In the poems The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe, Prey by Richard Matheson, and The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving the theme of violence and grotesqueness is highly prevalent. Whether the violence is glossed over or painted in sensational and bloody detail , it is a hallmark of the gothic narrative, and serves many purposes many functional purposes beyond inspiring terror in the reader. All of the three authors selected have shown immense experience in adding the right amount of violence and goriness into their writings. In Prey Matheson represents violence by stating “Both legs were streaked with caking blood, some of the gashes still bleeding” (Matheson 6). In the same writing Matheson uses a representation of grotesqueness in saying