Westbrook High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Westbrook, ME)

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X? 'K 5 , ' I Q Z A , 1061 IIIJG 7 Al Q U D -Eggs: .V QIQ 4 ,na g-'nfs' . f f -T42 5 ya ' i . a rs ' MY APPRECIATION OF POE Personally, I am a great admirer of Poe's works-his tales of terror, his detective stories, and his poetry. When I first read The Pit and the Pendulum. I was filled with a horror which in my mind equaled that of the writer. His pictures of the unbelievable terrors of the Spanish Inquisi- tion are truly horrible and fear-inspiring, and be- cause of that they are works of art. No other author has yet succeeded in depicting those scenes with such a startling and vivid effect. Having read one of his stories, I was eager to read more of them, and I followed the first with The Black Cat, The Fall of the House of Usherf, and various others, each of which deep- ened on my mind the impression left by its pred- ecessor. To anyone who particularly enjoys the calm and serene poetry of Longfellow, Poe's stories are apt to seem gloomy and melancholy by comparison. By that I do not mean that I dislike Longfellow 3 in fact, he is one of my favorite poets, but Poe is so entirely different-so subtlely sug- gestive of terror in his tales-so expressive of rhythm and beauty in his poems that he appeals to one's mind by contrast. Poe arouses y-our imagination and stimulates your interest at the very outset of his stories. To read him appreciatively, it is necessary to be in the riglyt mood. You cannot feel drowsy or tired, and desirous of something which can be skimmed over lightly, leaving a pleasant impressi-on on your mind. Rather, you must be wide awake, ready to give your attention to what you are reading Q for it is only by this attitude that you can get the, most value from his works. There is a great deal of similarity between Poeis life and his writings. He was erratic, tempera- mental, and moody 3 above all, he was spoiled. Un- doubtedly Poe was a victim of drink and drugs, yet without them the world might have lost much of its admired literature. It is said that it was due to the influence of drugs that Poe wrote some of his most fantastic stories. He lived and wrote in an unreal world. Many of his poems are intangible and remote, for ex- ample, Ulalume of The Raven. What could be more indefinite than these weird tales? Never- theless, their rhythm is perfect and the words are beautiful as well as expressive. In American literature there is only one man who can be compared to Poe-Hawthorne. His stories, too, are. dark and somber, nearly always containing a suggestion of the unreal. Hawthorne, however, was not such a master in that particular line. Poe's tales of terror are unequaled. He is a supreme artist. It is said of him that no one wrote so little, ever rewrote that little so often and so successfully. He was conscious of his limitations and as he at- tempted only what he knew he could accomplish he excelled in what he did. 3 Poe's theory was one of beauty and you can- not read one of his poems without realizing this. It was not beauty of thought necessarily, but beauty of rhythm-beauty of expression which he practised. He often subordinates the thought of his words to their beauty and consequently sev- eral of his poems are nearly meaningless, yet per- fectly written.

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0 The Bl'-'e e- White Class of 1931 The Fidelity Trust Company Wishes You Success 6-ana: - N. C eg is-.- ,4 , ' as Z? ,fri -2 .. J: - --'Q ,W -- ' .E -2, 5- K, if 5 - 'Mg 31. E 1515-'5' 'e i S 2 ' 13 - 1?-A V1 g'i.zLa,,. .': l. ., ' -1,-g' 1'-:R-xx 7' 'ET .f ' L .. A , ?-:'- ...-- :rr ' f 1 ---'X -L ?: 'S 5' 15 fe' I, , 'ig E5 3 L lfgerf, ,, -... :rf Qr if-.WL 1 f' f 'ff 1 W .... ...A e 'e 'Tally 'Wen --e- -..?.... ..5.. . .. In I J IV 1 E 1 , ,,,, bi ,mm iW?h fx A W H 1 r W ' A d ' H 2 ' t Y f X I 5 ul 'I' xxx xxx -qwmxxxsrwr W Y A X H V I ,, Tim I be w a Wm 'fra .u l - - . 1 e. 2 n-,I M ' f 4 -' I V1 , ,li Ln-, : , ff- Y, Ai' CMN Wf .M in Z' 55? Westbrook Oflice FIDELITY TRUST CO PANY Main Office - PORTLAND - Monument Sq. OTHER OFFICES: 87 Exchange Street and Woodford Square, Portlandg South Portland, Harrison Fryeburg, Cumberland Mills, South Windham, Yarmouth

