Reading and Interpreting the Works of Edgar Allan Poe

by Debra McArthur

Edgar Allan Poe's poems and short stories may be familiar to students, but the life that inspired these tales may still remain a mystery. This text provides readers with an understanding of how Poe's writing was influenced by the time period in which he lived and the circumstances of his tragic life. Students will learn how to ponder, interpret, and comprehend Poe's work through critical analysis of his themes, word choice, and style and through direct quotations from Poe himself.

160 pages, ebook

Published December 30, 2015

About the author

Debra McArthur grew up in Springfield, Missouri, where her high school experience included church activities, choir, drum and bugle corps, and the kind of drama and angst that make a person really glad to grow up.

She earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and an M.F.A. in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University. She has written eight nonfiction books for young readers. A Voice for Kanzas is Debra’s first novel.

Debra lives with her husband in Kansas City, MO. She teaches college along the bluffs of the Missouri River, and she is still collecting nouns that describe her: student, teacher, wife, mother, reader, writer, Irish dancer, marathon runner.