Brief Literary Analysis Edgar Allen Poe

15 November 2012 Edgar Allan Poe Literary Analysis Edgar Allan Poe is often regarded as the most skilled American poet and short story writer, and it is no wonder because all literary work created by Poe is written with such proficiency, that even readers today are awe-struck. In Poes short stories and poems, one will find the alike(p) few reports in his whole kit and caboodle, such as women, the color cerise and a variety of horror etymons, however one theme that is very repetitive is his utilisation of termination. This theme is used in galore(postnominal) novels today, and is also a popular theme in books, television shows and videogames.Read also Edgar Allan Poe DrugsIn fact, since the 1800s, people have start increasingly appealed by death. Death was one of Poes favorite themes, and is a big reason why Poes literary works are chill out read today. In Poes short story The fancy dress of the rubicund Death, the theme of death often brought up, such as when the fatal r ed death sickness was described when contracted, its host would feel sharp pains, and sudden dizziness (1), and its host would have profuse bleeding of the pores (1). The red death was a widespread disease, but Prince Prosperos castle was safe from the red death because the disease couldnt get past the abbey gates.In his happy mood, the Prince organized a clod, this ball was not an ordinary ball, but it was a masquerade, in which the guests would wear masks and costumes. This story ends in an extremely violent homosexualner, in which every masquerader succumbs to the red death. The theme of this masquerade was gruesome many masqueraders wore very graphic outfits, which foreshadow the horrible end of this story. An otherwise one of Poes works, Annabel Lee, was actually based on his wife, Virgiania Eliza Clemm Poe, and in the the poem, Annabel is killed by the angels above that were jealous of the love between Annabel and Poe.So one night, at the peak of their jealousy, the sent out a cloud Chilling and putting to death (4. 6) Poes Annabel Lee. The theme of death is very obvious in that Annabel Lee dies in the poem, and the main character is filled with an infinite sadness, that he even sleeps by the grave. Whats ironic about this poem is the fact that Annabel dies from a chilly wind, and Virginia, in her last stage of consumption, dies cold, and Poe, so poor, was unable to afford a binding for her, a simple luxury that would have brightened her mood just a bit. The Fall of the House of establish is a unique short story in that it was one of the first haunted house stories of its era. This story was about a man who was invited by his friend, Roderick Usher, to cheer Usher up. The main character shortly arrives at the Usher manor, which once was beautiful, now is an old run-down mansion. The only two Usher family members that are liquid alive are the twins, Roderick and Madeline, and both of them gravel from peculiar diseases, Roderick suffers from a morb id acuteness of the senses (3) and Madeline seemingly suffers form a type of immunodeficiency, in which she gets deathly ill often.The first appearance of the theme of death is when Roderick states Madeline as dead and subsequently buries Madeline prematurely. Roderick is aware of this, and near the end of the story, Madeline breaks out of her position and with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, (10) cleanup spot Roderick, another appearance of death. At the very end, the manor disappears, intend the death of the Usher bloodline. The theme of death is apparent in this short story, so this theme is not only a coincidence. Many of Poes stories include death, and The Black Cat is no exception.This story is one of his more brutal stories in that the main character first hung his favorite cat, Pluto, and then buried the axe (4) in his wifes head. The final death is that of the main character, when he is sentenced to hang for his tremendous deed of murder. This theme of death is proved as a common theme now, as it is in at least quadruple of Poes literary works, and these stories arent the only ones that include the theme of death. Death is not a happy event. A funeral is usually a time of sadness, and there is uncheerful automatic teller that is fueled by this sadness.Poe recreates this atmosphere in many of his works in the mood of the story or poem. For example, in The Fall of the House of Usher this depressing mood is heightened when the reader becomes aware that the only remaining Ushers alive are Roderick and Madeline. Another instance of heightened mood is in The Black Cat when Pluto is savagely executed by the main character. This mood is even evident in Annabel Lee when Poe writes A wind came out of the cloud by night, Chilling and sidesplitting my beautiful Annabel Lee (4. 25-26). Poe is a master at creating this theme, as he effectively depresses the reader with the depressing mood of death.Poe is also proficien t at symbolizing death. The symbolism of death takes many different forms in Poes works ranging from very simple symbols to rather complex ones. An example is the clock in The masquerade party of the Red Death in which the clock chimed every hour with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang (2). A clock is a symbol of death because it eer reminds the limited life span of a military man being. A rather blunt symbol of death is a coffin, like the one Madeline Usher skint out of in The Fall of the House of Usher. The reason a coffin is a symbol of death is because a corpse is put in a coffin prior to the burial of the body.The color black is also a symbol of death, which is the color of the velvet tapestries, hung