Edgar Allan Poes Writing Essay -- The Raven, The Black Cat, Tell-Tale

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The literary style of Edgar Allan Poe is very dark and has many supernatural connotations. He showed this style in the stories that he wrote such as: The Raven, The Black Cat, and The Tell-Tale Heart. He also wrote many other stories that showed his dark style of writing; however I felt that these stories portrayed his style the best. Many sources think that the reason Poe had such a dark literary style was because of the events that occurred in his life. Some of these events included his father dying, and soon after that his mother died. Many more loved ones' deaths preceded. This put Poe into a state of mind that made him very depressed and some believe that this is where he got his inspiration for his writing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In The Raven, Poe starts off the story with ?Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary.?(Complete 7) This shows how he sets up the setting for the story. This sentence makes you think of a dark lonely night. This is a good example of how Poe?s literary style is dark. Poe also wrote ?Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, and each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow;---vainly I had sought to borrow from books surcease of sorrow---sorrow for the lost Lenore---for the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore---nameless here for evermore? (Complete 7). This is a dark poem of lost love. Whether he was referring to his mother, father or perhaps another loved one is unknown. In the fourth stanza Poe speaks of ?Darkness there, and nothing more?(Complete 8) which allows us to see how alone he must have felt. Later in the story he refers to a bird that is sitti ng above his chamber door. He talks to the bird and gets frustrated with it because all it will ever say to him is ?Nevermore.? You can tell that the narrator is dying to have some kind of social interaction with someone or something but not even the bird will give it to him. He tries to get the bird to leave him alone, but all that the bird does is sit there and continue to say ?Nevermore? (Complete 10). This frustrates him and he says ?Leave my loneliness unbroken! ---quit the bust above the door! Take thy beak out of my heart, and take thy form from off my door! Quoth the Raven, Nevermore.?(Complete 13) He wants to feel sorry for himself and he is sick of the bird repeating to him ?Neve... ...ting style was very dark and sad. In many of his stories there is the death of a loved one or a friend. These stories reflected the real events that happened in Poe?s life. Throughout The Raven, The Black Cat, and A Tell-Tale Heart you can see Poe?s dark style, supernatural influences, and all of the sad thoughts that were running through his mind. Works Cited Edgar?s Childhood. http://www.poedecoder.com/qrisse/allans.html. 3 April 2004 Edgar?s Teens. http://www.poedecoder.com/qrisse/teens.html. 3 April 2004 Hart, Richard. ?The Supernatural in Edgar Allan Poe? E.A. Poe Society of Baltimore. http://www.eapoe.org/papers/psblctrs/p119361.htm. 11 April 2004. Poe, Edgar A. ?The Black Cat.? Litterature: Reading poetry, fiction, and drama. Ed. Robert DiYanni. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2002. 131-137. Poe, Edgar A. ?The Raven.? The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. J.H. Whitty. Houghton, Mifflin and Company. Boston, Mass. New York, N.Y. 1911 Poe, Edgar A. ?The Tell-Tale Heart?. http://www.pambytes.com/poe/stories/heart.html. 12 April 2004. Weston, Debbie. ?The Jingle Man: Edgar Allan Poe.? Monkeyshines on America December 2003. Virginia Issue. Part 1. p25. 2p.