come Rest in this Bosom.”  Very calm, peaceful, and relaxing - and a medley that one of Edgar Poe’s  beaus said was his favorite.  You might say tha...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 372 - Dracula and Doubles Before we go any further, I want to give you a basic definition of a double in literature or movies - first using some fairly recent examples. Now a "double" refers to a character or figure that acts as a duplicate or counterpart to another, often embodying opposing traits or hidden aspects of the original char...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Episode 371 - The Black Vampyre In this episode I would like to delve into a literary work published by C. Wiley and Company on June 23, 1819 - The Black Vampyre.   Unfortunately, the story has a lot of archaic words that we just don’t use any more - so I think a better way to look at The Black Vampyre is tell its overall story - rather ahead of its time for period in w...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe - This is 370 - The Judge’s House, Part Two If you have not heard the previous episode, I recommend that you listen to Episode 369.  That episode has an interesting introduction to the tale, as well as the beginning of the slow-burn drama and eventual of Bram Stoker’ The Judge’s House.  Tonight the rats disturbed him more than they had done on the previous...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 369 The Judge’s House, Part One But before we go any further, I want to announce that Celebrate Poe has now had downloads in 100 countries and territories. Now I have another surprise for you from Bram Stoker’s 1914 Dracula’s Guest - a short story called The Judge’s House.  I admit that I first thought about covering Dracula’s Guest in just one e...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe.  This is Episode 368 - Varney VS Dracula This podcast has had episodes about Varney the Vampire, as well as Bram Stoker’s Dracula - but you might well be wondering - what are the realdifferences between the two vampires?  Weren’t all vampires of the 19th century alike.  Well, in this episode, I am going to try and compare Varney and Dracula - and there mi...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 367 The blood is the life! Today I would like to start out by comparing Bram Stoker’s Dracula’s castle to Edgar Allan Poe’s decaying House of Usher. Both Castle Dracula and the House of Usher are iconic Gothic settings that share several key characteristics, emphasizing decay, isolation, and a sense of foreboding. However, they also have distinct...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 366 - Would You Like Some Sugar with Your Flies - In this episode, I would like to zero in for a look at my favorite character in Dracula - Renfield. Now while Dracula operates in the shadows, Renfield's behavior acts as an overt "index" of the vampire's presence, making him a more visible and erratic counterpart to Dracula&ap...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 365 - Vampire Brides Let’s jump into Bram Stoker’s 1897 Gothic novel - Dracula.  Now the character of Count Dracula draws from  draws from historical figures, folklore, and literary innovation, and is widely believed to be inspired by Vlad III Dracula (Vlad the Impaler), a 15th-century Wallachian prince known for his brutal tactics against Ottoma...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 365 - Dracula’s Guest, Part Two And welcome to the second part and conclusion of Bram Stoker’s Dracula Guest.    As I looked there came a cold shiver in the air, and the snow began to fall. I thought of the miles and miles of bleak country I had passed, and then hurried on to seek the shelter of the wood in front. Darker and darker grew the sky,...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 363  - Dracula’s Guest, Part One Finally - this podcast is beginning a series of episodes about Bram Stoker’s Dracula. First, I am going to delve into - at some detail - what is often felt to be the first chapter of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and was first published as "Dracula's Guest” in the short story collection Dracula's Guest and...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 362 - Poetry and Dreams I was looking through articles about Poe to find information for a future article regarding why do so many people read Edgar Allan Poe. And I found some great stuff and certainly will be writing an episode or two about that subject. But I found an article that said that more Americans - almost 3/4 - are familiar with Edgar...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome 361  Vampires and Religion Now I was planning to do some Easter theme episodes on Celebrate Poe - yes there is a connection - and looked at the calendar - assuming that Easter took place in March or early April - but I was really surprised to find out that this year Easter takes place on April 20 - one of the latest possible dates for the holiday. Now this is where it real...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 360 - Dracula at Church Welcome back to Dracula at Church - and if you have not listened to the previous episode, it might really help you to understand some fascinating ideas about the unintended role of vampires in religion. Now the Church's depiction of vampires as demonic entities provided solace to believers by framing these creatures w...