Edgar Allen Poe: Writing Style

One of the most influential authors of all time, Edgar Allan Poe, uses dark imagery and complex syntax to make his short stories and poems dark and mysterious. Poe’s dark, tragic backstory contributes to his dark writing style. His father left him when he was young, and his mother died when he was only three. He then went on writing poems, and after he finished his school, he found his fiance cheating on him, so he moved to Boston to get away from everything he knew. He then married his cousin when she was only 13, but she died 11 years after. Annabel Lee was likely based off of his wife's death, having wrote it shortly after her death. Overall, Poe used his dark imagery and complex syntax to write his gothic short stories and poems such as Annabel Lee and Fall of the House of Usher.

At the end of the first paragraph Poe uses foreshadowing when he writes “And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour” (1). I see this as foreshadowing the event that ends the party and the lives of all those present. The entire thousand assembled die when the Red Death came. The “last chime had utterly sunk” (3) also foreshadows the end where each individual “died in the despairing posture of his fall” (4). Combining both these instances together shows that the whole situation or incident, from the “presence of a masked figure” (3) to “one by one dropped” (4), ended before the clock chimed the next passing hour. The “seventh apartment” (1) also foreshadow the presence of the Red Death. The entire apartment was “shrouded in black velvet tapestries” and the window “panes here

Usually, fairy tales are in connection to big and illustrious happy endings. But in Edgar Allan Poe’s case, it is evident that they do not exist, for his stories more often than not bear a grotesque demeanor. His life was surrounded by death. All of the women in his life died young, including his mother, sister, and wife. By the age of three, he had experienced what most would not experience until nearly the middle or end of their lives. Living in such an atmosphere allowed Poe to reach deep into his emotions when writing. Edgar Allan Poe was known for his macabre metaphors. These metaphors challenged the reader to endeavor themselves into his simple words; coming to find the gothic elements portrayed. He most commonly portrayed love and death in his poems. Poe is even credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. Edgar Allan Poe utilizes symbolism and portrays an envious love tale, ending in tragedy to expose the speaker’s emotional state in the poem “Annabel Lee.”

Edgar Allan Poe, born in 1809, is a critic, mystery and short story writer, but most importantly a poet. Edgar’s troubled life greatly influenced his works. As a young boy, Edgar loved to compose poems for his loved ones. But as he grew older, Edgar started to experience pains and tragedies in life, causing him to abuse on opium and alcohol. These were scenes behind the years of Edgar’s dark writings.

Edgar Allen Poe was one of the great writers of this world. He created several poems and short stories of a dark and dreary setting. His imagination was incredible. Edgar Allen Poe did not have a normal life. Bad luck and heart ach seemed to follow him until his death. His writing style was very different than other writers' style. His most famous

An example of when Poe gives a gloomy feeling to the reader would be “(When the rest of Heaven was blue)/ Of a demon in my view--” (Poe 21-22). This could be considered dark because Poe is showing that while others saw the good in life, all he saw was the evil. With the use of poetic devices, Poe is also able to make the theme of his poem apparent.

Poe's economic style of writing is a key instrument in making this story amazing. In this story, he uses his style to truly bring out what he intended for the story - a study of paranoia. In example, "I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture -- a pale blue eye with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me my blood ran cold, and so by degrees, very gradually, I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever. " it is easy to see that Poe used short sentences, to capture the rapid thoughts of a twisted mind.

The audience in the reading is the students. He basically explains to them why it is important

One literary device Poe uses to shape his writing style is imagery. An example of imagery is in the poem “Alone,” he writes, “From the torrent of the fountain-/From the red cliff of the mountain-/” (13-14). This demonstrates his ability to describe something and make something that most people would see as peaceful or regular to seem

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”

aims his focal point at imagery to provide vivid and rich details. Literary devices play a crucial

Edgar Allan Poe uses several writing techniques to create a single concentrated effect of unending despair in his classic poem, "The Raven." The most noticeable technique is the use of repetition. Just as repeated exposure to cold raindrops can chill one to the bone, repeated exposure to words of hopelessness and gloom creates a chilling effect. Poe saturates the reader with desperate futility by repetitive use of the words "nothing more" and "nevermore." These two phrases, used in refrain to end seventeen of the poem's eighteen stanzas, drench the reader with melancholy. Poe also uses repetition to spark the reader's curiosity. He refers to the sound of rapping or tapping eight times in the

and darkness. Poe used many of the real life tragedies he experienced as inspiration for

communicate his state of mind. In essence he is attempting to bring himself and the reader closer, to establish a

structure light and simple. As a result, his writing is straightforward, and the reader makes no