Recommended Website:
Knowing Poe
Age Range: 9 and up (Portions of this site are designed for ages 9-12, Young Adults, and Adults — or, put another way, about middle school and up.)
This website explores the literature, life, and times of the state of Maryland’s native son and writer, Edgar Allan Poe. It is sponsored by Thinkport, a resource for Maryland educators and families in association with public television and Johns Hopkins University.
Turn on your speakers to engage in a variety of multi-media activities that will help you learn about one of America’s foremost writers, who is best known for works such as “The Raven,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.”
This site offers some ingenious methods for learning about Poe through both historical and fictional means, as well as from a number of different perspectives. Learn about the era he lived in, what his house, family, and hometown were like, and see how it informed the complex choices Poe made as he wrote poems and stories. You can even become a forensic investigator and review the “hard facts” about Poe’s untimely death.
Use the lesson plans and interactive experiences, including primary source documents, links to other website resources, and even some fun family-centered activities to understand the continuing impact of Poe’s legacy. [Note: Some of the links to other web-based resources are inoperative. However, I found that a quick Google search for those items led to results for similar content on a variety of other sites. :) ]
When you get to the site you can click on images to begin to explore the content, or use the menu on the left to focus on:
- Poe The Person – Includes a timeline that highlights historic events that occurred during his lifetime. This section also offers, “It’ll be the Death of Me,” that allows you to explore the possible causes of Poe’s mysterious death.
- Poe The Writer – Provides an exploration into Poe’s writings and the unusual tools, techniques, and revision processes he used.
- The Poe Library – Access some of Poe’s works, primary source documents about Poe, and link to other resources about Poe.
In addition to all of the above, this site is filled with trivia and little known facts about Poe. The dark, mysterious images and style of the website maintains the spooky legacy of Poe’s most famous works. (Parents, as always, should preview this site to determine if the content is suitable for their own children.)
