Edgar Allen Poe weather

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windRecently we had 48 hours of high winds. The kind that whistles. Loud. In the dark. It’s more bothersome in the dark.

I don’t like wind. A breeze at the beach — yes, but a full-windstorm — no. Especially in the dark at 3 a.m.

It gets me in an “Edgar Allen Poe” frame of mind. Spooky and unsettled. Gloom and doom.

The house makes funny noises when it’s windy. Tapping. Banging. Slashing. Some are downright scary. It’s hard to blame the cats when they are hiding under the bed.

Is that the Tell-Tale Heart beating or just the windows rattling? Perhaps the lost Lenore tapping at my Chamber Door. (I won’t even go into more recent axe murderers.)

Creepy.

I am fascinated by Poe although his stuff creeps me out. Especially at night. He ranked right above the Grimm Brothers for nightmare material when I was young. His stories haunt you when it’s dark. They make a 3 a.m. visit. The wind sets the stage for evil to play out.

Wind sounds like crying humans or animals whining or beasts dining. None of that is good.

edgarallenpoe-wikipedia

Source: Wikipedia

Those are not the sleeping sounds you will find on a white noise machine. We did not buy the Poe version but wouldn’t that be a hoot? It would be a “keep awake” machine rather than something to lull you to sleep. May be helpful at work, especially if you have a night job guarding a large dark warehouse.

The wind releases your fears and your imagination. That’s a bad duo carousing at 3 a.m. It’s the stuff that makes me pull the covers over my head and pray for morning. Sometimes I pray so hard, I promise to be good. (Never make promises you can’t keep!)

Then the wind stops, the sun shines and you wonder what the ruckus was about.

Until next time…

 

53 thoughts on “Edgar Allen Poe weather”

  1. I love that title. I’ve always sort of liked windy weather and Edgar Allen Poe. I like the energy and excitement of a wind storm. True, I’ve never lived in tornado country. But we did have quite a few typhoons in the Philippines and Vanuatu–fortunately no really bad ones, at least not near where I lived. When we lived in Vanuatu, we were near the water (obviously, since we lived on a small island). I remember during one typhoon (They call them cyclones there) I just had to go to the shore and watch the big waves for a while before hurrying back home.

    I read an essay explaining how Poe made a careful study of the feelings engendered by various sounds before he chose just the right word for The Raven. You have to admit, “nevermore,” is a spooky word. I think it’s the O and the R.

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    • I like the peacefulness of rain especially after several days of hot sunny weather but I’m not a fan of wind. As a child our area was hit with a hurricane and there was a lot of tree damage. It took days to clean up and I always remember how scary it was with the wind whipping. I didn’t know that about Poe but that poem (one of my favorites too) is haunting. It is the perfect word.

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  2. Oh no! Now I’m going to have Poe to feed my imagination next time the wind howls. I haven’t previously made that association. I have been really nervous in the wind lately because of the earth’s saturation and I worry about trees upending. I think wind is scary!

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  5. Outside of Hurricane Matthew last fall, yesterday was the windiest day here I’ve experienced. What made it weird was how HOT it was at the same time. I decided I didn’t like the combination because all it did was blow around dust and allergens that made me sneeze and cough all day. Unless you’re in the alternative power source business, I think wind is overrated. – Marty

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  6. Blustery Pooh-like day in MissouREE today… red flag warning. I don’t like BIG wind… trees in our woods come down, cows moo like crazy, and it just makes me nervous. Whole other story at night with all the noises and bumps and creaks. I have an app on my phone called “Calm” but I won’t use any of the sounds that have wind in them! Hope you have a quiet night!

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  7. Wind and rain both put me to sleep and I love it when they start just when I hit the sheets. Loved Poe too even tho he wrote eerie things. As a teen I used to write poetry using the same cadence.
    Great post Kate… Edgar Allen would also send his complments.😊

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  8. We had some strong winds a few weeks ago that blew things out of a neighbor’s yard into a yard several house away. Other than the “redecorating” abilities of high winds, I actually enjoy them (as long as I am cozy and inside). I love Poe… especially The Raven. It has such a wonderful, creepy rhythm to it.

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  11. I like the sound of normal wind, but when the house shudders, that’s a bit much. Once in the last year, John and I found we were both a bit unsettled by a fierce wind. I wonder if the barometric pressure might have something to do with it.

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  12. I love stories that start out “It was a dark and stormy night…” You make me want to read some Poe which I haven’t done in a long time. Did you ever see the TV program called “The Following” with Kevin Bacon? The cult in that show were followers of Poe and used a lot of his imagery. It was the kind of thing that would give a person nightmares for sure but I watched it every week!

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    • No, I didn’t see it and I don’t need any more nightmares thank you! I am conflicted with Poe because I love his writing. It’s just the unsettling feeling I get afterwards that lingers for days that I hate. But that’s what any author wants.

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  13. I love being snug in bed with the wind howling and the rain slashing against the panes. It makes me feel cozy.

    As a kid, I loved Creature Feature and reading Poe and grim tales by Grimm. Now, I prefer light-hearted reading and viewing . . . most of the time.

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  14. I was a big fan of Poe very early on. Learned every word of The Raven and even tried doing some illustrations once. I think I might have even done a few book reports on him as well. I suppose part of the fascination was that he did have a way of putting your mind in a state of feeling very unsettled. Uncomfortable. Just macabre enough to get your heart racing a bit.

    Love how the wind of which you speak can conjure up a very “Poe-like” state of mind. In my part of the country, we are already splashed with intensely bright sunshine and an over-abundance of 80 degree days. But reading your description of the howling wind took me right back to those long winters spent up north (mostly in Ohio and West Virginia) when I was a child. Long, cold, dark and dreary winters. Sounds like you could use a visit to an indoor greenhouse filled with colorful blooms. Or at the very least, perhaps some Spring window shopping. 🙂

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    • I do need a dose of spring flowers even if they are in pots in a warehouse! We won’t see 80 degrees for months. I’d love to live somewhere where it was 80 all year long. Not the cold and not the hot. Hawaii is way to expensive. I’ll just snuggle back in my fleece clothes. Poe is very fascinating. Not the outward macabre that you see today but subtle.

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  15. I’m not a fan of the wind either, Kate. After long periods of heavy rains and wind, it makes my commute quite treacherous since half of my drive into work is a two lane, tree lined road. We’ve had a lot of wind lately…more like March.

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  17. I love the wind! Not sure why, but I do. I like the way it feels when I am in it. I like the sounds. I never thought of it as “Poe Weather,” but you have a great point there. However, I enjoy even those sounds. I guess I feel the blowing wind will bring a fresh start. Clean up all the old debris. Of course all this windy talk goes out the window if the word Tornado happens to come into play!

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