Celebrate Creativity

Send us Fan Mail This episode describes a recent experience prescribed by George’s doctor where George uses the words of Poe to help him through the ordeal - words that also made the ordeal much worse. 00:00 Introduction 00:19 Prostate cancer 02:32 MRI and comments 05:30 Using Poe’s words 07:52 Noise and the MRI 09:52 Words from The Tell Tale Heart 10:41 Words from The Bells 14:47 Intense stimuli...

Send us Fan Mail This episode deals with tropes as rhetorical devices.  George gives an absolutely groan inducing way to remember antomasia.  The ghosts of Mr. Poe and Mr. Shakespeare give examples of antonomasia, metaphor, simile, synecdoche, onomatapeia from their works. (Some of the extended metaphors in this episode include Shakespeare’s All the World’s a Stage and Poe’s The Conqueror Worm.  0...

Send us Fan Mail This episode deals with rhetorical devices - specifically schemes as used by William Shakespeare and Edgar Poe in their works.  Obviously not ALL definitions and schemes could be covered (there are just too many) but this episode takes a basic look at this important use of language.  Examples include parralelism in Hamlet, antithesis, chiasmus (such as in Macbeth), climax in Richa...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 104 Rhetorical Triangle https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/rhetorical-triangle This episode first deals with the distinction between seasons in a podcast, and George explains why he decided NOT to list the episodes in series format (even though there is a distinct chronological order) to the episodes. Then this episode takes a look at Aristotle’s Rheto...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is the first appearance of the ghost of Mr. Poe for the year. Mr. Poe and Mr. Bartley do a brief recap of Mr. Poe’s life as a confused infant facing horrible tragedies and his life with John and Francis Allan of Richmond.  Then Mr. Poe talks about his life in England as a student, and the Allans return across the Atlantic to Richmond.  Sections discuss Poe as a young...

Send us Fan Mail This episode deals with the theme of the double in William Wilson, and compares it to the same theme as used by Oscar Wilde in Dorian Grey. This episode also compares two characters hundreds of years apart who are both influenced by doubles - Spiderman and William Wilson. 00:00 Intro 01:26 Spiderman and symbiote 02:55 Meaning of doppelganger 04:06 William Wilson at boarding school...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 101 - Was Poe Abused? This episode is a cursory examination of some of the abusive conditions at English boarding schools when the young Poe attended Stoke Newington. While Poe never wrote a great deal about those experiences, much can be learned by examining OTHER similar individuals in similar circumstances. 00:01  Introduction 00:19 “Orientation” as Mild Torture 02:30 F...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is an examination of the uncanny - what it means and specifically how the concept of the uncanny can be seen in The Fall of the House of Usher and The Tell Tale Heart. 00:01 Introduction 00:50 Learning language  01:30 Meaning of uncanny 03:00 Into to uncanny in Poe 05:02 Freud on the uncanny 07:08 Gothic stories and beliefs 08:48 The uncanny in the Fall of the House o...

Send us Fan Mail Some of the topics for Celebrate Poe in 2022 00:08 An apology 03.01 Podcast reflections 06:27 Poe and the uncanny 07:35 Was Poe abused in boarding school? 08:21 The ghost of Mr. Shakespeare meets the ghost of Mr. Poe 09:33 Life at the University of Virginia 12:29 Life at West Point 14:43 The Pale Blue Eye 16:09 Comments regarding podcast guests 17:58 Pulling teeth (Berenice and Le...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, George reads The Festival by H.P. Lovecraft with some comments about the story and the writer’s “unique” perspective. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us Fan Mail George reads the classic story A Set of Poe, followed by a timely poem that was posted to reddit and called A Covid Christmas - originally written by Dr Tom Macdonald of Ottawa, Canada  Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us Fan Mail George reads what is arguably the most famous short story ever written -  The Gift of the Magi. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us Fan Mail 00:00 Introduction 00:45 Dinner is served! 02:18 The Christmas meal 03:43 The people at the meal 04:44 Loaded with good cheer, conversation, and music 14:58 Supernatural monument 19:03 Author’s hopes in writing 19:50 Influence of Old Christmas 20:58 Criticism of emphasis on the past 22:35 Class conflict versus harmony and peace at Christmas 24:26 Future episodes 20:02 Sources What...

