Edgar Allan Poe: Signature of a Genius

Edgar Allan Poe used numerous literary techniques such as irony and other poetic effects to tap into the inner dark side of man and arouse feelings of suspense, vengeance, and melancholy. There are many reasons why Poe’s poetry and short stories appeal to the reader. For instance, it may be that the reader can connect with Poe in the deaths of loved ones. It may be the plot of the stories. Or it may be the psychological relationship that Poe creates between the reader and his literary works.

Eliot proclaims, “As for the prose, it is recognized that Poe’s tales had great influence upon some types of popular fiction” (Eliot 24). The Incredible Adventure of Rider Hoggard was inspired by him. Detective fictions and just about everything else traces to Poe. The Brilliant and Eccentric Amateur originates from him. Poe’s influence, moved other authors to write great stories, yet that still isn’t the end of his greatness.

Borges manipulates fact and fiction in his stories to vividly and clearly describe events that occur in his mysterious novels and to make them seem more captivating. The influence of Jorge Borges’ stories comes from his philosophical mind more than it comes from his previous experiences. He based his stories on his philosophical beliefs that he believed applied most to life’s circumstances. Identity and labyrinths are unfailing topics that can be found in most of Borges’ short stories. Used to represent the unknown, identity and labyrinths are ideal symbolism in mysterious works.

Edgar Allan Poe, the timeless short story writer has exhibited his details of life, fantasy, and his influences of death. With many hardships Poe encountered in his momentary being, his life was dark, mysterious, and agonizing. Poe incorporated these characteristics with his imaginative stories which still impact people today. The experiences he had in his timeline are the source to blame for the mystery of his remarkable works. Poe’s life was already flawed from the beginning.

The reader will write his own story in his head after bearing witness to what transpired. There are many elements and themes that can be utilized to analyze the way that Edgar Allan Poe uses the unreliable narrator. I want to focus on one aspect—love. Tragic love plays a big role in his oeuvre of works, such as in his poetry. Some of his most famous poems include “Lenore” (1843) and “Annabel Lee” (1849).

Some often speculated that Poe derived his unique style of writing from his personal life struggles. His stories are written with deep emotions that make his audience feel a connection and they can create an image of themselves experiencing what is happening in his writing. Poe dedicated most his stories into specific categories which stayed within a genre and those who admire his work are never mistaken for someone else’s. Another American writer, whose writing manifests her life experiences, is Kate Chopin. Chopin is late 19th century writer who used her writing to voice her dissatisfaction of current principles of the time.

Though Poe’s fame did not come in his life time he has truly been an inspiration and his writing style a model for writers today (work – cited poe museum). Analyzing Poe’s work takes time to understand what is happening and why the characters has the motivations for the task they did, this becomes very apparent in Poe’s “most perfect short story”, “The Cask of Amontillado” (work cited – cliff notes). Irony, the literary device that may trick readers into thinking the outcome may be something completely different than what the author has planned (Work Cited – literary device website). Edgar Allan Poe shows off that he is a master of using irony in the short story, “The Cask of Amontillado”. Starting from the very line in a character’s name, Fortunato (Work cited – story).

A bit of Edgar Allan Poe's life had been molded into each piece of his work. This provided his readers and critics with a better understanding of Poe's life. Poe displayed his greatest life's achievements and his worst disappointments in a series of stories and poems created throughout his whole life. It is the goal of this research paper to reveal symbolic facts about Poe?s life and define these hidden parallels in some of his most famous works. Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts (Encyclopedia Britannica 540).

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe began his career as a poet, and collected or corrected poems throughout his career. A quality of enjoyable sounds can be found in poems that readers also consider serious. However, these elements can also exist with themes that are more typical of the Romantic Movement, such as dreams and nightmares Poe handled this through images designed to show undecided states of awareness represented as lakes, seas, waves, and vapors. Nearly all Poe's criticism on poetry was written for the magazines for which he worked. Although the pieces were published occasionally, they reflect a remarkably logical, self-conscious view of poetry and of the creative process.

Edgar Allan Poe was one of the most famous American poets and short story writers during the early 19th century. Poe believed that the audience should be able to read stories in one sitting, which are tightly controlled and highly compressed narrative. These narratives should cover topics that every reader can relate to. Poe’s childhood events plays a drastic role in influencing him to write stories full of suspense. After we analyze some of Poe’s stories, we will come to know that Poe is a master of suspense because of the various techniques he uses in his writing, such as sound effects,ironies,figurative language, different sights, detailed description, unreliable narrator and repetition to create suspense.