Edgar All Poe is known as the father of the horror story. His tales of terror, agony, and enchantment all follow a certain set of rules, the elements of gothic literature, that allow Edgar to get the same bone-chilling result from his readers. Through the use of setting, metonymy, and inexplicable/supernatural events he has created a mood of suspense and mystery in one of his most famous pieces “The Mask of The Red Death”. The story is a horrifying tale of a Prince who town is ravaged by a gruesome plague called The Red Death. He invites people, whom he feels deserve to live, to a masquerade in his castle. There are there to escape the death that looms outside. Little do they know, death is clever and no matter what it is impossible to hide …show more content…
from. The first element Poe uses is setting. The story would be as ghastly if it was located on a sunny day in a garden during late spring. Instead, Mr.Poe sets the story in “... the deep seclusion of one of [ Prince Prospero's] secluded abbeys.” (pg.76). By situating the narrative is a secluded castle it gives the story a haunting, eerie backdrop. The abbey is split into many different colored rooms and within the black room is a large ebony clock. The clock is a metonymy or a metaphor in which only one object is named. Whenever the hour is stricken “... there [comes] from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound that was clear and loud.” (pg.77). Each hour on the timepiece represents a new stage in life. Once the hour has passed, the hands won’t just suddenly turn back to the previous hour, they will keep moving forward. The only time the hands really stop is for just a moment at midnight, the end of the day. Each time the bell rings, each time an hour passes, the character unknowingly drawer closer to their graves. As the plot unfolds and the minutes melt away the reader is left wondering what happens at midnight, making the story a bit more suspenseful. Poe writes “And the revel went whirlingly on, until at length there commenced the sounding of midnight upon the clock.
And then the music ceased, as I have told; and the evolutions of the waltzers were quieted; and there was an uneasy cessation of all things as before. But now there were twelve strokes to be sounded by the bell of the clock; and thus it happened, perhaps, that more of thought crept, with more of time, into the meditations of the thoughtful among those who revelled. And thus too, it happened, perhaps, that before the last echoes of the last chime had utterly sunk into silence, there were many individuals in the crowd who had found leisure to become aware of the presence of a masked figure which had arrested the attention of no single individual before.” (pg.79). The castle is sealed and guarded in order to not allow the plague in. There is absolutely no way that someone human could just appear within the castle walls, especially since they were able to capture the attention of so many people at once without saying a word. Therefore, the event is without any explanation and possibly supernatural. The sudden appearance of the figure, which is later revealed to be Death, adds yet another reason to classify the mood as suspenseful. Poe successfully used the setting, metonymy, and supernatural/ inexplicable events to clearly establish a mood that is heavily suspenseful and mysterious. With such great toolbox of gothic elements, it is no wonder that Edgar Allen Poe
is the father of the horror story.
Edgar Allen Poe is known for his dark yet comedic approach toward the his theme of his stories. Likewise, Poe’s themes have gathered many fans due to his impression of reasoning in his stories. The author uses thinking and reasoning to portray the theme. Poe’s unique diction comprehends with the theme of the story. Poe has a brilliant way of taking gothic tales of mystery, and terror, and mixing them with variations of a romantic tale by shifting emphasis from, surface suspense and plot pattern to his symbolic play in language and various meanings of words.
Poe, Edgar Allan, et al. The short fiction of Edgar Allan Poe: an annotated edition. University of Illinois Press, 1990.
The author, Edgar Allan Poe, using illusion or misdirection keeps the reader is suspense throughout this story called "The Masque of the Red Death". Symbolism such as the colored rooms, the impressive clock, the feeling of celebration being at a party all makes this story feel like a fairytale. Poe used this fairytale style and converts it into a nightmare in disguise.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Masque of the Red Death” Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing. ED. Edgar V Roberts and Robert Zweig. Boston, Longman: 2012. 516-519.
Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Mask of the Red Death." The Works of Edgar Allen Poe. Ann Arbor, MI: State Street Press.
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe and actor David Poe, Jr. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died of tuberculosis when he was only two, so Poe was taken into the home of John Allan, a successful tobacco merchant in Richmond, Virginia. Although his middle name is often misspelled as "Allen," it is actually "Allan" after this family. After attending the Misses Duborg boarding school in London and Manor School in Stoke Newington, London, England, Poe moved back to Richmond, Virginia, with the Allans in 1820. Poe registered at the University of Virginia in 1826, but only stayed there for one year. He was estranged from his foster father at some point in this period over gambling debts Poe had acquired while trying to get more spending money, and so Poe enlisted in the United States Army as a private using the name Edgar A. Perry on May 26, 1827. That same year, he released his first book, Tamarlane and Other Poems. After serving for two years and attaining the rank of Sergeant-major, Poe was discharged. In 1829, Poe's foster mother Frances Allan died and he published his second book, Al Aaraf. As per his foster mother's deathwish, Poe reconciled with his foster father, who coordinated an appointment for him to the United States Military Academy at West Point. His time at West Point was ill-fated, however, as Poe supposedly deliberately disobeyed orders and was dismissed. After that, his foster father repudiated him until his death in March 27, 1834.
