Hit the "Download This Article" button above to read the complete article.

This is a paper I wrote for English Literature 4723, a class called Poe/Whitman, taught in the spring Semester of 1976 by Dr. Roy Male, a David Ross Boyd Professor of English at the University of Oklahoma. I later submitted the paper in a writing contest under the pen name Rosco Rizzo, and was awarded the University's Vernon L. Parrington Prize. I recieved a check for $50, my first payment for something I'd written. I remember being very excited because I was rebuilding a car motor and needed a torque wrench really bad, a Craftsman tool from Sears that cost over $40.

I revised this article slightly to address spelling and grammar issues, and because the editor in me couldn't resist. Afterall, if one's writing hasn't improved in 32 years, then something is very wrong.

Hit the "Download This Article" button above to read the complete article.