The visible structure of the text contains no chapters or sections, but is structured using only paragraphs. One reason why Poe may have done this was to not only make the story follow and to read more easily, but this story is not written as a story. It is titled, “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar,” and is the narrator’s account of results of an experiment. Chapters and sections are usually used to establish a pace within the text, to switch settings or to switch to another character’s point of view. In this story, besides the few lines said by M. Valdemar such as “yes; asleep now. Do not wake me! – let me die so!” the narrator is the only one talking (Poe 4). Also, the setting does not change within the story. It makes sense for this
The use of metaphor is essential to my thesis. Throughout the story particularly through pages 4, 5, and 6 the term “sleep-waker” is used six times. This term is defined as a state of mesmeric sleep; a state of altered consciousness. In Valdemar’s case his state was between life and death. However, I argue that when Valdemar was “successfully” placed in a “perfect state of mesmeric trance,” Valdemar was still dying (Poe 4). When questioned several times by P, Valdemar states, “Yes; - asleep now. Do not wake me! – let me die so!...no pain – I am dying…yes; still asleep – dying” (Poe 4,5). At one point after being placed in the mesmeric state P describes the appearance of Valdemar; his eyes rolling, “the pupils disappearing upward...and the circular hectic spots which, hitherto, had been strongly defined in the centre of each cheek, went out at once. I use this expression, because the suddenness of their departure put me in mind of nothing so much as the extinguishment of a candle by a puff of the breath” (Poe 5). In lights of Poe’s choice of words, I ask, but what is death but the extinguishment of life? An extinguished candle is a metaphor of death. Poe’s words create the metaphorical image of a person who transitions from the dying state to the state of death with a “breath,” death is a moment, a
The story is told through first person allow us see the a deeper insight into the working of the narrator’s mind, allow us to see the madness that pervades the narrator. Poe provides the context that suggest clearly that the narrator is in fact insane. In the beginning the narrator insist that, “TRUE! — NERVOUS — VERY, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?”. (1) The beginning itself, indicates he is crazy due to the need of verifying his own sanity, and tries to convince us of his mental stability. Poe also shows this with the repetitiveness of the narrator’s speech pattern such as, “lantern cautiously-oh so cautiously--cautiously”. (1) All of his insanity is a derivation of the obsession that he wants to rid himself from; the evil eye that “vexed him” making him nervous and
Edgar Allan Poe is an author who wrote many dark poems and stories. The dark sides of people intrigued him. This was evident in his literature. The author creates an eerie tone using personification which contributes to the theme of death in his writing.
The writing style of Edgar Allan Poe shows the writer to be of a dark nature. In this story, he focuses on his fascination of being buried alive. He quotes, “To be buried alive is, beyond question, the most terrific of these [ghastly] extremes which has ever fallen to the lot of mere mortality.” page 58 paragraph 3. The dark nature is reflected in this quote, showing the supernatural side of Poe which is reflected in his writing and is also a characteristic of Romanticism. Poe uses much detail, as shown in this passage, “The face assumed the usual pinched and sunken outline. The lips were of the usual marble pallor. The eyes were lusterless. There was no warmth. Pulsation had ceased. For three days the body was preserved unburied, during which it had acquired a stony rigidity.” page 59 paragraph 2. The descriptive nature of this writing paints a vivid picture that intrigues the reader to use their imagination and visualize the scene presented in the text. This use of imagery ties with aspects of Romanticism because of the nature of the descriptions Poe uses. Describing the physical features of one who seems dead is a horrifying perspective as not many people thing about the aspects of death.
Edgar Allan Poe was a child whose life was riddled with pain from the beginning. By the age of two his father had already fled the house and his mother had died in a circus accident. Then suddenly his life made a change for the good he was adopted by a rich family who cared about him. Edgar’s death though still clouded, by shroudery was apparently caused by the alcohol that he had consumed that fateful night. Alcohol had always left an impression in his life through the good and the bad he was known to be an alcoholic.
Another thing that is key in Poe’s writing that show the time period in which he was writing is the details. The details in this short story include
The traumatic life adversities Edgar Allan Poe has overcome, and experienced in his lifetime are insurmountable. Although these hardships were painful, it were these that helped shaped and establish the sheer horror, fear, and inevitability of death in his stories such as “The Tell Tale Heart”, “Hop Frog”, and “The Masque of The Red Death.”