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12 fi l l The Raven is perhaps one of his best known poems and one which I particularly admire. It has a haunting melody which constantly recurrs to your mind and I have read it many times with- out tiring of it. As the father ofthe detective story, Poe was original, and he delighted in build- ing up mysteries only to destroy them again. In contrast to modern methods, he begins at the be- ginning and leads up to the climax, Hnally unravel- ing the story for the reader's entertainment. Poe presents his sinister tales with such startling reality that you are carried into the realm of his own vivid imagination, and feel that you, too, are experiencing the emotions of the unfortunate victim. No one who had not a flame of genius could effect his readers thus, and to Poe is universally accorded that distinction-that he was a great artist. D. E. W., '31. A DOG'S LIFE FOR A DAY Ho-Hum! Wlell, I guess it is time to get up, I hear my master coming downstairs to feed the hens and chickens. Yes, it is he. Guess Iill go along to see that nobody bothers him. Here we are in the henhouseeand will you just look at those crazy-looking creatures balancing on two legs and all covered with homely red feathers? I'm thirsty, guess I'1l take a drink of this water. Sol the old red rooster don't want me to. Well! I'll show him who I am around here. QW! what was that? Oh, I see my master don't want me to hurt that homely creature. VV ell, I got a few of his feathers. I had better get out of here be- fore I lose my temper and kill one of these hens. There goes my master back to eat his own breakfast. Here comes a car. There are not many cars lately so I'll try my best to stop this one. No matter how much I bark and bite, the man driv- ing wonit stop. I hear someone whistling g maybe it's my break- fast-maybe it's a licking for chasing cars. VVhat luck, it's a nice breakfast. It sure is good. The Blue Er while That sure was good, now for some excitement. First of all I have got to bury this big bone I got for breakfast. Let's see, I guess I'll bury it around the corner of the barn beside the one I hid ai few days ago. Hello! VVhat's this? An old brown and white spotted hound trying to dig up one of my bonesg well, seeing as how the master is gone and I feel like a hght, Iill show this hound a les- son. So-he is trying to run away from me? Wfell, I can run faster. Now that I've caught you, mister hound, I don't know what to do to you ex- cept shake and bite you. 'fWell, that excitement is over-now for some more. There goes master downtown in the wagon g I might as well go along. Here we are home again. Not much doing downtown. I saw a few of my friends, that's about all. It is pretty late in the afternoon. I thought they had forgotten my dinner, but they didn't. Suppose I take a little snooze.. I've been awake the biggest part of the night and had plenty of exercise this morning. VVhew! I must have slept all afternoon be- cause the sun has gone down behind the hill. I'm quite hungry so I'll have to gnaw at that nice bone I got this morning. I ate the biggest part of it, but I'll save the rest for a rainy day. Iill go sit beside the door and wait for someone to come in or go out and maybe I can get in, too. Here comes someone. Uh, it's johnny. I'm glad itis him, because he always lets me in. That heat from the stove sure feels good. Not much noise around here, everybody is look- ing at books and papers. People may think I'm lazy, but I feel just like sleeping again. I feel as though it is my duty to guard the house, there- fore I must stay half awake. I wish some burglar w-ould try to get in. I feel just like chewing off someone's pant leg. Wfhat was that? Gb, so it's a mouse. Well, it's up to that lazy cat to show me how to catch it, because I have a good place to sleep here. VVell, the cat got the mouse. She is playing with her now. I can't see how she eats those things, although sometimes I-feel-hungry -enough-to-do-so-mysel f . C. R., '32