Portfolio Assignment

Portfolio Assessment

William Blake (1757-1827)

William Blake was known to be many things. They include: English poet, painter, visionary mystic, and engraver. He was born in London on November 28, 1757. His father was a successful London hosier who encouraged Blake's artistic talents. Blake was first educated at home, chiefly by his mother. In 1783 he married Catherine Boucher, the daughter of a market gardener. Blake taught her to draw and paint and she assisted him devoutly. In his "Prophetic Books", Blake expressed his lifelong concern with the struggle of the soul to free its natural energies from reason and organized religion. Mostly independent throughout his life, Blake left no debts at his death on August 12, 1827. He was buried in an unmarked grave at the public cemetery of Bun hill Fields.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

Edgar Allan Poe was most famous as the first master of the short-story form, especially tales of the mysterious and macabre. The literary merits of Poe's writings have been debated since his death, but his works have remained popular and many major American and European writers have professed their artistic debt to him. He was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was orphaned at the age of two when his parents died and he was taken in by John Allan. In 1836, he married the beautiful Virginia Clemm, the 13-year-old daughter of his aunt. During the next ten years was when he created his prized literary art. In 1847, Virginia Poe died due to the long term illness she possessed. PoeЎ¦s mental and physical conditions became extremely unstable and over several accounts had tried to commit suicide. Then on October 7thm 1849, Poe died and early death in Baltimore.

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Walt Whitman was an American poet, whose work boldly asserts the worth of the individual and the oneness of all humanity. WhitmanЎ¦s defiant break with traditional poetic concerns and style exerted a major influence on American thought and literature. He was born near Huntington, New York and he was the second of nine children. When he was four, him and his family moved to Brooklyn, New York. He is famous for his lifeЎ¦s work, Leaves of Grass, which made is gain international attention.

Dan Brown (1964- ?)

Dan Brown is the author of numerous bestselling novels, including the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Da Vinci Code. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Phillips Exeter Academy, where he spent time as an English teacher before turning his efforts fully to writing.

Poems

„Р Ў§The TigerЎЁ by William Blake

Basically, Blake, using particular words and the strong use of imagery, describes the tiger both in the positive and negative aspect of the creature. Throughout the poem many imagery references lead to the heavens or a religious base superior being. He questions to this being of the how the tiger came to be and etc. From this poem you can infer his obvious love for nature. The fervent emotion can be found extensively throughout this poem. In this poem he makes us realize that if we look deeper and/or harder we can see that there are two sides to everything that dwells in this universe.

„Р Ў§The RavenЎЁ by Edgar Allan Poe

This poem is generally describing the narratorЎ¦s misery and loneliness that grows into extreme insanity. There is a beloved Lenore who has passed away and the narrator is mourning this lost love of his. The raven is basically interrupting his mourning period. All the while, during his loneliness he most likely does loose his mind and has to chosen to believe that the raven is Lenore herself or was sent by Lenore. The imagery is grand because you actually do get the true feeling of what the narrator was feeling. The words that were chosen were quite dark in certain aspects because they were used to describe something dark, or mysterious.