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Landscape in Masque of the Red Death, William Wilson, Tale of the Ragged Mountains, and House of Usher
A careful reading of Poe’s tales will quickly reveal the importance that landscape plays in the development of each literary work. "Ragged Mountains" has both a surreal and realistic landscape allowing Poe to use both the mental and the physical environment to explain his tale. This technique is also found in "The Fall of the House of Usher," "William Wilson," and "The Masque of the Red Death." In these tales too the reader may tend to focus on the action at hand, and the psychological details, because that is what we are prone to do with Poe stories. However, it is also important to understand that physical landscape as well. As Daniel Philippon states in his article "Poe in the Ragged Mountains": "Any search for a whole universe of suggestion must be held in check by the realities of the landscape in which it occurs."
In "A Tale of the Ragged Mountains," it is pretty obvious that the landscape is going to play an important part in the story - we are given the setting right in the title. However, a majority of the story actually takes place in an "Orientalized" locale that has been transposed into the Ragged Mountains. This alone is a great juxtaposition: the title describes what seems to be a run-down, unappealing landscape, while the real action takes place in fantastical setting. But why is the landscape so important if the psychological aspect is what Poe is trying to focus on? Most likely it is because the landscape gives us clues about what is actually happening in the minds of the characters, and hints at things that make the story clearer. For example, Bedloe starts his tale by describing "the thic...
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...dscape as well as a physical one, his pieces pack a more powerful punch, and always allow the reader to find hints about what is really going on at a deeper level. Since much of Poe's 'action' is psychological, the landscape is an element of the story that can't be ignored, and should not.
Works Cited:
Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Masque of the Red Death." The American Tradition in Literature. Ed. George Perkins and Barbara Perkins. 9th ed. vol. 1. New York: McGraw, 1998.
Poe, Edgar Allan. "A Tale of the Ragged Mountains" [1843]; in Poe, ed. Harold Beaver. The Science Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976.
Poe, Edgar Allan. "William Wilson." Selected Poetry and Prose of Poe. Ed. T. O. Mabbott. New York: Modern Library, 1951.
Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Fall of the House of Usher". R.V.Cassill, ed. The Norton Fiction. New York, London, 1995.
Poe continues to develop his point that no one escapes death through the setting. Not only does he use the exterior and how it was constructed to tell what precautions P...
In his article, Philippon begins by discussing the importance that the landscape plays in "A Tale of the Ragged Mountains." First, he quotes William Carlos Williams as saying that Poe was "intimately shaped by his locality and time," although he tends to focus on the "soul" of his surroundings, rather than the physical aspects. Philippon then goes on to say that he believes that Poe does, in fact, use the physical landscape in this particular story in order to highlight the differences between the make-believe environment of the Indian landscape of the story and that of the Ragged Mountains. The author says that this is "crucial to a complete understanding of the story."
Edgar Allan Poe primarily authored stories dealing with Gothic literature; the stories were often quite dreary. Poe possessed a very sorrowful view of the world and he expressed this throughout his literary works. His goal was to leave an impression with every detail that he included in his stories. Although Poe’s stories seem very wretched and lackluster they all convey a certain idea. A trademark of Poe’s is his use of very long complex sentences. For instance, in his work The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe tried to ensure that every detail was as relevant as possible by integrating a wide variety of emotion. In the third paragraph, of page two hundred ninety-seven, Poe wrote, “Feeble gleams of encrimsoned light made their way through the trellised panes, and served to render sufficiently distinct the more prominent objects around…” This sentence illustrates the descriptiveness and complexity that Edgar Allan Poe’s works consisted of. The tormented cognizance of Poe led him to use a very gloomy diction throughout his writing. Edgar Allan Poe’s use of symbols and the way he conveyed his writing expr...
...or poor, strong or weak in rights to have freedom and justice. Just as Jefferson "has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of Government" (54). The colonies have also found equality between them and Britain by becoming an independent government. As King puts it "oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever" (222) people are forever fighting and yearning for freedom from justice.
In conclusion Poe excellent use of characterization and imagery to depict fear and darkness, truly make The Fall of the House of Usher a story of the battles the we must face our fears in order to free our mind.
This Hobbit means a lot to me now because of the lore. It 's simple, eloquent, and beautifully scripted. The story feels like a warm, safe home for children as well as adults. The Hobbit is a story that tells and instills moral values such as the fight against cruelty, the beginning of new hope, and the courage of others. That if your fellowship fall apart, even though you cannot carry their burdens for them, you can always be there for them even through the darkest of
Symons, Julian. The Tell-Tale Heart: The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Harper and Row, 1978.
