ipl-logo

The Theme Of Premature Burial In Poe's Poe

1049 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Death theme used in poes writings

The theme of the premature burial is very prevalent in many of Poe’s stories. It is seen time and time again throughout his works because at the time he was writing them, the theme of premature burial or fear of being buried alive was extremely commonplace and it got people talking about his writings. It is clear to see that the theme of burial while alive is so developed and widespread in Poe’s works. This is because it is what the general public were interested in at the time and he was using this to his own benefit to gain more popularity. Poe was completely obsessed with the whole idea of being buried whilst still alive. Death is scattered throughout all his works and many of them are saturated with the theme of being buried alive. My aim …show more content…

Roger Platizky tells us, ' 'The Cask of Amontillado ' ' (1846). Written just two years after ' 'The Premature Burial’’ (1843-44), ' 'The Cask ' ' is Poe 's last and best known short story dealing with what J. Gerald Kennedy calls Poe 's ' 'obsessive nightmare ' ' (33), his fixation on living interment.’’ (206). I have to wholly concur with this statement because it cannot be denied that Poe is engrossed by the mental and psychoanalysis behind being buried alive. The characters of Fortunato, Montresor and their travels in the underground passages are both catalysts to the theme development. We are aware something sinister will occur come the end of this story, Poe tells us, ‘’THE THOUSAND INJURIES of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.’’ (Cask of …show more content…

Correspondingly ‘’The Premature Burial’’, is the most obvious story that deals with the theme of being buried alive. Poe confesses his true fears about being prematurely buried, ’’to be buried while alive is, beyond question, the most terrific of these extremes which has ever fallen to the lot of mere mortality’’. (1) We see the development of the theme of being buried alive through the unnamed narrator who becomes more and more anxious about being buried alive due to his untimely fits of catalepsy. Christopher Dribble argues that, ‘’Poe’s unnamed narrator describes in Gothic detail his increasing paranoia and excruciating fear of hasty or untimely burial’’ (3). I concur with this statement as this is how Poe develops the theme burial before death in this short story. Poe tells us in ‘’The Premature Burial’’ that the anonymous narrator, ‘’was lost in reveries of death, and the idea of premature burial held continual possession of my brain. The ghastly Danger to which I was subjected haunted me

Show More
Related
294 Words | 2 Pages

Part A: The theme of “The Premature Burial” is fear can overcome us if we do not face our fears. This theme is evident in the last sentence of the story, “Alas! the grim legion of deathly terrors cannot be regarded as altogether fanciful—but, they must sleep, or they will devour us—they must be suffered to slumber, or we perish.” Although this states the theme, the theme is present throughout the story in the plot, setting, character, and conflict. The main character is a man who suffers from a disease that leaves him close to death.

Read More
750 Words | 3 Pages

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the best at writing stories in a dark or creepy way. The mood of Poe’s short story, “The Cask of Amontillado”, is suspense. He creates this suspense by the use of the setting, foreshadowing, and Montresor’s character throughout the book. Poe makes the catacombs dark and creepy which makes the setting help provoke the suspense of the story. Poe also creates foreshadowing throughout the book which creates tension in the story.

Read More
168 Words | 1 Pages

Poe’s stories “Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” display the dark romantic theme of a man’s soul by the development of the setting, plot, and characterization. As both stories begin, the initial device used to advance the theme is setting, which remains grim and sinister throughout the duration of both stories. Accompanying these physical details is the plot, each of which includes the murder of an innocent man. Most notably, the characterization of each piece’s narrator allows the audience to fully understand their internal struggle and its final resolution. While “Cask of Amontillado” contains an overall intriguing and unexpected plot as well as setting, the narrator’s characterization proves this story to conclude in a less

Read More
1083 Words | 5 Pages

3.05 Reading Journal Part A In the Premature Burial, by Edgar Allen Poe, the author speaks of his terror upon being buried while not dead. The theme of overwhelming terror and the way it alters one mentally is used to show the narrator as he is swallowed up by his dread of being buried alive. The narrator is afflicted with catalepsy, which is a nervous condition that inflicts a trance or seizure with a loss of sensation and consciousness accompanied by rigidity of the body. The narrator internally fears that his paralyzed body will be falsely misconstrued as dead.

