The narrator proceeds to ask the raven a series of questions to which the raven only responds "nevermore," driving the man mad with its lack of answers. The poem ends presumably with the raven still sitting on the bust in the man's house. The questions the man asks are all purposely self-deprecating and demonstrate a strong loneliness that exists in him. This possibly represents Poe trying to relieve himself of some guilt and loneliness. Also, the narrator begins the poem as weak and weary, but becomes so grief-stricken that he ends in madness much like Poe at the end of his life. When a person's life is dark, it is expected that their creative works will be dark as well, and Poe certainly fits this belief. One of Poe's most famous stories is "The Cask of Amontialldo." The story is about a man, Montresor, who plans on killing his friend Fortunato over an unnamed insult. Montresor lures Fortunato into his trap by telling him he thinks he has a "pipe" of Amontialldo in his mansion's catacombs and would like his friend's opinion on the matter. After an exhausting trip through the catacombs in which Montressor has already gotten Fortunato drunk, Montressor tells Fortunato that the Amontialdo is right ahead. Unsuspecting and drunk, Fortunato goes forward where Montressor chains him up without much effort. Then, as Fortunato screams for help, Montressor is delighted as he entombs his friend with a stonewall, knowing no one will hear his screams. At the end of the story, it is revealed that it is now fifty...
If nothing else, this story illustrates Poe's immense sense of the macabre in that he caused one character to entomb another over a seemingly minimal confrontation. This work, one of Poe's greatest, will live on in infamy if for nothing else other than the fact that Montressor's motivation will remain a mystery -- just as Poe felt as though he was not understood or appreciated in much of his life, no one will truly understand or appreciate the action of this story.
Edgar Allan Poe: The Man of the Crowd On page 164 of class's anthology there is a work by Edgar Allan Poe entitled "The Man of the Crowd." What interests me about this work is the way that Poe deals with the horror or loneliness and isolation that is so much a part of humanity. In this connection, the question that I want to research is whether this loneliness is really
Both stories told of men who dared to escape their fate, whether it was inevitable death from a plague or the dire consequences of his action, these men seek means to remove themselves from their environment and distance themselves from their actions. Prince Prospero used his wealth as a shield, and he honestly thought he managed to bar Death from his gates. Death cannot be and will never be denied.
After his mother died in 1811, Poe became a ward of John Allan, a wealthy Richmond merchant. The Allan family lived in the United Kingdom from 1815 to 1820 before returning to Richmond. In 1826, Poe enrolled at the University of Virginia. He had to drop out later due to a gambling debt he could not afford to pay. His first book was published in 1827 and three years
Another Poe classic short story entitled the Tell Tale Heart also displayed his unique way of gaining the attention of the reader by use of dark and gloomy descriptions. This story is about going mad and losing one's mind. Poe may have really experienced this process as this story definitely takes a personal tone. The reader cannot help to feel the chaotic feelings that madness brings when grasping the Poe's
Watson, and his several forays into the real world to solve mysteries that confounded others. In this regard, Magistrale reports that, "Dupin solves crimes in part from his ability to identify with the criminal mind. He is capable of empathizing with the criminal psyche because Dupin himself remains essentially isolated from the social world" (21). In fact, Dupin also has a "sidekick" who serves as his narrator. According to
Poe and Detective Fiction Edgar Allan Poe's Influence on Detective Fiction While many people do not relate Edgar Allan Poe with detective fiction and is best known for his tales of the grotesque and macabre, Poe is in fact the father of modern detective fiction. Through his mystery stories, which include "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," "The Mystery of Marie Roget," and "The Purloined Letter," Poe was able to establish a
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