Analyzing Edgar Allen Poe's Short Stories

Edgar Allan Poe is best known today as one of the most intelligent and original writers in American literature. Many poets and story writers base their stories upon events and even aspects in their life. In the subject of this, it is so relatable to write about because there is some truth in the words. Edgar Allan Poe is said to be one of these people because his stories actually relate to his tragic, life. He was known for leading a very depressing life that was full of loss and grief of loved ones. Therefore because of this, Poe suffered most of his life. He turned to his passion of poetry to help him. Poe wrote many stories and poems that both reflected and represented his life that he lived. Edgar Allan Poe was a mysterious man that

When you think about the first detective story ever written, Edgar Allen Poe probably doesn’t come to mind. He is most known for his melancholic and gruesome tales of stories such as a guilty man’s conscience giving him the impression of hearing the man he killed heart beating through the floorboards, or even a raven symbolizing the inevitable death we will all face. Despite these well-known contributions, his writings concerning the detective field have left an indisputable mark on pieces following his time.

A virtuoso of suspense and horror, Edgar Allan Poe is known for his Gothic writing style. His style is created through his use of punctuation, sentence structure, word choice, tone, and figurative language. Punctuation-wise; dashes, exclamation marks, semicolons, and commas are a favorite of Poe. His sentences vary greatly; their structures are influenced by punctuation. Much of his word choice set the tone of his works. Figurative language colors his writings with description. Such is observed in the similarities between two of his most well-known short stories, “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”

Use of symbolism and imagery have been more than enough for an individual to comprehend this story just by imagining the descriptions. His Gothic style of writing puts you on the edge of your seat. You never know what is going to happen next. The scenery is eye catching and that’s what makes readers look into this story. The setting and situation is far more attractive than the plot or characters. Poe takes his use of literary devices to the next level. Allegory is applied to help the reader understand the true purpose behind Poe’s work. The seven different colored rooms have a stage of life in each room to exemplify life. It shows their progress of reaching death while each hour passing brings them closer to their end. The emphasis that symbolism leaves is far too great for anyone not to interpret them. Poe has significantly positioned clues for the reader to identify the madness that unfolds in this horror

Thoughout Poe’s life, he experiences much pain and sorrow, he saw the birth of new things in his life, but also saw death takes those things from him. He tells the readers in the story that the rooms are from east to west, this is also a represtation of life and death, with the east meaning an new beginning and the west meaning a end of things. All these rooms together represent the seven stages of life: birth, youth, adolesence, adult, old age, close to death, and death itself. Poe lived the first four stages, but he also felt and experienced the last three though his mother and lover.

Poe organizes the rooms in a certain that we do not understand until we actually think deeply and research about the seven rooms. Another critic, Zimmerman, mentions “ The arrangement of the chambers reinforces the awful reality of time as it leads inexorably to disease death, darkness and dissolution”(Zimmerman). Here Zimmerman expresses that the rooms symbolize a timeline of human life. He states that the order of the chamber or rooms just leads to the harsh reality of death, which happens to everyone. In the story, Poe takes us through each room and describes each room like a timeline to us ending with the dark room. He does this on purpose to express the rooms as a symbol of human life. Zimmerman also says’ The progression of the colored rooms is circular rather than a straight line”(Zimmerman). Zimmerman helps explain the layout of the rooms. He thinks that the rooms are in this way to portray the image of a clock, and the rooms symbolizing time, it makes sense. Poe takes the characters through these chambers and they end up all dieing in the end, but as he takes them through some die off. Then when they get to the last chamber most of them get killed. This helps explain how life works, we all will end up in the same place.

Edgar had a childhood full of hardships, gain, and loss. Yet he turned it into poetry. His perspective on life greatly influenced his writing.

Nestor was awakened by a very loud noise. It sounded like some extremely loud footsteps. They were so strong they shook the entire ground. Rocks began to fall from the caves roof. Then all rocks fell to the ground, and made the entire cave collapse. Nestor was buried under a big pile of rocks, and dirt.

Happy Saturday, your discussion on Edgar Allen Poe was well outlined. I am in agree with you that the description of the seven rooms represent the circle of life, birth to death. When I came to the end of the reading in our textbook what really caught my was , " He come like a thief in the night". In which in reference that to death, none knows the time , place , the begin or the end, just be ready all the time. Great post !

Edgar Allen Poe, an America writer, was known as a poet and critic but was most famous as the master of short stories, particularly tales of the mysterious and the macrabe. The literary merits of Poe’s writings have been debated since his death, but his works have continued to be popular and many American and European writers have declared their artistic debt to him. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Poe was orphaned in his early childhood and was raised by John Allen, a successful business man of Richmond, Virginia. Taken by the Allen family to England at the age of six, Poe was placed in a private school. Upon returning to the United States in 1820, he continued to study in private schools. He attended the University of

Why do people oftentimes stay up way past their bedtimes reading a book? Why do they spend every and any chance they get reading their chosen book? Well for most, it’s because they love that the author poured their heart and soul into the work of literature. Some authors, such as J.K. Rowling, are better at producing well written works of art than other authors like E.L. James (Full offense).

There are two complex stories that are similar to one another. It revolves on two story lines, but have strong similarities to one another. First it was proven that poverty and life struggles with lack of great relationships to their loved ones was in fact true. Starting out Edgar Allen Poe was a known poet and writer, but lived a very sad life I believe. The difference between today’s society and back then is no different from the present. Growing up he became a child orphan whose father abandoned the family when he was much younger and sadly the mother died the following year due to an illness, and it became a critical moment in his life. He wrote a poem in related to his struggles with life and that’s how he

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary.” The door behind Edgar Allan Poe creaks open, but he does not think much of it. “Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore.” The sound of footsteps can be heard in the hallway. “As of someone rapping, rapping at my chamber door,” the footsteps grow louder. “ Tis some visitor I muttered, tapping on my chamber door,” “Only this and nothing more.” BANG! Edgar feels a strong and blunt object strike him in the back of his skull, while falling fast he could barely see the person who had struck him in his head as he fell to the ground and immediately went unconscious when his head hit the floor.

The Portable Edgar Allen Poe, edited by J. Gerald Kennedy, is a phenomenal compilation of works from one of America's greatest writers of the nineteenth century. Published in 2006, the book contains short stories, poems, and letters, written by Edgar Allen Poe. Full of lies, hope, revenge, and guilt, the stories in this assemblage are suspenseful and convey powerful messages.

Readers get an education when it comes to the role that the first-person narrator takes on some of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843) the unnamed narrator is not trying to convince the reader that he is not guilty, just that he is not crazy. He was justified in killing the old man with the “vulture-like eye” and hiding the body under the floorboards of his home. He may be trying to save his own skin, but that is not the point. The crime is not in question; it is the narrator’s sanity. How can one trust the storyteller, if you only get one part of the story?