Read More
761 Words | 4 Pages

Reading Journal 1. 3.05 Poe describes the sensations of being buried alive. What imagery does Poe use to help you hear, see, smell, and feel? The unendurable oppression of the lungs- The suffocating fumes from the damp earth-

Read More
989 Words | 4 Pages

Peyton Erwin Mr. Rowan English III/1 6 February 2023 The three works “Thanatopsis” by William Cullen Bryant, “The Raven”, and “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, all have similarities and differences throughout their stories. Most of these similarities and differences lead back to a theme they all share, death. Death is frequently brought up in all different ways in these stories, where it is represented in characters, blatantly spoken about, or hidden in imagery. Even though death is the most major similarity and difference these stories have, they have many more throughout each story.

Read More
695 Words | 3 Pages

Poe wrote in the “Masque of the Red Death,” “The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men,” (Poe 1). It goes to show to what length people will go to survive. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor's cellar represented the embodiment of death

Read More
1036 Words | 5 Pages

Poe’s use of foreshadowing, characterization, and symbolism develops the theme of inevitability of death to illustrate that regardless of

Read More
491 Words | 2 Pages

There is beauty in his description of the crypt and the arrangements of bones which resemble the catacombs in Paris. Poe also adds a sense of humor to Montresor’s tone when he is describing how he managed to get his servants out of his house. This further engages the reader into making them believe that maybe Montresor isn’t completely demented and has the humor of an average and fair-minded individual, but this is far from the truth. Overall, it may be said that “The Cask of Amontillado” is a dark and horrifying story that is beautifully told through the creative writing style of Edgar Allen Poe.

Read More
873 Words | 4 Pages

An example of this is in The Tell-Tale Heart, when it is stated “I made up my mind to take the life of the old man…”. This passage reminds us that death is something like a drug to people. Also, some people attract death. Throughout Poe’s life, he could not get away from death. Another example is in Annabel Lee when it is stated “…killing my Annabel Lee.”

Read More
1023 Words | 5 Pages

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author and editor, who was best known for his works in Gothic literature. Most of Poe’s stories deal with the theme of horror, as was reflected in Poe’s life as it was full of tragedy involving the loss of many of his beloved wives and mothers. The following stories are amongst Poe’s most celebrated stories; The Tell Tale Heart - a short story told by an unreliable narrator who persuades the readers of his sanity, while telling of a murder he committed. The Masque of the Red Death - a story that illustrates Prince Prospero’s efforts to eschew the dangerous plague by hiding in his castle, where he throws a party.

Read More
1822 Words | 8 Pages

Whether it’s guilt overriding their senses, killing someone because of a fear, the fear of being buried alive, the fear of disease, fear of the dead, fear of dying. In “Cask of Amontillado” (1846), Poe plays on the fear of being entombed. He projects these fears onto the reader. He uses dark language to project a horrific setting, such as putting an emphasis on the catacomb—how dark and decrepit it is: “We descended, passed on, and descending again, arrive in the deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame” (21). The walls “had been lined with human remains” just like the Catacombs in Paris.

Read More
1208 Words | 5 Pages

In many stories and poems; such as the Tell Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, The Raven, Annabel Lee, The House of Usher, and so many more timeless works, Edgar Allan Poe has been captivating his audiences with spine tingling thrillers through the words and style of his own twisted ways. The only way to describe where Poe’s writing belongs in history, would be classified as gothic genre. From the start of the 1800’s to present day and the future of literature, through irony, repetition, imagery, and symbolism Poe has been bewitching readers with his gore and insane writings. Poe’s life inspired so many of his poems, from focusing on taboo topics, such as death, revenge, love and loss. Poe’s life was painful and heartbreaking that

Read More
855 Words | 4 Pages

After Poe was honorably discharged from the military, he married his 12 year old cousin who died shortly of tuberculosis. These events heavily contributed to his writing style by giving events to base stories as well as a viewpoint on the world. Overall, Edgar Allan Poe’s twisted and ominous writing style focuses on using physical imagery and connotative syntax to show imagery. Through Poe’s short stories and poems, Edgar Allan Poe visual and metaphorical imagery to illustrate the theme of revenge and death. In the short story, The Cask of Amontillado, Poe uses strong descriptive adjectives and physical descriptions to convey imagery.

Read More
928 Words | 4 Pages

(Poe 4) After killing the man; chopping up his body; and hiding it beneath the floorboards, the narrator the narrator hears a noise that, at first, he cannot place. The heartbeat of a dead man and his general fear of the old man illustrate his Schizophrenia and his disconnection from reality. These diagnoses are examples of the narrator’s characteristics that prove his

Read More

More about The Theme Of Premature Burial In Poe's Poe

Related Topics

Open Document