Edgar Allen Poe wrote the short story “The Masque of the Red Death” in 1842. While only one character is actually named, Prince Prospero, the story builds apprehension just based on the descriptions and not on dialogue. The narrator is never named and it is a mystery as to this person’s involvement in the story. The ambiguousness of the narrator also helps build the drama throughout the story. “The Masque of the Red Death” tells the story of a group of wealthy people who are trying to ignore and separate themselves from a terrible disease that is sweeping across their country. The disease is swift and brutal and can cause death within 30 minutes. The people infected weep blood from the pores on their faces and bodies, which causes a disturbing visual image. Poe uses the setting and symbolism to reiterate to the reader that death is inevitable.
Even though he might have used disturbed writing, Edgar Allan Poe used the strategy of creating a dark threatening tone with elements of setting. In “Tell-Tale Heart” Poe used many elements but three elements were strongly used, them being elapsed time, location, and mood and atmosphere. Poe could have been insane and used disturbed types of writing, but he had a real ability to create at least one story where he created a tone and mood via setting. The only question is, “Was Poe just lucky that his stories came out the way they did because of his insanity, or did Poe really have a potential to write dark
Known for his mystery, macabre and detective fiction genre, Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most remembered poets of all time. Usually when people think of him, mind images of premature burials, murders, madmen, and mysterious women who are taken back from pure death like some zombie-like creatures comes to mind. In 1809, Edgar was born the second son out of three, two of which became actors. After the death of his mother and father at the age of three, John and Francis Allan raised him in Virginia. Edgar was sent to the best boarding schools and later on attended the University of Virginia where he was successfully academic. He was forced to leave due to refusement to pay his gambling debts. In 1827, he moved back to Boston and enlisted in the United States Army where his first poems titled Tamerlane, and Other Poems were published.
Throughout the short story “The Masque of the Red Death,” Edgar Allan Poe uses vivid symbolism, structure, and reoccurring details to paint a powerful image regarding the finality and inescapable reaches of death itself. “The ‘Red Death’ has long devastated the country,” yet the Prince Prospero continues to hold extravagant parties for his fellow elite members of society. Rather than merely telling a series of events, Poe carries his readers throughout the many rooms and scenes that hold the Prince’s masquerade, up until the clock strikes midnight and the partygoers can no longer hide behind their façade, and death comes in to take those that thought themselves invincible (Poe 438-442).
“Why is a Raven like a writing desk?” Because Poe wrote on both of them of course! Poe is a rather fanatical character who likes to enhance his stories with things that will shock normal people. Well known as the King of Horror he weaves interesting tales that would make any normal person cringe, but he wasn’t a normal person anything but, but really. He wove experienced tales that came from the murderers mind, penned them on paper, and then published them for the whole world to read. This method is the reason why “The Tale Tell Heart is so worth reading it draws the reader in by weaving a magnificent tale through people’s interpretations, Poe’s symbols, and the theme.
The life of Edgar Allan Poe, was stuffed with tragedies that all affected his art. From the very start of his writing career, he adored writing poems for the ladies in his life. When he reached adulthood and came to the realization of how harsh life could be, his writing grew to be darker and more disturbing, possibly as a result of his intense experimenting with opium and alcohol. His stories continue to be some of the most frightening stories ever composed, because of this, some have considered this to be the reason behind these themes. Many historians and literature enthusiasts have presumed his volatile love life as the source while others have credited it to his substance abuse. The influence of his one-of-a-kind writing is more than likely a combination of both theories; but the main factor is the death of many of his loved ones and the abuse which he endured. This, not surprisingly, darkened his perspective considerably.
Edgar Allen Poe was an English short-story writer whose work reflects the traditional Gothic conventions of the time that subverted the ambivalence of the grotesque and arabesque. Through thematic conventions of the Gothic genre, literary devices and his own auteur, Edgar Allan Poe’s texts are considered sublime examples of Gothic fiction. The Gothic genre within Poe’s work such as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, and The Raven, arouse the pervasive nature of the dark side of individualism and the resulting encroachment of insanity. Gothic tales are dominated by fear and terror and explore the themes of death and decay. The Gothic crosses boundaries into the realm of the unknown, arousing extremes of emotion through the catalyst of disassociation and subversion of presence. Gothic literature utilises themes of the supernatural to create a brooding setting and an atmosphere of fear.
Edgar Allan Poe has a unique writing style that uses several different elements of literary structure. He uses intrigue vocabulary, repetition, and imagery to better capture the reader’s attention and place them in the story. Edgar Allan Poe’s style is dark, and his is mysterious style of writing appeals to emotion and drama. What might be Poe’s greatest fictitious stories are gothic tend to have the same recurring theme of either death, lost love, or both. His choice of word draws the reader in to engage them to understand the author’s message more clearly. Authors who have a vague short lexicon tend to not engage the reader as much.
There is one known very influential writing style called Gothic Literature. It is not only considered to involve the horror or gothic element but is combined with romance, superstition, women in distress, omens, portents, vision and supernatural events to name a few (Beesly). The history and beginning of this era is not well known. From a few writers came this writing style that has impacted the world. A famous artists known for this type of writing is a man named Edgar Allan Poe. He wrote many short stories and poems that include horror, gothic, and romance just mentioned.