Jadon Vanderslice.. Ms. Glass. English 1213. 5 February

Poe often used depressed tones and imagery to create a dark kind of feeling to his work. The death of Edgar Allen Poe’s young wife put a bitter resentment in the writer. He felt like he was cursed and that the heavens stole his joy and claimed that the angel envied their happiness. Poe was accused of rumors and scandals his whole life, afflicted with depression, pinned down by phobias and horrific fantasies, and his writing reflects the madness in every lover’s heart. (Harris 60) In many of Edgar Allen Poe’s writings, he used gothic elements to express his pain and revealed the darker side of human nature.

about conveying these feelings to his readers and why it is so effective. Poe uses an

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.

Edgar Allan Poe was a literary critic who had experienced many traumatizing events, which later influenced his writings. These tragedies had contributed in his work of literature about murderous people. The tragedies of his life helped create the norm of his stories. In his works of literature, Edgar Allan Poe repeatedly had an unreliable narrator who contributed to the mood of his stories.

I chose Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” for my poem. In the poem there is a gloomy tone set for the entirety of the poem. How does Poe do that? What poetic devices does Poe use? Poe is well known poet that has many poems that are set in this type of mood. I do believe this one is different than the rest. Poe uses the raven as a symbol of weariness. I would argue Poe had a lot of demons at the time of this poem that he was fighting, and the raven itself, Poe speaks about in the “The Philosophy of Composition”, is meant to symbolize Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance. Poe is using the raven to symbolize the loss of many loved ones that Poe had to endure. Poe immediately sets the tone of the poem by writing in the very first line “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary...” he is describing the night as dull and depressing by the word choice he uses. The narrator of “The Raven” is dealing with the death of his wife, Lenore, and is constantly trying to forget his lost love as Poe shows:

There is always a reason why a piece of literature is written. Whether it is for for the author’s voice to be heard, to entertain its reader, or to spread knowledge, there is always a purpose behind the work. In many cases in poetry, the piece is written as an outlet for emotion, the chance to write down their deepest feelings. Edgar Allan Poe had a drastic life and suffered from deep depression, so he was bound to be an excellent poet. In his most famous poem, “The Raven”, it is evident that he was suffering from self-torture and anxiety. As one reads this poem, many things can be learned about Poe himself, what his life was like, and what emotions he has bottled up inside of him. A poem is an outlet for an author, and through a thorough analysis of the work, one can get an understanding of much more than the story that is told. Through “The Raven”, one can see the world through Edgar Allan Poe’s eyes.

A popular question to ask is “where did Poe get all of his darkness from”? Poe, had a forgettable childhood. According to ‘biography.com’, Poe’s family was dirt poor, and his mother passed away when he was two years old. Shortly after his mother’s death, Poe found himself in a foster home. He was under the care of as wealthy businessman, although he grew close to his foster mom, something didn’t feel right. Edgar’s foster father continually thought of him as a punk, and always believed that Edgar was ungrateful for everything that he had done for him. Poe’s dark childhood, helped him use gothic language in his writing. He took the pain and darkness that had developed in his early life and used it to create suspense in his stories.

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.

With a dash of allusion, a sprinkle of imagery, and a pint of dark diction, once they all mix, you get the dark and scary mood created in Edgar Allan Poe’s writing. Edgar Allan Poe is a poetic writer and is well known for his dark and scary stories and story elements. Edgar Allan Poe uses figurative language, strong diction, and spooky words to build the mood in his works.

Poe often used depressed tones and imagery to create a dark kind of feeling to his work. The death of Edgar Allen Poe’s young wife put a bitter resentment in the writer. He felt like he was cursed and that the heavens stole his joy and claimed that the angel envied their happiness. Poe was accused of rumors and scandals his whole life, afflicted with depression, pinned down by phobias and horrific fantasies, and his writing reflects the madness in every lover’s heart. (Harris 60) In many of Edgar Allen Poe’s writings, he used gothic elements to express his pain and revealed the darker side of human nature.

his gothic style of writing. Poe dealt with many aspects of death and madness in his

To begin with, Poe valued punctuation in its ability to make a point. Proper use of punctuation allowed the reader to feel the

Edgar Allan Poe uses a great deal of symbolism in his story. He often uses symbolism to illustrate his views of nature. One example of Poe using symbolism in this short story is when he talks about how every time he see’s the black cat, he feels angry and paranoid. A black cat naturally symbolizes evil and for Poe to say that when he see’s a black cat, he feels anger, this gives the reader an ideal that the black cat in Poe’s short story, also symbolizes evil. Poe uses symbolism to impact the overall tone of the story by using symbolism and imagery throughout his story.

Poe’s writing style was much like that of Hawthorne’s, but drew from the darker side of romance creations. This gothic mood believed in the dark truths of the human heart, which are the ends and motivations for many of his stories. Human corruption and violence ends in murder in “The Black Cat”. Gothic writings move more into the supernatural side, which lets observer of the see a living person in the picture at his first, sleepy glance.

Poe was a very interesting man as he wrote many poems in his day and age and he always seemed to have a somewhat grim look on life. I found a tidbit online that backed up my statement and it said “Edgar Allan Poe has a unique and dark way