Sound Imagery In Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven

Edgar Allan Poe uniquely uses a variety of things in his work to create feelings like sadness and horror. Poe's style is characterized by his use of sound imagery, irony, and repeated elements.

In “The Raven” Poe uses sound imagery to make his readers feel the sadness of losing a loved one. For example, Poe uses words with the “ore” sound like “Lenore” and “more.” The sounds are used to describe how the narrator feels about his lost Lenore. Poe chooses these words to make his readers feel the sadness of losing a loved one. Because he uses these words frequently the sorrow that he wants his readers to feel is always there.

In Poe’s story, “The Cask of Amontillado,” he uses irony to make readers feel the horror of someone planning their

death. It is ironic that Fortunato is killed by somebody he trusted in the story. This is situational irony because Fortunato would have never expect to be killed by someone he had trust in. This helps create the feeling of horror of premeditated death because Poe makes readers think that anyone can do this to them.
Poe often uses isolated settings in his writings to create emotional effect. An example can be found in "The Cask of Amontillado" when Poe uses isolated settings to make his readers feel the horror of premeditated death. Poe writes, "A succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently back." … "I replied to the yells of him who clamored. I re-echoed- I aided- I surpassed them in volume and in strength." When Montresor yells back at Fortunato in an even louder and stronger voice he is telling Fortunato that he can yell as much as he wants, but nothing is going to change. When Poe's audience reads this he is successful in creating the feeling of horror of premeditated death because they know the characters are cut off from other people, so there's no chance for help.
Poe’s goal in his writings is to make readers feel things like horror and sadness, not to create suspense. He uses sound imagery, irony, and repeated elements. The way Poe uses those is so different from everybody else. It is one of the main reasons that his work is still studied and enjoyed today.