WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:09.400
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Andrew Davis.

2
00:00:10.119 --> 00:00:15.919
<v Speaker 2>And I'm Megan Nolat. Spotlight uses a special English method

3
00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:22.399
<v Speaker 2>of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no

4
00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:25.559
<v Speaker 2>matter where in the world they live.

5
00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:38.799
<v Speaker 1>It is night. A man shines a light through the

6
00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:45.759
<v Speaker 1>gap in a door. Inside the room, an old man

7
00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:53.159
<v Speaker 1>is sleeping. One of his eyes is open, but the

8
00:00:53.359 --> 00:01:00.759
<v Speaker 1>eye is blind and clouded over. The younger man steps

9
00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:07.719
<v Speaker 1>into the room. His hands shake with fear. He thinks

10
00:01:08.040 --> 00:01:13.719
<v Speaker 1>that he can hear the old man's heart beating. The

11
00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:20.519
<v Speaker 1>sound begins to grow louder and louder. The young man

12
00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:27.599
<v Speaker 1>raises a knife. He needs to silence the heart. He

13
00:01:27.719 --> 00:01:34.120
<v Speaker 1>needs to close the strange eye. So the young man

14
00:01:34.439 --> 00:01:40.359
<v Speaker 1>brings the knife down. He murders the old man.

15
00:01:42.760 --> 00:01:48.200
<v Speaker 2>After the crime, the man tries to cover up what

16
00:01:48.519 --> 00:01:54.719
<v Speaker 2>he has done. He cleans his house. He hides the

17
00:01:54.760 --> 00:02:03.239
<v Speaker 2>body underneath the floor. The police come to investigate, but

18
00:02:04.040 --> 00:02:10.319
<v Speaker 2>they can find nothing wrong. They interview him in the

19
00:02:10.360 --> 00:02:11.599
<v Speaker 2>old man's room.

20
00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:18.800
<v Speaker 1>The young man is calm at first, he believes no

21
00:02:18.840 --> 00:02:25.199
<v Speaker 1>one will discover his crime. Then he begins to hear

22
00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:31.599
<v Speaker 1>a noise from under his floor. He hears the beating

23
00:02:31.960 --> 00:02:38.479
<v Speaker 1>of a heart. The noise grows louder and louder. No

24
00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:43.520
<v Speaker 1>one else can hear it, but the young man is

25
00:02:43.879 --> 00:02:50.360
<v Speaker 1>sure they can. He thinks they must know he is guilty,

26
00:02:51.319 --> 00:02:58.080
<v Speaker 1>so he admits to everything. As he does so, he

27
00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:05.560
<v Speaker 1>continues to hear the heart beating louder and louder underneath

28
00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:06.479
<v Speaker 1>the floor.

29
00:03:09.479 --> 00:03:13.439
<v Speaker 2>This is the plot of a story by the American

30
00:03:13.479 --> 00:03:20.879
<v Speaker 2>writer Edgar Allan Poe. It is called The tell Tale Heart.

31
00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:29.919
<v Speaker 2>Poe was well known for his strange and sometimes violent stories.

32
00:03:31.400 --> 00:03:37.719
<v Speaker 2>He was famous during his life, but people of his

33
00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:45.360
<v Speaker 2>day often found his work frightening. Some did not approve

34
00:03:45.879 --> 00:03:53.080
<v Speaker 2>of his work and his lifestyle, but today most recognize

35
00:03:53.159 --> 00:03:57.919
<v Speaker 2>him as one of the most important writers of the

36
00:03:57.960 --> 00:03:59.960
<v Speaker 2>English language.

37
00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:08.240
<v Speaker 1>Today's spotlight is on Edgar Allan Poe.

38
00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:14.319
<v Speaker 2>Edgar Allan Poe was born in eighteen hundred and nine

39
00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:20.160
<v Speaker 2>in the city of Boston. Soon after Poe was born,

40
00:04:20.920 --> 00:04:27.360
<v Speaker 2>his father left the family, then a year later, his

41
00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:36.360
<v Speaker 2>mother died. These events affected Poe strongly. Soon after, a

42
00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:44.000
<v Speaker 2>wealthy man named John Allen took Poe in. Alan gave

43
00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:50.480
<v Speaker 2>Poe an education, but Poe never forgot his mother or

44
00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:52.480
<v Speaker 2>his life's early sadness.

45
00:04:54.680 --> 00:04:59.920
<v Speaker 1>As Poe grew up, he began to develop strong emotion.

