Through many of Poe’s works, from his short stories, “The Cask to Amontillado”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, and “The Tell-Tale Heart”, to his poems, “Annabel Lee” and “The Raven”, Poe has established himself as a prolific writer of the genre of Gothic horror in American literature. At the early age of three, Poe was orphaned and sent to a foster family. As he grew older, he had many disputes with his adoptive father, and was disowned. He served in the army before marrying his wife, who would later die at the age of 24, leaving Poe in despair and inspiring many of his works. The reason to how Poe creates a chilling style that is prevalent in many of his works is his repeated use of both repetition and irony.
Poe uses this to help express the true feelings and intentions of the narrator when he talks about killing the old man and has the old man's heart drive him to confession. Poe also uses different types of irony which helps plays a very important role in The Cask of Amontillado as well. "I had told them that I should not return until the morning and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance , one and all, as soon as my back was turned." (line 24) These instructions from Montersor to his servants demonstrated his mastery of human psychology, Montresor knew they were not going to stay and it was all apart of his plan, which brings the irony into play.
“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” Edgar Allan Poe’s writing is still famous to this day. Not only his writing, but his life. He is known for having a difficult life and writing about it. Through all his poems and short stories there are little hints everywhere that relate to his life. Depression, insanity and tuberculosis were all common topics of Poe’s writing that related to his life.
He made everything seem to contradict itself that created constant tension between the reader’s expectations and the actual actions that will take place in the short story. Even between the characters that thought an event should happen or how it should in fact does not happen at all or happens in an entire different way than expected. Poe using the literary elements of symbolism, foreshadowing, and irony to let the reader become more interested in the evolving eventual plot made Cask of Amontillado a popular piece of literature that everyone of different backgrounds, ages, and gender can immerse themselves into. By using the elements he did, Poe could explain the reasoning behind Fortunato’s death and why was naïve to the events foreshadowing his murder. Aside from the technicality aspect of Poe’s use of elements, he also exposed the issues yet beauty of art and the artists themselves of the day and
Throughout his life, he had bad luck and heartaches that continued till his death in 1849. This dark style can be seen in short stories like “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado”. In many different short stories and poems, Poe is known for the strange and unreasonable reasons for murder, isolation, betrayal, insanity, and guilt. Edgar Allan Poe’s life more than likely influenced his distinctive gothic writing style. Poe’s most well known written short story is named “The Tell-Tale Heart” in light of the fact of the significant meaning it has behind it.
How does an author individually create one of the most distinguished verses in all of english literature: “Quoth the Raven, nevermore”? In the short stories The Cask of Amontillado and The Tell-Tale Heart, along with the poems Annabel Lee and The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe develops a unique writing style and the genre of Gothic Fiction through the use of certain literary devices. His gothic, doleful works were most likely influenced by the death of his parents when he was only three, and the demise of his young wife, Virgina, at the age of 24. These events are clearly portrayed or alluded to in both his poems and stories. Likewise, they are conveyed differently in his short stories compared to his poems.
Poe reaches out to the reader through Montresor’s feelings, showing that revenge is often not as fulfilling as one would hope and rather will do the opposite through tormenting far past the time of tribulation. As the reader follows Montresor it becomes evident that he is so focused on his revenge that he becomes obsessed with it. Even after achieving revenge Montresor is still tormented, becoming unable to move on from Fortunato. Poe’s masterful writing in “The Cask of Amontillado” integrates symbolism and irony conveying a sense of revenge that can never be fed all the while parodying one of the most revered and respected stories in religious
Poe uses the tragic experiences of his childhood as a theme in his works, “Annabel Lee” and “The Masque of the Red Death.” Edgar Allan Poe’s poems are not like others, they are mysterious and have life stories applied to them. Many of Poe’s writings talk about love and loss, such as his poem “Annabel Lee”. The soul of his writing is based off on love and death of a beautiful young girl named Annabel Lee. Throughout the poem “Annabel Lee” Poe talks about the loss of Annabel Lee “And [how] neither the angels in Heaven above/ Nor the demons down under the sea/ Can ever dissever my soul from the soul/ Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; (Poe, “Annabel Lee” 30-33). Poe is saying that no angels or demons can take away his
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
In his short story, Poe relays the theme that when people are foolish and ignorant, it leads to their own downfall. Poe’s message is expressed through the employment of situational irony and indirect characterization. One way Poe employs the message that when people are foolish and prideful, negative repercussions can occur is through the use of situational irony. Montresor wants revenge against Fortunato, but he ironically tries to “prevent” Fortunato from going to his