Send us Fan Mail Episode Ninety Four - Generous and Happy Feelings 00:00 Introduction 00:54 Waking Up 02:43 Invitation to family prayers 04:01 Breakfast 04:38 Observations regarding the grounds 08:26 Liturgical concerns  15:58 Emotional effects of sermon 18:30 Future episodes What was the first thing the narrator heard from outside door when he awoke on Christmas morning? To what did the servant i...

Send us Fan Mail 00:00 Introduction 01:16 Ride to Bracebridge Manor 03:21 Arrival at Bracebridge 04:36 Description of the Manor House 10:10 Description of the interior 17:26 Description of the narrator’s room 19:27 Future episodes 22:01 Sources What has been the emphasis in the first two portions of Old Christmas? How does the son in the carriage describe his father? Who are the father’s favorite...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 92 - Santa Claus Establishes New York 00:01 Introduction 00:36 More about Washington Irving 02:43 The Pompous Senator and Santa 05:39 The Stage Coach 07:11 Anticipating Bantam 12:06 Shouts of joy! 16:00 Meeting Bracebridge 17:54 Future episodes 22:39 Sources What were Washington Irving’s best known works? How did Irving “invent” Santa Claus? Where did the Knicks get their...

Send us Fan Mail What is a way of remember the name Washington Irving (and not confusing him with other names!) Where do we get the legend of Santa Claus in America? What was Christmas like during medieval England? How was Christmas celebrated in America before the 1800’s? What is the first section of Old Christmas about in tone? 00:10  Introduction 01:15 Remembering Poe and other writers 02:52  R...

Send us Fan Mail Ninety - The Raven and the Eye This episode takes a deep dive into two of Dickens’ greatest works A Tale of Two Cities and Barnaby Rudge as great examples of historical fiction. In Barnaby Rudge, a raven is one of the characters.  Poe and Dickens were friends, and could this be where Poe got the idea for his most famous work? What historical fiction did Dickens write? What did Syd...

Send us Fan Mail Plagues, Witches, and Wars online course at the University of Virginia https://www.coursera.org/learn/historical-fiction The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore web site https://www.eapoe.org/index.htm What IS historical fiction? Name three historical fiction novels involving Edgar Poe. What is central of ANY historical fiction? What is the difference between primary and secondar...

Send us Fan Mail Episode Eighty Eight - This SOUNDS like Poe’s School? Why do you think Stoke Newington IS the school in William Wilson? Why do you think Stoke Newington IS NOT the school in William Wilson? Do you think William Wilson (the narrator) sounds bitter? Was Poe taught by a Rev. Bransby? Was William Wilson DEFINITELY written about Stoke Newington? How will Washington Irving fit into this...

Send us Fan Mail Where does “The Man of the Crowd” specifically take place? How could the tale be considered a “stalking story?” How could the tale NOT be considered a “stalking story?” Why do YOU think the narrator is following the stranger? What is a dopppelganger? Could the story take place in almost ANY large city? 00:00 Introduction 01:25 The ghost of Poe reads The Man of the Crowd 13:39 Poe...

Send us Fan Mail This podcast returns to the life of Poe with the Allans.  In this episode, the Allans go to the United Kingdom (Scotland, Ireland, and especially England) for Mr. Allan's business. At one time, Poe lives just a few minutes from the British Museum! Then Mr. Poe and Mr. Bartley begin a discussion of Mr. Poe's hesitancy to write about social issues and not have many of his...

Send us Fan Mail Link to The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe  67 minutes https://archive.org/details/TheLovesOfEdgarAllanPoe Link to clip or Jane Darwell in “The Grapes of Wrath” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJLvgWx-h54 Link to clip of Jane Darwell and Julie Andrews in “Mary Poppins”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Wb_sTdJV In this episode, George talks briefly about the joys (and problems) in doing...

Send us Fan Mail This episode uses some great information from Dr. Harry Lee Poe (a distant descendant of Edgar Allan Poe) to deal with one of the most controversial aspects surroundning the writer - his substance abuse.  Dr. Poe is head of the Poe Foundation, and is certainly in a position to know.   In this podcast, George uses personal experiences to touch on some of the dynamics surrounding Po...

Send us Fan Mail Episode Eighty Three - Poe’s Vampires - Part Two This episode has a brief introduction regarding Dr. Harry Lee Poe - and sections from two vampiric stories by Edgar Poe.  Berenice is the story of a man suffering from monomania - he is obsessed with his cousins teeth.  (And the story has more teeth than Dracula!)  Then Mr. Poe reads a section of The Fall of the House of Usher.)  Ge...