46
00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:07.319
<v Speaker 1>He fell in love very easily. He would often become

47
00:05:07.720 --> 00:05:14.680
<v Speaker 1>sad or angry. These emotions sometimes led him to make

48
00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:22.920
<v Speaker 1>poor choices. He and John Allen fought often. They came

49
00:05:23.160 --> 00:05:29.360
<v Speaker 1>to hate each other, and in eighteen thirty five Poe

50
00:05:29.560 --> 00:05:36.639
<v Speaker 1>married his cousin. Her name was Virginia. She was thirteen

51
00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:40.800
<v Speaker 1>years old Poe was twenty six.

52
00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:50.720
<v Speaker 2>But Poe also used these emotions in his writing. When

53
00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:57.480
<v Speaker 2>he was just eighteen, he published his first book, and

54
00:05:58.360 --> 00:06:04.040
<v Speaker 2>as he continued to write more people began to notice

55
00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:10.800
<v Speaker 2>his work. Soon he began working at a journal called

56
00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:17.759
<v Speaker 2>The Southern Literary Messenger. There he worked as an editor.

57
00:06:18.759 --> 00:06:25.120
<v Speaker 2>He also published many stories and poems, and in eighteen

58
00:06:25.319 --> 00:06:30.839
<v Speaker 2>forty five he published his most famous poem. It is

59
00:06:30.920 --> 00:06:32.600
<v Speaker 2>called The Raven.

60
00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:40.199
<v Speaker 1>The Raven is both a poem and a story. In it,

61
00:06:40.839 --> 00:06:45.199
<v Speaker 1>Poe speaks as a man who loses the woman that

62
00:06:45.560 --> 00:06:53.040
<v Speaker 1>he loves named Lenore. As he mourns, a raven flies

63
00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:59.639
<v Speaker 1>into his room. This large black bird lands on a

64
00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:06.199
<v Speaker 1>staf It speaks to him. The man asks the bird

65
00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:12.560
<v Speaker 1>questions about death. He wonders if he will ever see

66
00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:19.600
<v Speaker 1>Lenor again. But the raven only answers with one word

67
00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:26.759
<v Speaker 1>never more. At the end of the poem, poet writes.

68
00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:35.959
<v Speaker 3>And the raven, never flitting still, is sitting still, is

69
00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:42.319
<v Speaker 3>sitting on the pallid bust of palace, just above my

70
00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:49.040
<v Speaker 3>chamber door. And his eyes have all the seeming of

71
00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:54.759
<v Speaker 3>a demon's that is dreaming. And the lamplight o'er him

72
00:07:55.160 --> 00:08:03.240
<v Speaker 3>streaming throws his shadow on the floor, and my soul

73
00:08:04.199 --> 00:08:09.560
<v Speaker 3>from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

74
00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:14.040
<v Speaker 3>shall be lifted nevermore.

75
00:08:16.600 --> 00:08:21.560
<v Speaker 2>The man speaking in the poem will always be sad

76
00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:28.560
<v Speaker 2>about Leonore's death. In the poem, the raven becomes sad

77
00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:32.840
<v Speaker 2>that he will never see her again.

78
00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:40.799
<v Speaker 1>The raven made Poe famous. Some of his stories may

79
00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:48.399
<v Speaker 1>have been strange, but people loved his dark imagination and

80
00:08:48.679 --> 00:08:55.240
<v Speaker 1>they liked that he was different. Poe's work was also

81
00:08:55.240 --> 00:09:00.399
<v Speaker 1>some of the first of its kind. He wrote what

82
00:09:00.759 --> 00:09:07.080
<v Speaker 1>is probably the first mystery story. It is called The

83
00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:10.759
<v Speaker 1>Murders at the Rue Morgue.

84
00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:16.519
<v Speaker 2>Poe loved people knowing who he was. He loved how

85
00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:22.039
<v Speaker 2>they saw him as dark, mysterious, and intelligent.

86
00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:31.799
<v Speaker 1>But Poe had a difficult time in his personal life,

87
00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:36.120
<v Speaker 1>and this made him famous in some ways he did

88
00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:43.159
<v Speaker 1>not like. He often used alcohol to deal with mental pressure.

89
00:09:44.360 --> 00:09:49.759
<v Speaker 1>Sometimes he would drink at his job, and he had

90
00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:56.960
<v Speaker 1>several very public affairs. Sometimes he could not find work

91
00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:03.440
<v Speaker 1>because of these scandals. People believed he could not be

92
00:10:03.639 --> 00:10:08.879
<v Speaker 1>trusted or they did not want to work with someone

93
00:10:09.080 --> 00:10:14.440
<v Speaker 1>with his personality. He was popular, but he was also

94
00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:15.799
<v Speaker 1>very poor.

95
00:10:17.639 --> 00:10:25.159
<v Speaker 2>Then, in eighteen forty seven, Poe's wife died. Her loss

96
00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:31.360
<v Speaker 2>was very difficult for him. He started drinking even more.

