Edgar Allan Poe was born January 19, 1809. Many consider him to be the master of mystery and horror. He only lived until he was forty, and during that time he endured a lot of hardships. For one, every woman he ever cared for ended up dead, usually by the dreaded tuberculosis. That included his wife Virginia. The men in his life who were supposed to be there to guide him, well, they were not there. I think that helped him write a lot of his dark and macabre stories. His most famous work is The Raven, a narrative poem that was first published in January 1845. He also wrote other highly regarded short stories such as, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Tell- Tale Heart, and The Black Cat. I will be doing my review on the latter of the three.
The Black Cat is a short story written in the first person. The narrator, a man, who never gives his name is already in prison and awaiting death from the onset of the story. He tells us the story of how he went from being a gentlemen and a loving husband to a murderer. First, he tells us about his cat, Pluto, and how he gauged one of its eyes out in an alcohol fueled rage He eventually kills his cat simply because it had loved him. In a weird twist, the narrator finds another cat that looks very much like Pluto. At first he was smitten with the cat, but slowly began to feel an immense hatred for the creature. In a fit of rage he tries killing the cat with an axe. His wife intervenes, and in turn, she is the one who receives the death blow to the head. He tries hiding his deed, but the cat ends up giving him away when the police come calling.
Edgar Allan Poe depicts his narrator in the story as a man who is believed to be mad. The narrator assures that he is sane and that...
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...do not mess with black cats. Okay, not really. I did think that the cat being the one that gave away the narrator was the perfect ending. Man being outsmarted by feline.
I do believe this was well written story. I will readily admit, I am not the brightest when it comes to genres. Whether it be in literature or music, I just kind of go with what I like. So, I do apologize if the genre labels I use are incorrect. I feel like this story falls into the psychological thriller genre, and of course the horror genre. I would recommend this story to anybody who is not bothered by graphic imagery. Also, I do not think I would call it old English, but the story is definitely presented in a much more fancy style. If you like that, then this story if for you.
Works Cited
Poe, Edgar Allan. Tales of Mystery and Imagination. Wordsworth Classics: London, 1995. Print.
Edgar Allen Poe had a very complicated life from his birth. To begin with Edgar was born on January 19, 1809. (Britannica, 2013) In the meantime his father disappeared. Yet no one knows what ever happened to him. Then at age two he went on tour with his mother where he watched her die. (Britannica, 2013) To be more specific she kept spiting up blood and soon died of Tuberculoses. Afterwards Edgar was adopted by Frances and John Allan.
Edgar Allan Poe lived a very horrifying life. In his early childhood, his father left and his mother died when he was only three years old. He would write poetry on the back of newspapers, then later published some of his most famous works and became a literary sensation. Some stories Poe wrote are, The Tell Tale Heart and The Raven. By the age of 13, Poe had written enough stories that he could’ve published his own book. Edgar Allen Poe’s stories are
Poe was a very experienced author of unique tales. He was born on January 19, 1809 and died on October 7, 1849. He had a dark life growing up because his mother, foster mother, and his wife died from tuberculous. His father abandoned him and his foster father disliked him. This background may have greatly influenced his work. He wrote 70 poems and 66 short stories during his lifetime. Poe has written many Gothic horror stories. “The Tell Tale Heart,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” show these similarities.
Edgar Allan Poe was born January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. After his father left and his mother passed away, he lived with John and Frances Allan. He would write poetry on the back of John’s business papers. Poe went to the University of Virginia where he went into debt for gambling to cover the cost of his schooling. When he was kicked out of the university he enrolled at West Point and that’s when he truly committed to writing poetry again. He earned the nickname Father of the Detective Story when he wrote the first detective story, The Murders in the Rue Morgue. In 1845, Poe became a sensation when he published The Raven. He mysteriously died on October 7, 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland (biography.com).
Known for his mystery, macabre and detective fiction genre, Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most remembered poets of all time. Usually when people think of him, mind images of premature burials, murders, madmen, and mysterious women who are taken back from pure death like some zombie-like creatures comes to mind. In 1809, Edgar was born the second son out of three, two of which became actors. After the death of his mother and father at the age of three, John and Francis Allan raised him in Virginia. Edgar was sent to the best boarding schools and later on attended the University of Virginia where he was successfully academic. He was forced to leave due to refusement to pay his gambling debts. In 1827, he moved back to Boston and enlisted in the United States Army where his first poems titled Tamerlane, and Other Poems were published.
Edgar Allan Poe, born January 19, 1809, was an American poet, widely known for his literature and his belonging toward Romanticism. Born in Boston, he was soon orphaned after the abandonment of his father and death of mother between 1810-1811. In 1827, Poe released his first book, “Tamerlane and Other Poems”. This was not the only one, however, for he released several other books before the death of his older brother in 1831. After his brother’s death, Poe made the decision to become a writer.