This essay is about how Poe uses the description of environments in his narratives. I shall explain this usage with close reference to several short stories by Poe. A full listing of the stories used appears in the List of Works Consulted at the end of this essay. It is important to note that in all of the stories, the narration is in the first-person. This has deep-reaching effects on how particular environments are described. This will also be commented upon. The first excerpt comes from a story entitled "MS Found In a Bottle": Our vessel was a beautiful ship of about four hundred tons, copper-fastened, and built at Bombay of Malabar teak. She was freighted with cotton-wool and oil, from the Lachadive islands. We had also on board coir, jaggeree, ghee, cocoa-nuts, and a few cases of opium. The stowage was clumsily done, and the vessel consequently crank. Poe describes his environments in great detail -- thus giving the reader a clear representation of where the scene is taking place. The above description is short and concise compared to a usual Poe description. Here he has described the ship as beautiful -- this is an opinion and not a description, and Poe often gives opinions in his descriptions. His description consists of the weight of the ship, what it is made of, where it was built, of what it was built, and the cargo it was carrying. A further minute detail is that the ship was lopsided because the cargo wasn't stowed properly. This is the sort of meticulous detail that Poe generally uses. It is unusual in his works to find a detailed description this short however. This next excerpt is from the same story, and is more typical of Poe's descriptive sty...
It is believed that American people in the lower and middle classes have needs for status mobility. For example, when browsing through a fashion magazine, one can find numerous sections that are dedicated to creating ways to look like the featured model or actress for half the price. The intention of the article, in most cases, is to give others the impression that you are of high social status. In addition, advertisers often use people in the entertainment business to model their products so that the viewer may purchase the product. For example, when mimicking the purchases of hotel heiress, Paris Hilton one may believe, “If I buy this, I’ll look cool just like Paris Hilton!” The fact that this method is usually successful is a product of the anxiety felt by lower and middle class families. For those reasons, it is likely that Domhoff’s statement that the upper class “creates respect, envy, and deference in others,” is true. It seems that many of America’s lower and middle class families would like to create those same feelings of respect and envy in others.
The topic of justice first comes about through a conversation between Socrates and Cephalus. The two are reflecting upon their old age, evaluating how they have lived their lives, when Cephalus states that his wealth "keeps him from having to leave life in the fear of owing debts to men or sacrifices to the gods." [331b] This comment leads Socrates to question Cephalus on the subject of justice by asking if he really believed that justice is simply telling the truth and returning what you receive. Socrates feels this definition is too simple, asking if it is "sometimes right to behave in these ways, and sometimes wrong?" [331c] Socrates proposes this question: if someone were to borrow weapons from a friend, and afterwards this friend went mad, would it be just to return the weapons to the friend? Although Cephalus' definition would warrant returning the weapons, the two conclude that it would in fact not be the right thing to do. The two feel that this statement does not fit the definition of justice.
Quinn, Arthur Hobson. Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography. New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1941. Internet.
Have you ever seen or read the Hobbit? The Hobbit is about a hobbit named Bilbo that has to go on an adventure with dwarves and a wizard named Gandalf to reclaim the dwarve's mountain. Both the film and book versions are very popular. The main components in both versions that I will be looking at are the plot, setting, and the characters. Both of the versions add on and take away parts of these components. To understand the differences between the film and book versions of the Hobbit, it is necessary to take a closer look at the setting, plot, and characters.
The chronicle of The Hobbit is an adventure to regain a long lost home. Brave dwarves and a hobbit endeavor through many treacherous lands and risk their lives in this great campaign. As stated by William S. Brockington, Jr., "Tolkien's fantasy world provides a place where moral values exist and quests can still be achieved." (1467). The final victory is won through the help of many companions the adventurers meet along the way. Had it not been for the setting, characters, and trials in The Hobbit the plot could have never been made possible.
Not many have never heard of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Set in a prehistoric era, Tolkien invented a world made up of humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, trolls, and hobbits (Doughan MBE). His works, while not without criticism, have captured the imaginations of many and are highly regarded by the general population. He created an entirely new mythology, which is no small feat. Tolkien, by immersing readers in a world complete with its own history, languages, and culture, would influence the fantasy genre for years to come.
The information in this paragraph will present some of the background and thematic relations in between “The Hobbit” and the author of the novel John Ronald Reuel Tolkien aka J.R.R.Tolkien. First off his encounter with a giant spider as a child influenced his caracters in his books because one of the enemys that the hobbit and his crew had to face were giant venomous and carnivorous spiders that kidnapped his friends (biography). Secondly Tolkien was a WW1 war veteran/hero which had a subtle influence on the characteristics of his main character who by the end of the novel became a hero.(J.R.R.Tolkien Wikipedia.com) Third, the book takes place in the same time and era that Tolkien lived in because in that time many men carried around pocket