97
00:10:32.519 --> 00:10:35.480
<v Speaker 2>He had a hard time finishing his work.

98
00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:42.279
<v Speaker 1>Like the character in The Raven, Poe never really got

99
00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:49.559
<v Speaker 1>over Virginia's death. His health was also getting worse. Then,

100
00:10:50.039 --> 00:10:55.799
<v Speaker 1>in eighteen forty nine, Poe traveled to Boston, a city

101
00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:03.320
<v Speaker 1>in Massachusetts. On October, a man found Poe behind a bar.

102
00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:11.960
<v Speaker 1>Poe was not thinking clearly, but it was not from alcohol.

103
00:11:12.039 --> 00:11:17.000
<v Speaker 1>He shouted strange things, and he was not wearing his

104
00:11:17.159 --> 00:11:18.200
<v Speaker 1>own clothes.

105
00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:24.440
<v Speaker 2>The man saw that Poe was in trouble. He brought

106
00:11:24.519 --> 00:11:30.799
<v Speaker 2>him to a hospital. Poe stayed there several days. He

107
00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:36.360
<v Speaker 2>spoke for hours and hours, but he was not speaking

108
00:11:36.519 --> 00:11:43.600
<v Speaker 2>to anyone, and what he said made very little sense. Then,

109
00:11:44.360 --> 00:11:47.039
<v Speaker 2>on the fourth day, Poe died.

110
00:11:50.360 --> 00:11:55.759
<v Speaker 1>Like many of his stories, Poe's death was a mystery.

111
00:11:57.080 --> 00:12:02.200
<v Speaker 1>No one knows why he died. No one knows why

112
00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:07.159
<v Speaker 1>he was not wearing his own clothes when he died.

113
00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:13.320
<v Speaker 1>He was buried in a simple wood box. Fewer than

114
00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:16.759
<v Speaker 1>ten people came to his funeral.

115
00:12:18.840 --> 00:12:23.799
<v Speaker 2>But like the heart in his first story, Poe's work

116
00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:31.399
<v Speaker 2>lives on over one hundred and fifty years later, people

117
00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:38.440
<v Speaker 2>continue to talk about his writing. William J. Jacobs is

118
00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:44.639
<v Speaker 2>an American historian. He wrote a book about Poe. In

119
00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:46.840
<v Speaker 2>his book, he wrote.

120
00:12:46.519 --> 00:12:52.039
<v Speaker 4>That others have tried to copy him. They have tried

121
00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:58.120
<v Speaker 4>to capture in poetry and short stories the fear that

122
00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:04.120
<v Speaker 4>made him special. But his imagination was like a lonely castle.

123
00:13:05.159 --> 00:13:11.440
<v Speaker 4>None have ever completely succeeded in climbing its walls. He

124
00:13:11.799 --> 00:13:15.759
<v Speaker 4>was one of a kind, and it is in Poe's

125
00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:20.159
<v Speaker 4>difference that he finds his place in literature.

126
00:13:21.480 --> 00:13:27.039
<v Speaker 1>Have you ever read anything by Edgar Allan Poe? What

127
00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:33.360
<v Speaker 1>did you like? What did you not like? You can

128
00:13:33.639 --> 00:13:40.440
<v Speaker 1>leave a comment on our website at www dot Spotlight

129
00:13:40.679 --> 00:13:50.840
<v Speaker 1>English dot com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram,

130
00:13:51.159 --> 00:13:57.399
<v Speaker 1>and x You can also get our programs delivered directly

131
00:13:57.519 --> 00:14:02.399
<v Speaker 1>to your Android or Apple device through our free official

132
00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:04.440
<v Speaker 1>Spotlight English app.

133
00:14:06.759 --> 00:14:12.519
<v Speaker 2>The writer of this program was Dan Chrisman. The producer

134
00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:18.759
<v Speaker 2>was Michio Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the

135
00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:25.600
<v Speaker 2>United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted

136
00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:32.320
<v Speaker 2>for this program and voiced by Spotlight. No AI or

137
00:14:32.519 --> 00:14:41.879
<v Speaker 2>artificial intelligence was used in this program. Spotlight programs are written, voiced,

138
00:14:42.519 --> 00:14:48.720
<v Speaker 2>and produced by real people for real people, no matter

139
00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:54.519
<v Speaker 2>where in the world they live. This program is called

140
00:14:55.480 --> 00:14:59.840
<v Speaker 2>Edgar Allen Poe, Master of the Strain.

141
00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:04.519
<v Speaker 1>We hope you can join us again for the next

142
00:15:04.759 --> 00:15:14.919
<v Speaker 1>Spotlight program. Goodbye,