Analyzing Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe In the course of his short career as writer, Edgar Allan Poe wrote numerous literary pieces, a majority of which were compiled into books only after his death. Poe published only one novel, in 1838, titled "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym" and many books of poetry, with the most popular being "The Raven and Other Poems," published in 1845. His chief source of income was, editing magazines and writing.

The modern world recognizes him among the foremost American novelists/poets to establish himself as a key figure in the literary world (E-notes). Despite his fairly short literary career, Poe dominated the mid-19th century in short story-writing. The era was marked by a shift from legendary tales to short stories. The writer was known for his experiments with multiple genres and writing styles, including satire, science fiction, gothic fiction, and occult fantasies.

In addition, he has, to his credit, the honour of creating the detective story genre in the former half of the 1840s, with his "Tales of Ratiocination" (E-notes). Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's Writings The Academy of American Poets claims that Poe's contributions to the poetry, literary criticism, and editing fields profoundly impacted American as well as global literature. His tales are a testimony to the fact that he was among the first writers to publish detective fiction and horror stories.

A number of anthologies consider him the inventor of the short story genre. Furthermore, Poe is considered among the foremost critics to concentrate chiefly on the impact- Structure and Style has, on literary pieces. He is also recognized as one of the forerunners to the "art for art's sake" movement. Poe first introduced the phrase "Tale of Ratiocination" in his stories "The Purloined Letter" and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." However, the detective in his stories is not the only one to ratiocinate.

The author does not permit the reader to simply relax and wait for the story to unfold -- they are drawn into the ratiocination process, as well. A 'Poe' tale drags readers into the adventure, where they apply their individual powers of reasoning and deduction, and solve the case together with the detective. The above concept is now a key prerequisite of the detective fiction genre.

All stories of the genre should provide clues to the detective (and, hence, to the reader) in the course of the story so that, in the end, readers can turn back the pages, re-read the clues provided, and realize the fact that they could have cracked the mystery, too. Hence, Poe presented a key aspect of the detective fiction genre to the literary world -- furnishing readers with clues -- and started intoducing several other standard elements of the present-day form of the genre (Cliff Notes).

Poe is infamous for his chilling tales of horror and suspense. A distinctive characteristic of this 19th century writer's work was his strategic development of dark and sinister moods in his tales, using dark and intricate language, considerable implementation of the Gothic genre and the continuous, ominous threat of suffering or doom. Poe's word choice is not only rather difficult, but haunting as well.

For instance, in one of his short stories titled "Ligeia," Poe writes "The gloomy and dreary grandeur of the building, the almost savage aspect of the domain, the many melancholy and time-honored memories connected with both, had much in unison with the feelings of utter abandonment which had driven me into that remote and unsocial region of the country." The author effectively composes entire narratives using terms that have horrific definitions.

Rare words such as "phantasmagoric," were used cleverly by Poe in stories like "Ligeia" and "The Fall of the House of Usher" leaves readers wondering,,and eventually coming to a conclusion that they, perhaps, mean something very dreadful (NetEssays).

Additionally, Poe tends to compose sentences that build on themselves, and liberally puts dashes and commas, as evidenced by the following sentence from The Pit and the Pendulum: "It conveyed to my soul the idea of revolution - perhaps from its association in fancy with the burr of a mill wheel." This affords the author a chance to explore a thought further, within the same sentence. Most tales written by Poe use the first person.

Further, the narrator typically experiences some form of intellectual breakdown, making it necessary to look at his thoughts intimately. Further, Poe's use of commas contributes to the tale's suspense, which is crucial to horror stories, since it generates an atmosphere of fear with regard to what is going to happen.

Deceleration of dialogue using commas (for instance, "Yet, for a while, I saw; but with how terrible an exaggeration! I saw the lips of the black-robed judges" (The Pit and the Pendulum)) leaves readers hanging momentarily, until the diction is interrupted with "I saw; but with how terrible an exaggeration! I saw" (NetEssays). Poe's work has numerous typical, unique characteristics. For example, death of a member of the fairer sex occurs in multiple stories.

This may be ascribed to Poe's own life experience -- the premature death of his mother due to tuberculosis. Another repetitive theme in the author's tales is dead characters' reanimation. For instance, in "The Tell-Tale Heart," a dead man's heartbeat is supposedly heard by the narrator, while in the "Fall of the House of Usher" Madeline comes back to life (NetEssays). The writer introduces the concept of double or evil personality in "William Wilson" and "The Cask of Amontillado" --among the finest stories written by Poe, which nearly escape classification.

A powerful kinship exists, to the psychopaths depicted in "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart." Nevertheless, significant differences may be observed. The stories feature among fewer tales whose narrator is identified by a definite name. William Wilson's narrator claims the name he goes by is a fake one, as his true identity would shock the reader. However, in case of "The Cask of Amontillado," which does indeed involve a double, identity is hardly of any relevance. Hence, a false name is as good qs any name..