Edgar Allan Poe was an extraordinary writer well known for his demise poems. He was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe’s poems are full of emotion like romance, drama, and, death Very, this emotions can be seen in Poe’s life. A great example of this is the poem "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe it was published instantly after his mysterious death in 1849. “Annabel Lee” is a mysterious and sad poem, that leads to Poe’s favorite theme, the death of a beautiful young woman. The romance, the sorrow, and the death of beautiful women can all be found in Poe’s life.
The love that we have for our pets in today's society has turned into a nationwide spending frenzy. The last meow is a short story written by Burkhard Bilger, The last meow follows a man named Shawn Levering and the conflicts he goes through while trying to save his cat’s life. Shawn Levering faces a difficult situation on deciding whether or not he's willing to pay the 15,000 dollar price tag for the surgery. This situation leaves readers thinking about how far they are willing to go to save their pet's life.The love for our pets has gotten out of control because in today’s society we are treating animals better than some humans are treated. Pet owners are out spending money on unnecessary luxury items for animals while there is people who
“Black Cat” is about a narrator and his tribulations with animals, cats in particular with this work. The short story starts out with the narrator telling
Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Black Cat immerses the reader into the mind of a murdering alcoholic. Poe himself suffered from alcoholism and often showed erratic behavior with violent outburst. Poe is famous for his American Gothic horror tales such as the Tell-Tale Heart and the Fall of the House of Usher. “The Black Cat is Poe’s second psychological study of domestic violence and guilt. He added a new element to aid in evoking the dark side of the narrator, and that is the supernatural world.” (Womack). Poe uses many of the American Gothic characteristics such as emotional intensity, superstition, extremes in violence, the focus on a certain object and foreshadowing lead the reader through a series of events that are horrifying and grotesque. “The Black Cat is one of the most powerful of Poe’s stories, and the horror stops short of the wavering line of disgust” (Quinn).
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809. His first book was published in 1827. In 1829 Al Aaraaf Tamerlane, and Minor Poems, Poe's second book was published. Poe became the editor of The Southern Literary Messenger in 1834 after his lawyer persuaded them to publish some of his stories and make him an editor. During this time his mark on American Literature began. Three of Poe's well-known stories are “The Cask of Amontillado”, which was published in 1846, “The Tell-Tale Heart, which was published in 1843, and “The Pit and the Pendulum”, which was published in 1842. In these three stories like most of Poe's stories they deal with the deep, dark, psychological side of the human brain. In Poe's short stories “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Pit and the Pendulum”, Poe use three common motifs; death, fear or terror, and madness.
Poe's narrator sees that he is a Master with good powers of observation.” There are some psychological issues with the narrator, there are instances where the narrator tells the reader if they think he is a mad man. “Why will you say I am mad” (Poe) the narrator is empathizing that as the reader, they are the ones who are wrong. The narrator believes that he is right; therefore, the heart beating and the eye watching him proves to him that he is not psychotic. While as the reader, they know that him murdering an innocent old man based upon his eye is in fact
The story revolves around a man and his cat that loves him very devoutly. At the start of the story he is very fond of his loving companion the cat, Pluto. The cat's love for his master eventually becomes Pluto's demise. The cat would follow its master's every move. If the narrator moved the cat was at his feet, if he sat Pluto would clamor to his lap. This after a while began to enrage the narrator. He soon found himself becoming very irritable towards Pluto and his other pets. One night he came home "much intoxicated" and he grabbed Pluto. Pluto bit his hand and this sent him into a rage. "The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame"(Poe 103). At this point he seems to have lost it. This description is not that of someone of sane mindset. His soul taking flight from his body appears to be symbolic for the loss of his rational thought. The fury of a demon gives you the imagery of something not human. Poe takes every opportunity to use the narrator, and the point of view, to give you insight into the mind of the madman. He uses eloquent imagery and symbolism to further your understanding of the main character's rational.
The short story the “Black Cat” begins with the narrator of the story telling his side of events that have occurred throughout his life. When first being introduced to the narrator you can tell something is off with him. The narrator is originally a well-put together man he has a wife and many of different animals but has a much greater love for one of his animals named Pluto a black cat. As the life of the narrator goes on he falls into a drinking problem he cant stop drinking and when he does drink he gets violent. One night when
Edgar Allan Poe wrote that the single effect was the most important aspect of a short story, which everything must contribute to this effect. Poe’s gothic tale “The Black Cat” was written trying to achieve an effect of shocking insanity. In this first person narrative the narrator tells of his decline from sanity to madness, all because of an obsession with two (or possibly one) black cats. These ebony creatures finally drive him to take the life his wife, whose death he unsuccessfully tries to conceal.