Imagery In The Cask Of Amontillado By Edgar Allan Poe

Why are Edgar Allan Poe’s works so poignant and heavy when read? Poe uses a variety of literary devices to convey what he wants to the reader, but imagery is the most impactful of them all. He allows the readers to step into his stories and permits them to feel as they have been taken into the story. Poe’s portrayal of tragedies and dark stories in his works such as “The Black Cat,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” and “The Cask of Amontillado” depends mainly on his use of one artistic tool, imagery. Each of these three stories explores tragedies or either dark, twisted characters that make some inhumane decisions for some reason or another. Now with the understanding of what tool Poe uses to make his writings more impactful, “The Cask of

“The Masque of the Red Death” is a short tale about a king who rules a dominion plagued with a disease called the red death. The Prince decides to build a fortress that will hold many of his closest friends and relatives and keep the disease out. The castle in which the Prince and all of his closest friends are inside of, is a magnificent fortress that is lavish and decorated with a variety of colors for each apartment. Poe explains, “That at the eastern extremity was hung, for example, in blue—and vividly blue were its windows.” In this quote, the use of imagery describes the first of seven apartments that hold guests for balls and entertainment. In addition, the last of the seven apartments described is a black room that in itself symbolizes the red death. In this room stands a clock that clangs every hour and when the clock begins to clang. Everything in the fortress seems to stop while the clock clangs. Poe describes the clocks clang very vividly, to set the mood of the seventh room and what it is like. Poe states “Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang.” This example of imagery uses the hearing sense, and it helps the reader understand the mood of the room. Poe wants this room to be creepy, dark, and scary and conveys that clearly through the use of

“The Black Cat” is a short story about a man is dealing with alcohol problems, which cause him to lose his temper more frequently. One of the first cases of the man’s lashing out happens towards the beginning of the story. The man returns home, very intoxicated, and proceeds to cut one of the cat’s eyeballs out. Poe states “I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket!” The use of deep description by Poe in this instance allows the reader to fully imagine the actions done by the man to the cat. He gives many small details like “grasped the poor beast by the throat,” to really readers to see what he wants them to. Additionally, as the story moves forward, the man is not done with the cat. He then proceeds to murder the cat he has already cut an eye out of. Poe explains “One morning, in cold blood, I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree.” Poe paints a striking picture for the reader to see, and to feel the full impact of the action taken in the story.

To sum up, the use of imagery by Edgar Allan Poe in his stories results in his stories being very poignant. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Poe describes the catacombs