edgar allan poe :: essays research papers

American poet, a master of the horror tale, credited with practically inventing the detective story. Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, to parents who were itinerant actors. His father David Poe Jr. died probably in 1810 and his mother Elizabeth Hopkins Poe in 1811. Edgar was taken into the home of a Richmond merchant John Allan and brought up partly in England (1815-20), where he attended Manor School at Stoke Newington. Never legally adopted, Poe took Allan's name for his middle name. Poe attended the University of Virginia (1826), but was expelled for not paying his gambling debts. This led to a quarrel with Allan, who later disowned him. In 1827 Poe joined the U.S. Army as a common soldier under assumed name and age. In 1830 Poe entered West Point and was dishonorably discharged next year, for intentional neglect of his duties. Little is known about his life in this time, but in 1833 he lived in Baltimore with his father's sister. After winning a prize of $50 for the short story "MS Found in a Bottle," he started a career as a staff member of various magazines, among others the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond (1835-37), Burton's Gentleman's Magazine in Philadelphia (1839-40), and Graham's Magazine (1842-43). During these years he wrote some of his best-known stories. In 1836 Poe married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm. She burst a blood vessel in 1842, and remained a virtual invalid until her death from tuberculosis five years later. After the death of his wife, Poe began to lose his struggle with drinking and drugs. He addressed the famous poem "Annabel Lee" (1849) to her. Poe's first collection, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, appeared in 1840. It contained one of his most famous works, "The Fall of the House of Usher." During the early 1840s Poe's best-selling work was The Conchologist's First Book (1839). The dark poem of lost love, "The Raven," brought Poe national fame, when it appeared in 1845. The Murders in the Rue Morgue(1841) and The Purloined Letter are among Poe's most famous detective stories.

“Lord of the Flies”: Qualities of a Good Leader Essay

What qualities does it take to make a good leader? People have always pondered this question especially when electing leaders. They may say that a good leader should be charismatic, intelligent and perhaps good-natured. Their idea of good leadership qualities usually comes from books and movies. In Lord of the Flies there were many various leadership qualities exhibited by the boys, but how can one decide on a leader out of so many boys that would make the society work? Only a leader with the best of the boys’ character traits would have made the society work. For example, we can see that Ralph was logical, but lacked the ability to make quick decisions. On the contrary, Jack was decisive, yet not very logical or civil. Finally, Piggy was the intelligent advisor, however he lacked the charisma and appearance to get his ideas accepted by the group. Ralph was a logical and influential leader, but lacked the ability to quickly enforce the directions. His logical reasoning process helped in identifying the necessities for life. For example, he valued such necessities as fire and shelter above everything else. These were the necessities that would have led them to a stable and civilized society on the island. However, although Ralph had the right ideas, he was not too quick or efficient in getting them done. In fact, the fire was often let out. Similarly, the shelters were something that seemed there to be done until there was something more exciting, at which point the shelters were left uncompleted. Without direction, the boys on the island often went to do things that were fun. This lack of direction was not at all due to a lack of power. The boys instantly viewed Ralph as a leader with his influential looks and speech. For instance, when Ralph said â€Å"fire†, the boys went running towards the woods to build a fire. This kind of authority over the boys was exceptionally important for getting things done, unfortunately Ralph did not use his authority to its fullest. As can be seen, Ralph had the power and logic to do things, yet he lacked the decisiveness to do them quickly. In contrast to Ralph, Jack was an aggressive instigator, who was always quick to act. Jack was an intimidating figure. The boys often feared what he would do should they not listen to him. Similar to Ralph, this control would enable Jack to get things done. Contrary to Ralph, however, Jack used this control. He took his choir with him hunting whenever he saw fit. By being decisive, he could quickly and efficiently get things done. However, his decisiveness was not necessarily a good thing, as Jack was very aggressive in nature. His savage nature influenced the others to let their savage sides come out, most noticeably when they were hunting. They would all paint their faces and carry as little as possible. Since Jack was doing it, it was the thing to do. A good leader would not encourage or intimidate people to let out their aggression. Simply put, Jack was decisive and intimidating, but encouraged the wrong actions in the boys. Last but not least, Piggy was the intelligent advisor to Ralph, yet lacked some important qualities. Piggy’s intelligence was a very important asset to the boys. He knew how things had to be done. Additionally, he had many ideas that would lead the boys to a civilized and safe society. This kind of intelligence is important to any good leadership. Unfortunately, Piggy was not a good public speaker. Not only did he lack the breath to complete a long speech, but he was very shy being a minority group on the island. It is this disadvantage that would prevent him from ever leading, because a good leader must be able to communicate his ideas clearly. Despite not being good at communicating his own ideas, he was open to others’ ideas. He would consider them and give his own constructive criticism. For example, he agreed with Ralph that fire was important, and suggested that if they could not have a fire on top of the mountain, then to have it by the shore. Any good leader must listen to others’ ideas as any one person can not have all of the best ideas. Piggy’s intelligence is vital to good leadership. As can be seen, the combined leadership qualities of Ralph, Jack and Piggy would have most likely worked in creating a civilization on the island. Ralph’s logic, appearance, and influential speeches can guide the group to do what is important. Jack’s decisiveness can get the important things done quickly and efficiently. Finally Piggy’s intelligence would provide important information as to how to accomplish various goals, and would keep the island in a civilized manner. None of the boys could have led the group towards a working society by themselves. In conclusion, after understanding this dispersement of leadership qualities in Lord of the Flies, can it  really be said that any single person is a good leader?

The World Of World War II - 2544 Words

In the after math of World War 1 Germany was in a demolished state. All of the cities were in ruin and it was in the ashes of the former glory that it had once been in. the German people had to try and rebuild their destroyed country. But this was incredibly hard due to the fact that the treaty of Versailles was squeezing what little amount of revenue they were able to generate in the economy. Germany had to do something, they needed something or someone to bring them back to their former glory and help them become a major power in the world again. Soon they would get just what they needed. On April 20, 1889 Adolf Hitler was born in Austria. He was born to a fairly poor family, especially his mother. It was known that his father would†¦show more content†¦He had something to fight against for the country he so much loved. He joined the Bavarian army and would go the front lines. He was hit early on with gas and was brought back to Germany. He would never make it past the ran k of private first class because his leaders said he lacked the proper leadership skills even though he had extreme determination. When Germany was beaten in 1918, Hitler would return to Munich. He was torn apart by this defeat. It hurt him incredibly that the thing he loved the most would get beaten. He had looked forward to this war and it had been taken from him. The war had made his love for his country so much stronger than it had been before. He would blame Germany losing the war on the Jewish and Marxist peoples that were living in Germany. Hitler would stay in the army through 1920 when the German workers party would be renamed the National Socialist German Workers, More commonly referred to as the Nazi party. Then in 1921 Adolf would be named the chairman of the Nazi party. It was probably due to the fact that he had amazing speaking skills. He could capture entire crowds at one time with his words. He was such a skilled speaker that he had the entire Nazi party already ra llied around him. With his extreme hatred for democracy and everything that he stood for, he spoke about the evils of it and how Germany should avoid it at all costs. He would do political rally after political rally until he had a huge