"The boundaries which divide Life and Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where one ends, and where the other begins?" Edgar Allan Poe, The Premature Burial (Bartlett, 642). To venture into the world of Edgar Allan Poe is to embark on a journey to a land filled with perversities of the mind, soul, and body. The joyless existence carved out by his writings is one of lost love, mental anguish, and the premature withering of his subjects. Poe wrote in a style that characterized the sufferings he endured throughout in his pitiful life. From the death of his parents while he was still a child, to the repeated frailty of his love life, to the neuroses of his later years, his life was a ceaseless continuum of one mind-warping tragedy after another.
Poe’s narration is limiting to his readers because, Poe does not provide specifically if the main character is in contempt or rather yet dreaming of the actions that eventually take place. “The Tell-Tale Heart” can deceive it’s readers and allow their minds to wander rather than presenting the actual ness of the story the way it is worded.
Obviously, all these works we have read by Edgar Allan Poe have been trying to inform readers of something. Unfortunately, for almost two centuries, people who read and even analyze Poe have failed to understand what Poe was trying to get them to learn. That is, until now. The craft elements everyone knows were used by Poe when he wrote his stories were used to create a universal theme, that is: Death is unavoidable, and it can only be quickened, not lengthened. Of course, Poe’s use of symbolism and allusion can help people understand this, as can his metaphors and irony.
There are important distinctions between our experience of dreams and reality. In a dream, one mainly feels and observes without reasoning and also does not process thoughts logically. The reality, however, provides the ability to reason rationally and precisely doubt what can be viewed as superficial. However one can often fail to separate reality from dreams for between them lies an unbelievably miniscule line. Blinded by the desire to transform those dreams into a concrete reality, one can unmistakably be trapped in world unreservedly gone awry. In Edgar Allan Poe’s lyric and vivid poem, “The Sleeper”, the speaker is trapped in his own contorted mind and is having difficulties distinguishing reality from imagination. In this ballad, the readers are introduced to a man who he is plagued with the death of lover and after a number of years comes to terms with his loss. Love, memory and beauty are the ones cherished by the speaker for they can last beyond death and into the afterlife.
Death can both be a painful and serious topic, but in the hands of the right poet it can be so natural and eloquently put together. This is the case in The Sleeper by Edgar Allan Poe, as tackles the topic of death in an uncanny way. This poem is important, because it may be about the poet’s feelings towards his mother’s death, as well as a person who is coming to terms with a loved ones passing. In the poem, Poe presents a speaker who uses various literary devices such as couplet, end-stopped line, alliteration, image, consonance, and apostrophe to dramatize coming to terms with the death of a loved one.
Throughout Edgar Allan Poe’s life he experienced many things. Those experiences have shaped how he wrote and what he wrote about. Poe’s stories like “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Black Cat”, “The Masque of the Red Death”, and “The Fall of the House Usher” have been about death. These stories also include symbolism of death, a mood of fear, illness, foreshadowing, and conflict. During Poe’s life people died all around him. The most devastating was his mother, sister, Mrs. Allan, and his wife, Virginia from tuberculosis. Poe wrote about what his life was about, heartbreak and death.
The narrator plans everything well and is extremely careful going along with the argument of his sanity. Poe writes “And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it-oh so gently!”(Poe 81) He peaked into the old man’s room carefully for seven straight nights with his lantern and on the eighth night he was even more careful. He says “Never before that night I felt the extent of my own powers - of my sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph.” (Poe 82) Showing his arrogance. But he accidentally woke up the old man. And Poe writes “ I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a muscle.” (Poe
To begin, Poe uses symbolism and descriptive imagery throughout his stories and short poems to present the overall theme of death and madness. In the poem, “The Raven”, when describing the bird that enters the room imperiously and holds domain over the reader, Poe states, “And his eyes have all the
Edgar Allan Poe was a man who unfortunately was born into a life full of morbidity and grief. The stories and poems that he created reflect the experience he has with agonizing situations, in which Poe’s dark side developed; his evil reasoning and twisted mentality allowed Poe to develop extremely vivid and enthralling stories and works. Due to not only his family members but also his wifes to passing from tuberculosis, morbidity and grief is present in almost every work that Poe created. From major works such as “the Raven”, “Black Cat”, “Annabel Lee”, and the Tell- Tale Heart, Poe utilized themes such as death, premature burials, body decompositions, mourning, and morbidity to enhance his point an the image he attempted to convey.