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Imagery In The Black Cat

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Recommended: The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat" have in common

Imagery and Symbolism in Edgar Allen Poe Stories Every bone in my body shook, and every vein pulsed louder and louder until the footsteps stopped right at my front door. Simple, yet descriptive sentences make Poe 's stories interesting and connective to his readers. Although that wasn 't a line by Poe, It’s a small representation of how Poe can influence others. Throughout The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar uses symbolism and imagery to entice his readers. This is extremely important to his writing because it allows the reader to understand, connect and engage with his writing. One obvious and main symbol in The Black Cat is the cat himself. Pluto is a manifestation of a bad omen. Many people have heard that black cats are a bad …show more content…

In most stories, it is important to create a picture in the mind of the reader. Without imagery, stories can be dull and opaque. The “Tell-Tale Heart” has an expenditure of imagery in it. For example, “When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little --a very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it --you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily --until, at length a simple dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye” (30-31). Poe is excellent at using descriptive words to place a picture in the mind of readers, but in this instance, he uses a simile that sticks in the reader 's mind. By adding a simile with descriptive words, he can add a poetic tone to the reading, and permanently project a picture to the reader. This leaves readers craving more of the story. Moreover, The Black Cat also has imagery showing that Poe is able to persistently fill his stories with a certain tone and image. “I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not uncongenial with my own. Observing my partiality for domestic pets, she lost no opportunity of procuring those of the most agreeable kind” (43-47). In the section above the reader is lead to trust the narrator because of the way that Poe casually describes his life. By making his readers think the narrator has a casual loving life it makes them believe that the narrator is a good man. Until later

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