Edgar Allen Poe creates an atmosphere of suspense in “The Raven” and in “The Pit and Pendulum “making the reader wonder what is going to happen next by creating confusion. The typical gothic style of Poe’s writings is very dark and cold, affecting the narrator both mentally and physically. In both “The Pit and The Pendulum” and “The Raven”, both of the narrators are being tortured. In “The Raven” the narrator is being tortured mentally while in “The Pit and The Pendulum” the narrator is being tortured physically. Poe uses many gothic elements such as setting and supernatural elements making fear one of the most important unifying effects in the narratives.
Narrative of Fear Edgar Allen Poe and Lord Byron are masterful at using vivid, descriptive language language to develop the element of Gothic literature and instil a sense of fear in the reader. Poe, who wrote the Cask of Amontillado, used sentences to put fear in the reader. He wrote, “Fortunato 's low moaning cry from the depth of the recess,” and, “ The walls had been lined with human remains piled to the vault overhead.” These sentences indicate that someone is crying and is in a crypt like structure due to the walls being piled with bones.
Two lines of text that give the details of the setting and create the creepy mood are “We came at length to the foot of the descent, and stood together upon the damp ground of the catacombs of the Montresors” and “Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris.” Poe sets up a creepy place for the two men to be since they are surrounded by a bunch of bones in a damp, dark passageway under the man’s house. Another poem Poe used to create a similar mood through the setting was in “The Raven.” The scene is first set with the opening phrase “Once upon a midnight
In many circumstances, just like “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Raven,” his writings tapped deep into the complexities of the human mind, exploring mentally ill genre tropes of madness, inevitability, fear, and hopelessness (Shulman, 1970). In the aggregate, Edgar Allan Poe's works exhibit a consistent use of gothic literature elements which are shaped by both his personal experiences of grief and loss, and his deteriorating mental state. Through his portrayal of complex characters and his use of haunting language, Poe's stories offer a unique exploration of the deepest aspects of the human mind and have had a lasting impact on the genre of horror and suspenseful fiction. Although many argue that an individual’s past doesn’t portray their character, his legacies are renownedly marked by a distinctive style of layered plots, internally-complex characters, and the application of language that is both evocative and haunting. Even to this day, Poe’s influence on the genre of macabre, horror, and mystery provokes readers to dive deeper into the reflection of the mind (Shulman,
Dread can lead to insanity and causes you to become obsessed. Consternation can lead you to become so overly-obsessed that preposterous ideas begin raiding your head. Symbolism, irony, and figurative language are used in “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Pit and the Pendulum”, and “The Masque of the Red Death” to delineate how dread deceives the protagonist's’ mind and how obsession overcomes their mind. Poe integrates symbolism into his texts to create many layers of thinking and to form an affiliation with the reader. Poe symbolizes time and the irresistibility of death throughout lots of his work.
As the two main characters take their first steps descending down the staircase to the catacombs, Montresor tells Fortunato to observe “the white web-work”(72) that covered the walls. The author’s vivid imagery when describing the cobwebs conveyed the damp, dirty environment of the catacombs and
Throughout the story, Poe’s symbolic nature imbues fearful emotions about the narrator’s true fear of time until death. Poe builds up the fear in the audience by using the narrator’s point of view to describe the horrid scent, dark visuals, and frightening sounds discovered after the narrator’s plunge into the pit. For instance, the narrator described his experience saying “I could no longer doubt the doom prepared for me…the pit, typical of hell and regarded by rumor as the ultima Thule of all [Inquisitors’] punishments.” (288) This ominous pit is epitomized to be the worst of the Inquisitorial agent’s punishments since it incites despair upon the captured.
Edgar Allan Poe’s frightening gothic style poetry and short novels about fear, love, death and horror are prominent to Gothic Literature and explore madness through a nerve-recking angle. The incredible, malformed author, poet, editor and novelist is recognized for his famous classical pieces such as “The Raven”, “Berenice” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”, pieces of work that mystically yet magnificently awakens readers with a gloomy spirit. Awakening the subject of madness through written work was viewed as insane during Poe’s times. Yet Poe published some of the worlds most magnificently frightening pieces of literature throughout history. In the following essay I will examine and cautiously analyze
Edgar Allen Poe is Scared: Phobias in his Short Stories. Edgar Allen Poe is well known as the most important originator of the genre of horror literature. From Stephen King to Joyce Carol Oates, writers of horror and the grotesque are inspired by Poe. The question remains: what inspired Poe to write his tales of fear, terror, and horror? One way to answer this question is to inquire about Poe’s own fears and phobias, which clearly informed his writing.
He was abandoned by everyone who loved him, watched them all die, and lived a life filled with the painful memories they had left. Edgar Allan Poe was an early nineteenth century critic, editor, poet, and writer whose life was flooded with fear and pain from an early age on. Because of these experiences he has come to be known as one of the greatest horror authors in literary history. One of his stories, The Cask of Amontillado, reflects his unique writing ability of causing the reader to feel fear especially well. In this short story, Poe creates horror by entering the mind of the killer, bringing terrors that, traditionally, are never perceived.
The image of creative writing in the horror genre was not preferred by a lot of readers. However, once they read Poe’s stories, their interests were sparked. Throughout the use of symbolism, foreshadowing and the dialoge of a character, Edgar Allan Poe’s employs betrayal as a theme in many of his stories, particularly in “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”.
Many people believe that fear can result into harm or negative emotions. Fear helps to prevent harm, creates more awareness, and has an instinct that can save lives. On the other side, fear can cause paranoia, obsession, hallucination, and can take away the fun in life. Throughout the stories, Poe uses symbolism, irony, and imagery to define how fear can limit the narrator's minds and lead to fear.
The way Poe sets up his story with the tension could create a fearful atmosphere. He did not just focus on portraying a narrator with a certain fear, he would use language that would make the reader feel fear. He packed in images of darkness and horror in order to create these atmospheres that presented fear in many different ways. Poe being known as a master of the horror
In many stories and poems; such as the Tell Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, The Raven, Annabel Lee, The House of Usher, and so many more timeless works, Edgar Allan Poe has been captivating his audiences with spine tingling thrillers through the words and style of his own twisted ways. The only way to describe where Poe’s writing belongs in history, would be classified as gothic genre. From the start of the 1800’s to present day and the future of literature, through irony, repetition, imagery, and symbolism Poe has been bewitching readers with his gore and insane writings. Poe’s life inspired so many of his poems, from focusing on taboo topics, such as death, revenge, love and loss. Poe’s life was painful and heartbreaking that
“The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy grew warm with the Medoc. We had passed through walls of piled bones, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs.” (Poe, paragraph 50). Through Poe’s writings, he regularly shows strong descriptions which help convey