in the seventh room in The masque of the Red Death which is the room Prince Prospero and his fellow masqueraders are killed. In many of Poes works, the story takes place in an old house, or castle, the reason merchant ship this is that an older house usually means it has surviv ed several generations, which can also be related to death, because a generation is defined as a root of people born at approximately the same time, and since a human being has a defined life span, the end of a generation is when the meeting of people die.The old Usher manor has survived several generations of the Usher family, and it is also the place where several of the Usher family members are buried. At the end, it is the resting place of Madeline and Roderick. Ultimately, the house cryptically disappears when Madeline and Roderick die. Another old building is Prince Prosperos castle in The Masque of the Red Death, and that also has seen many generations of mankind, but it also sees the death of Prospero and his friends when the Red Death sneaks into the masquerade and swiftly kills them all.A very large amount of Poes works take place at night, rarely does one of Poes works take place in the daytime. The night has always held superstition for mankind because it is first of a ll, a time when humans sleep, and arent very active, and second of all, the human eye cannot see in the dark well. As stated before, rarely does one of Poes works take place in the day, in fact, the four works referenced all take place at night. One may wonder why many of Poes works were violent, gloomy, and why many of his stories included a lot of death.The explanation is because Poe had a very depressing life. His father was an alcoholic that left after Poe was a year old and eventually died of alcoholism. His mother cared for Poe until she died of consumption. After Poes mom had died, Francis Allan adopted Poe and Francis sent him to a peculiar school in England. What make this school peculiar was how the taught math and fleshly education. Math was taught using dates on tombstones, while physical education was taught by digging graves. This school could be a possible square off on Poes works, because he got to do graveyard work.Later, when he grew older, Poe had taken a roman tic interest in his friends (his friends name was Richard) mother. Sadly, Richards mother developed a tumor, and died. Soon after Poe had finished college, Francis Allan died of consumption, and she was the only reason John Allan hadnt evicted Poe yet, so once Francis died, Poe was evicted. After this event, Poe found a new romantic interest, in his adopted sister, Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe. Poe married her when he was twenty-six years old. Unfortunately, Virginia also died from consumption. Now it can be seen why Poe wrote so a lot about death, because he was surrounded by it.Poes life was a short-lived and very unfortunate one. Many of his loved ones died from either consumption or other causes, and Poe was always poor. Poe became an alcoholic, just like his father, and he died at age forty. There was no rest for Poe, so most of his feelings went into his poetry and short stories, and that was what made him a successful writer. In the time Poe lived, there was common a terrible di sease called consumption, or more commonly known today as Tuberculosis. This disease would attack the victims lungs, and slowly kill the victim.The common symptom of consumption is coughing up blood, but there are other symptoms such as a fever, chest pains, a cough with increasing mucus and a nightly sweat. This disease is could have been a big influence on Poes writing, because this disease killed many of Poes beloved and in a rather violent manner. Another thing people of Poes time were scared of was being buried alive, so much that devices that rung bells were attached to coffins so in the event someone was buried alive, person in the coffin could ring the bell and be rescued from their earthly prison.This fear was so great, that Poe had the idea to put it into one of his stories The Fall of the House of Usher in which Madeline Usher was buried before she was dead, by Roderick Usher. This fear had an apparent influence on Poes literature, and people loved the thrill of reading P oes tales of terror. In The Masque of the Red Death Poe accomplishes several points, that death is unavoidable Prince Prospero could not escape the inevitable Red Death disease by simply hiding in his Abbey until it went away. Poe also states that death is an imperishable law. If there is a beginning, there is an end, and life is no exception.Even time dies alongside the masqueraders, for time, one of humanitys fears, will resign to exist as well. These points are surprisingly true, for each thing that has a beginning comes to an end, no exceptions. Poe blends morals and lessons into a brutal story of a man who tried to evade death, but he was foolish, for no mortal can escape death. Science states that everything was created, and everything will be destroyed, in due time, so this eternal law of death that Poe creates is so incredibly accurate to science, that Poe was a genius to secretly incorporate this law into a short story.Edgar Allan Poe is perhaps one of the sterling(pren ominal) American writers of all time. His short stories and poems are still read by the world, and for good reason, what makes his stories so good are his well-written story plots, and his themes of death, blood and gore which still ones that even people today can enjoy and be thrilled by. Poe had a depressing life, and it is unfortunate that he lived only forty years, who knows what else could have been produced.