Edgar Allan Poe Literary Devices

Edgar Allen Poe creates an atmosphere of suspense in “The Raven” and in “The Pit and Pendulum “making the reader wonder what is going to happen next by creating confusion. The typical gothic style of Poe’s writings is very dark and cold, affecting the narrator both mentally and physically. In both “The Pit and The Pendulum” and “The Raven”, both of the narrators are being tortured. In “The Raven” the narrator is being tortured mentally while in “The Pit and The Pendulum” the narrator is being tortured physically. Poe uses many gothic elements such as setting and supernatural elements making fear one of the most important unifying effects in the narratives.

Everyone must know that fear has its negative effects, but it also has its positive effects on humans. Fear can help you to be more aware and prevents harm to you and others around you since you are more cautious. However, on the other side of the spectrum, fear can bring obsession such as losing control of yourself to focus on certain people or objects, and can bring poignancy to your life. Both aspects of fear are shown in Edgar Allan Poe’s renown stories, ¨The Tell-Tale Heart,¨ ¨The Pit and the Pendulum,¨ and ¨The Masque of Red Death,¨ where all the main characters are introduced to fear, but all approach it differently. Their approach can be seen through the use of symbolism, irony, and imagery in which, Poe depicts how fear distorts the

Poe uses erie imagery to convey a unsettling tone. This technique is apparent in the short story, “The Tell Tale Heart” where the narrator murders a man. After killing him he then proceeds to mulate the body into several pieces and conceals the pieces in the floors. He later

Edgar Allan Poe’s style of writing has changed the way of modern writing. From syntax to imagery Poe uses astonishing literary techniques to captivate the audience in creepy, dark stories and poems. Edgar Allan Poe had a somewhat depressing childhood, his parents were killed when he was only at the age of three years old. John Allan fostered him but he was never legally adopted. Poe started writing before and continued to write after he enlisted in the army. Some of the traumatic experiences throughout his life may have lead to Poe’s dark and ominous styles of writing. A few of Poe’s works that displayed his dark styles of writing and changed modern writing today include, Annabel Lee, a gothic poem, about a narrator who mourns the creepy

Imagine darkness, sin, and the desire to keep it all hidden from yourself and the outside world. Together Poe and Hawthorne paint this picture of traits which consist of suspense and darkness. Within the stories “Tell Tale Heart” and “Ministers Black Veil”, the two authors writing styles are vividly comparable. With the comparison of these short stories, it becomes more than feasible to feel the true emotion and movement that Poe and Hawthorne wished to give to their readers.

Edgar Allan Poe creates horror and suspense in his use of irony -including verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony-in his short story “ The Tell-Tale Heart”. Verbal irony is when something that is said means the opposite of what is meant. Poe uses verbal irony when he states, “ I loved the old man.” Situational irony is similar. It is defined as when what happens is different from or even the opposite of what we expected. Poe use situational irony when he describes that he pitied the old man, although he chuckled at heart. This is situational irony because Edgar Allen Poe was planning to murder the old man and when he stated that he pited the old man, the audience became surprised because that is the opposite of what we expected

People have always tried to avoid death, but they cannot. In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” the characters are trying to avoid the Red Death, but they fail. Every hour an ebony clock chimes indicating that life is passing and death is close. People begin to die every minute once the Red Death enters. This story of death works out, because Edgar Allen Poe gives good use to author’s craft. Edgar Allen Poe uses imagery, symbolism, and setting to create an effective story.

