Poe And Jonathan Culler's Theory Of Literature

The 19th century American poet, Edgar Allan Poe, had been plagued by grief from an early age. He was an amazing poet and author who just happened to have a darker story. Many who have studied this prestigious man feel that his works, though magnificent, were extremely dark. Some believe it was nothing more then a fancy for him to spin such gruesome tales. Others feel his work was manipulated by the misfortune of his past. These people have actually found evidence that agrees with this statement. The works of Edgar Allan Poe were inspired by the history and life style of the author. The evidence is evident, when people look back and examine the author, his life, and his writings closely.

A famous writer, a renowned poet, and a American hero, Edgar Allan Poe has helped shaped modern day literature. Taught in schools as being a tortured soul, Poe’s dark writing has shaped American English for the better. Edgar Allen Poe’s early demise came as a shock to many during the time. Poe left this world in a mystery, much like some of his most famous works. The way in which Poe died, is never as simple as it seems. The limited details of his demise has left a hole in American literature and history. Modern day textbooks such as Great American Stories detail his death in zero to none detail, “A week later, he was found near Baltimore tavern-delirious, his clothing torn and wet from a raging storm. He died four days later” (95). This

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.”

fleeting of life and time, and the nearness of death, Poe reminds the reader that between the

Edgar Allan Poe is a famous well known writer known for his dark and gothic horror stories such as “The Tell-Tale Heart” and many others. The well-known author had a rough life which dealt with a lot of death, so most of his stories revolve around this idea. In “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Masque of the Red Death” Poe uses similar themes or darkness to convey tone and conflict throughout the story. His writing style is dark and revolves around one main concept: death. Edgar Allan Poe uses diction and syntax, setting and conflict, and characterization in his writing style to develop his stories.

From head to toe, Poe, describes each detail vividly and precisely. One perceives from his description exactly how her features and her physique look, and how they appeal to the man. Ligeia is a unique and flawless individual. The poem’s description of Ligeia could also be described as a woman that almost looks like a ghost. She came and departed as a shadow.

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”

Death is an important theme in Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories, “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Masque of the Red Death”.

Edgar Allan Poe has a distinctive and dark way of writing (Poe & Kennedy, pp.22). His mysterious style of writing appeals to passion and sentimentality. Poe’s most prominent works of fiction are gothic. His stories tend to have similar recurring theme of either death, lost love or both. Poe’s psychologically thrilling stories examining the depths of the humanoid psyche earned him much fame throughout his lifetime and after his death. And this distinctive style of writing made him possess his own style of wiring (Arbor, pp.71). There is a psychological concentration which is an important characteristic of Poe’s literatures, particularly the tales of horror that encompass his best and well-known works, such as The Black Cat and The Raven which

This essay will discuss the themes in Poe’s writing that mirror his personal life and, in addition, the fear and supernatural motivators for his characters. First, I will discuss Poe’s background and explore how he became best known as a poet for his tales of mystery and macabre.

    Edgar Allan Poe once said, “With me, poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.” When stressed, writing was his coping mechanism, and through observation, many grasp how much death encompassed Poe. Although not appreciated during his era, he revolutionized mystery with mesmerizing story plots that yield suspense, but also makes readers question his stability. Most importantly, unlike those famous during his lifetime who are now forgotten, Poe’s legacy will live on forever. Moreover, throughout life, Poe experienced catastrophe, and because of this, writing became his creative outlet.

Sadness, guilt, and fear are some of the most negative emotions that humanity can experience, however they are also the strongest. Edgar Allan Poe, a nineteenth century author and poet, is known primarily for his use of these emotions, as well as the results that may come from these emotions, such as substance abuse, depression, and death. However, the ability to write such elegant, sophisticated works that delve into the very dark recesses of the human mind reflects greatly upon the author himself. Repetitive themes found both in Poe’s stories and in his life deliver insight on the inspiration for this author’s stories. Poe uses themes of death, illness, and depression in order to reflect his own experiences within his writing.

Picture this. The father of modern crime and detective stories, known as Edgar Allan Poe, is sitting down about to write a beautiful piece of writing and BAM! He whisks away into a story of love, death, and just plain out horror; either characters are losing someone near and dear to their hearts or they are plotting to kill. Edgar Allan Poe, at a very young age, lost both of his parents, and later on in life, lost his wife to tuberculosis, so in one way or another, these stories reflect off of his personal experiences. A major theme in Poe’s writings is death. The theme of death is seen throughout the works of Annabel Lee, the Cask of Amontillado, the Raven, and the Black Cat.

As Poe went on with his life as a lost soul searching for affection, it was very easy for him to lose sight of his own importance. Without anyone to reassure his value of life it became difficult to remain content. In the short story “Ligeia” Poe stresses how the narrator “cannot.. remember how, when, or

He pointed out in his essay “The Philosophy of Composition” that “Melancholy is thus the most legitimate of all poetical tones.” (Poe, 3). Additionally, of all the melancholy tones, death is the most poetical one thus making death of the beauty is the highest poetical achievement possible. Therefore, by relating death with other central elements of Poe’s work, some critics have regarded this as the sole starting point in interpretation of his stories, and believed that his shocking, yet brilliant descriptions of death are made for the sake of poetical beauty while others argued that his obsession with death in fiction was just reflecting his own violent and destructive personality. In addition to this particular theory, J. Gerald Kennedy observes that “Poe's lifelong obsession with death and the undead sprang from the early trauma of maternal loss and separation…” (Kennedy, 538). He furthermore notes that his mother became “… the proto- type of all the absent yet unforgettable women in his poetry and fiction, those encrypted yet deathless ladies who excited both dread and longing.” (Kennedy, 583). Such immortalized beauty invoked emotional distress and disturbances among the characters in his stories, which led to scenes of unimaginable violence culminating in both murders and suicides alike. Beauty