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How Did Poe Build Suspense

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Building of Suspense in Poe’s Works “I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” -Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar Allan Poe was born January 19, 1809. His mother died two years after he was born, and his father left soon after. Poe was then taken in by the Allans, a wealthy family, but they never formally adopted him. Poe started writing when he was about 18 years old. He eventually moved in with his aunt and cousin Virginia. He fell in love with Virginia and they got married in secret. Poe wrote many works all based on the horror and detective genres. Poe is known as the father of the modern detective story, and is credited with. Poe’s wife eventually died of tuberculosis and he never remarried. Poe sunk into a depression and started …show more content…

“In sunshine and in shadow,…And o'er his heart a shadow…He met a pilgrim shadow-‘Shadow,’ said he,…Down the Valley of the Shadow,” (“Eldorado”). In this poem by Poe, he repeats the word shadow five times. Each time the word shadow has a different connotation. “In sunshine and in shadow,”. In this line, Poe is talking about night and day. “And o’er his heart a shadow”. In this line, Poe is talking about a deep sorrow felt by the protagonist. “He met a pilgrim shadow- ‘Shadow said he,”. In this line, shadow is personifying a creature, possibly death. “Down the Valley of the Shadow.” In this line, the shadow is telling the protagonist that the only way to get to “Eldorado” is to go to the Valley of the Shadow. The name Valley of the Shadow means that this is the shadow’s home and since the shadow personifies death the protagonist has to die to get to Eldorado. The repetition of shadow and the different connotations build suspense and leave the reader wondering what the knight decides to do. “With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven coveted her and me…The angels, not half so happy in heaven, went envying her and me…And neither the angels in heaven above, nor the demons down under the sea…”. (“Annabel Lee”). The narrator keeps mentioning the angels and demons. The narrator of this poems is blaming the angels for killing his love, Annabel Lee. The angels and demons that he mentions are “envying her and me” (“Annabel Lee”). The narrator personifies wind as angels coming to kill his love. He is obsessed with death, love, angels, and demons. The obsession with such polar opposites leads the narrator to go insane with love. Even though Annabel Lee has died the narrator believes that their love transcends death. This belief causes suspense because the reader is left wonder what things that the narrator will be driven to do by this

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