Fear is a natural instinct that could potentially save your life, but that doesn't mean it’s always a good thing. Fear can lead to paranoia or obsession, and then it can engulf your sanity. If you become so fearful in the face of danger it could possibly cause paralysis, cloud your rational thought, or cause you to faint. However, it could potentially save your life by holding you back from irrational acts, making your more alert, or offering restraining from making hazardous decisions. In the stories “The Tell Tale Heart,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” and “The Masque of Red Death,” the author, Edgar Allen Poe, uses figurative language, irony and symbolism to teach us that fean can distort the mind, and cause paranoia and obsession,

Of all gothic writers, Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most groundbreaking of them all. From The Cask of Amontillado, a story with integrated historical references of the time, to The Fall of the House of Usher, a deep and morbid story full of imagery. Anywhere from The Tell-Tale Heart, truly a story of both unique syntax and perspective, to The Raven, a poem full of symbols and eerie repetition. Through these and many more, Poe has been using his writing style to immerse people into his stories and poems alike since 1839. However, Poe is only able to accomplish this through his unique writer’s style, particularly his forceful imagery and meaningful syntax.

One of Edgar Allan Poe’s most known attributes is his use of fear in many of his stories. He used words and images to instill the fright into his readers. He strung together scenarios that happen to his characters that encapsulates real fears that a reader could have. Poe would use fear in his stories in multiple ways. A story could relate around a certain fear. The way Poe sets up his story with the tension could create a fearful atmosphere. He did not just focus on portraying a narrator with a certain fear, he would use language that would make the reader feel fear. He packed in images of darkness and horror in order to create these atmospheres that presented fear in many different ways.

To begin, Edgar Allan Poe uses symbolism in his short story to create suspense. The narrator hears the beating of the heart, although it really represents how nervous he is as a result of his crime. An excerpt from the text states, “It grew louder - louder - louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God - no, no! They heard! - they suspected! - they knew! - they were making a mockery of my horror!” This is showing how nervous the narrator felt when the police officers came to make sure everything was normal. He was all right at first, but then his guilt flooded back when he heard a heartbeat, yet he never realized that it was only him hearing it. Also, Poe symbolizes the old man’s eye as the narrator’s flaws and traits. In the story, the text states, “He had the eye of a vulture … for

Fear can be very advantageous when it comes to surviving. Fear inhibits you from doing risky actions that can put you and others in danger; it keeps you cautious and careful. Even though fear helps you when surviving, fear can harm you in life. Fear can cause paranoia that keeps you from enjoying life. You start to obsess over minimal things leading to hallucination. In Poe’s stories, the main characters experience fear, but they all handle it distinctively. Poe uses irony, symbolism, and imagery to show how fear affects the narrator’s mindset, along with their future.

Poe is able to describe how anger feels, describe how it feels to love someone than lose them in a matter of seconds, describe how it feels to hate and despise someone with a burning passion, until the reader feels as though they will crack under pressure. Poe’s fantastic grasp on diction and the creation of images in the reader’s mind, can be seen in the The Fall of the House of Usher, when the narrator says “During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens…” (paragraph 1) . Poe was able to show how the sky looked even though the reader wasn’t able to see it through their own eyes. His words has a certain way to them, to make the reader believe they are standing right next to him as he is writing the story. The imagery in the piece can also materialize the thoughts of the reader to see how the characters are beginning down a slippery-slope toward nothingness. In the short story, The Tell Tale Heart, Poe was able to describe the insanity of the narrator about the single eye. The

In Edgar Allan Poe’s tales of criminal insanity, the first-person narrators confess unsound confessions. They control the narrative, which only allows us to see through their eyes. However, they do describe their own pathological or psychological actions so conscientiously that they exhibit their own insanity. They are usually incapable of stepping back from their narratives to detect their own madness. The narrator 's’ fluency is meticulous and often opulent. It usually implies a revelation as a defense of sanity. In the tales of the criminal insanity, first-person narrators are the protagonists, focusing on their conflicts with hysteria and law. In The Tell-tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe uses many symbols such as, the Evil Eye, the watch, the narrator himself, bedroom, and the lantern. He also tries to dehumanize the old man in the short story.

In “The Tell-tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe, the demented, arrogant and dark tones reflect the man’s guilt and insanity that eventually leds him to admit to the crime he committed.