Edgar Allan Poe's Use of Descriptive Language in The Pit and the Pendulum

Edgar Allan Poe's Use of Descriptive Language in The Pit and the Pendulum

Edgar Allan Poe has been known for writing stories of mystery and horror. He has

composed poems dealing with the occult. He favors those themes and ideas that people

shy away from, death, pain, suffering, torture, terror, and fear. His gothic stories burn

fright into the hearts of the reader or leave them with a sense of remorse for Poe's poor

and unfortunate characters. Not many people have ever thought about how Poe goes

about conveying these feelings to his readers and why it is so effective. Poe uses an

abundance of descriptive language in order to convey the feelings of his choice onto his

reader. This can be seen quite blatantly in "The Pit and the Pendulum"

"The Pit and the Pendulum" tells the story of a man victimized by the Spanish

Inquisition. He is thrown in a dungeon for the crime of treason. There is no light in the

dungeon so as to keep the narrator very confused. In the center of the dungeon he

accidentally finds a circular pit which he was undoubtedly meant to fall into. The narrator

then falls asleep and when he awakes he finds a pitcher of water lying beside him. It is

drugged and causes him to fall into a very deep sleep. When he awakes, he finds himself

in the dungeon still, but now it is lighted and he is strapped down with only his head and

left arm free so he could feed himself from a bowl of meat. Above him, a razor sharp

pendulum is swinging back and forth and lowering with each pass. To escape death, the

narrator, at the last minute, covers his wrappings in what meat is left. As the rats in the

dungeon eat the meat they also chew through the narrator's bindings, freeing him. Once

his cap...

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the torture, just simply observing it.

In conclusion, it is quite obvious how Poe uses descriptive language to convey the desired

feelings unto the reader. Through an abundant use of detailed descriptions, elevated and specific

word choice, the use of a first person narrator, and his single effect, Poe can relay any type of

feeling he wants onto the reader.

Bibliography:

Bibliography

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Pit and the Pendulum" Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan

Poe. New York: Pocket Books, 1951. 296-312

Readings on Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. Bruno Leone. New York: Greenhaven Press, 1998.

Poe, Essays and Reviews. Ed. G.R. Thompson. New York: Literary Classics of the

United States, 1984.

Patterson, Arthur Paul. "The Pit and the Pendulum- From Death to Rebirth" .

http://www.watershed.winnipeg.mb.ca/popitnpendulum.html