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Poetic Style of Edgar Allen Poe
Poetic Style of Edgar Allen Poe
Essay death literature
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We assemble in a cesspool of death waiting on our ultimate judgment. Everyone has their own belief or idea about the hypothesis for the hereafter, yet no one knows the legitimacy of these theories. This is why the majority of people are petrified about dying because the horror of the unknown is frightening to everyone. Yet, with this in mind numerous authors precede to inscribe works of literature about the death of man throughout history. Although these two writings share a common theme their representation and other symbolic references show their differences throughout their writings.
The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague (Poe, 2011). American novelist, poet, editor and critic Edgar Allen Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 19, 1809. Although both of his parents died premature in his life he was able to obtain an education after being taken in by his foster parents John and Francis Allan. Later in his existence Poe attempted to make a living by doing assorted editorships, writing poems, essays and stories. Poe wrote The Masque of the Red Mask in 1842 for Graham’s Magazine (Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, 2011).
The Masque of the Red Mask is an allegorical representation for human existence and its demise. The powerlessness of humans with their inability to elude death is another concept shown throughout this work of literature. “The Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys” (Poe E. , 2011, p. 234). This narra...
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...ure conveyed a theory of life and death even if they did not share the same ideas throughout their writings.
Works Cited
Faulkner, W. (2011). A Rose for Emily. In Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing (pp. 75-81). Upper Saddle River: Pearson College Div.
Faulkner, W. (2011). William Faulkner Quotes . Retrieved 02 22, 2011, from Famous Quotes at BrainyQuote: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/william_faulkner.html
Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. (2011). Upper Saddle River: Pearson College Div.
Poe, E. A. (2011). The boundaries which divide Life. Retrieved 02 22, 2011, from Famous Quotes at BrainyQuote: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/edgarallan403422.html
Poe, E. (2011). The Masque of the Red Death. In Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing (pp. 233-237). Upper Saddle River: Pearson College Div.
Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 12th ed. New York: Pearson, 2013. 549-51. Print.
Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." The Norton Introduction to Literature. By Carl E. Bain, Jerome Beaty, and J. Paul Hunter. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1991: 69-76.
"The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the 'Red Death,'" (209). As Edgar Allen Poe set the scene for his story, he also created an ominous mood and a sense of suspense supported by the setting. He details the fun and amusement inside the prince's abbey, in contrast to the horror and doom outside, and the reader's curiosity is piqued, because such bliss cannot be maintained for long. Throughout the story Poe explicates and changes elaborate environments to build the suspenseful energy and create a strong structure. In "The Masque of the Red Death," setting is employed to organize motives and action, and to focus the reader on the climax. Poe targets the culminating point of his story using rich descriptions of the abbey, the masquerade, and the clock.
Faulkner, William. “A Rose For Emily.” An Introduction to Fiction. 10th ed. Eds: X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New Yorkk: Pearson Longman, 2007. 29-34.
---. "A Rose for Emily." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 5th ed. New York: Harper Collins, 1991.
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 Masque of The Red Death”, is a wonderful illustrator of life, death, and small bits of joy in between. It uses good symbolism through the uses of a clock, seven rooms, the revelers, and a masked figure to represent the whole story. In the end, the story is a the embodiment of everyone's fear, death. The fear can come and of, but will one day seek it vengeance. It is as unavoidable as drinking water and breathing. Death is coming for us all and Edgar Allen Poe captured it
Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “Masque of the Red Death”, is filled with multiple symbols that all take part in expanding the story’s message as an extended metaphor. The story focuses on the inevitability of death and how even wealth is unable to defy its strong hold on us. With his use of the masked figure, different colors, and the ebony clock, each representing something different, Poe uses this story as an allegory.
Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “Masque of the Red Death,” is a rather macabre story about a prince, his kingdom, and a particularly gruesome plague called the Red Death. This story very well written; Poe makes great use of the many literary elements seen in it. Among other literary elements, Poe uses irony, the setting of the story, and allegories to bring “Masque of the Red Death” to life.
In The Masque of the Red Death, Edgar Allan Poe demonstrates through many examples of how characters struggle to free himself/herself from power of others or seeks to gain power over others. Also, through many of the following literary analysis essays, they go along with displaying examples of inevitable power that is overlooked in the short story. In the short story, Poe uses diction and detail to demonstrates that power can be a struggle to be freed from, especially power from people, and even power from things.
“And one by one dropped the revelers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall” (Poe, par. 14). After the mummer kills Prince Prospero, the masqueraders in the abbey perish one by one until the ebony clock runs out and none remain. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Edgar Allan Poe uses the symbolism of the iron fortress, the masque, and the mummer to reveal the theme that man does not have control over their fate, and they cannot run from death.
Faulkner, William. "A Rose For Emily." The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. Ed. Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. 91-99. Print.
2. Peeples, Scott. “Life writing/Death writing: Biographical Versions of Poe’s Final Hours.” Biography, 18.4 (1995): 328-338.
Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Compact 4th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers, 2000. 81 - 88.
In the Masque of the Red Death, Poe utilizes diction of deception, visual imagery, and archetypes to show that even in full awareness, people did not use their resources to help those in need or in other words one can not escape death; however, Poe also utilizes foreshadowing and irony in order to create a mysterious mood;ominous tone in the story. For example, “the presence of the Red Death had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood bedewed halls…...Poe 5)” This portrays the theme of the short story because it shows the reader that no one is capable of escaping death; moreover, Poe also incorporates his superfluous use of diction and visual imagery in order to give the reader a sense of feeling of how it is like to be held in the hands of the plague that haunts the hallways of Prince Prospero.