Poe's Short Stories Edgar Allan Poe

In "The Philosophy of Composition," Edgar Allan Poe describes a credible set of short and simple guidelines regarding the structure of a great literary work. These procedures may seem insignificant and useless to experienced writers. On the other...

In his stories "Ligea," "Berenice," and "The Fall of the House of Usher," Poe shows a series of women in transit. All the women are in transit between death and life. The fact that this path is not one-way emphasizes the flux. More immediately,...

In his essay entitled "The Philosophy of Composition," Poe writes, "the death...of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world, and equally is it beyond doubt that the lips best suited for such topic are those of a...

The very first lines of Poe's "The Man of the Crowd" imply that this is a secretive story by nature, for Poe suggests that this particular narrative may not "permit itself to be read" (p.1561). The story itself takes on a responsibility...

Although "hardboiled" narratives became a popular literary genre in the early- to mid-twentieth century, these writers were not the first to create characters and stories in this genre. Early creators of the tough detective were preceded by the...

Edgar Allen Poe created an interesting paradigm surrounding his theory on cosmic principle. He sees the universe as God's artistic creation dispersed among humankind. Artists, namely poets, bring together the universe by breaking free of their...

The Tell-Tale Heart and the Black Cat

Overwhelming obsession and guilt often lead to deadly consequences. In "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat," Edgar Allan Poe presents us with two men who each commit brutal murders motivated by...

Edgar Allan Poe is known for his thrilling tales of madmen, cunning murderers, and intense, claustrophobic situations. "The Cask of Amontillado" is one such tale. From the very beginning of the story, the narrator's unreliable nature shines...

Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘Ligeia’ is one of the most simultaneously celebrated and contested of all his works. In scholarship, there is debate over many facets of the tale, including the sanity and reliability of the narrator, the cause of Rowena’s...

A recurring plot point in Edgar Allan Poe’s short horror stories, doppelgängers allow Poe to delve deep into characters’ consciences, enabling the reader to grasp the contrasting duality of human nature. This theme appears in Poe’s “William Wilson...

In modern society, “corruption” connotes financial bribery, dishonest proceedings, or underhanded deals in business or politics. The perpetrators might waste others’ money and will supposedly suffer emotionally, but Romantic literature points out...

Comparisons of Edgar Allen Poe’s two Gothic tales, “Ligeia” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”, reveal a volume of similarities and some notable differences. From characters, language, settings, literary approach, even plot devices, “Ligeia” and...

The literary compositions of Edgar Allan Poe, especially his short stories of terror based on supernatural or psychological manifestations, continue to be highly praised by a select group of readers who relish the dark, nightmarish worlds of human...

Gothic architecture thrived during the high and late medieval period. The upper echelons of the feudal system were so impressed by the looming cathedrals that they had their castles built in the same Gothic style. These castles are striking yet,...

His name is the subject of countless English teacher puns. His face can be seen on everything from nerdy coffee mugs to hipster tote bags. His work is on every list of great American poetry, not to mention countless summer reading lists. But does...

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” features a unique symbolism of the repression of homosexual desire and of the damaging effects of a society that promotes repressive behavior. This short story details the process of imprisoning that...

As an aspiring Southern gentleman, Edgar Allan Poe longed for the glamour of fame and wealth, prominence and prosperity. To gain this through his writing, Poe understood that he must be able to sell his writing to make money, but he also must...

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”, published in 1844, proves to be a cautionary tale of the repression of guilt. The story is told through the perspective of Montresor, a man who is deeply insulted by his ‘friend’ Fortunato. Montresor...

“Ligeia”, published in 1838 by Edgar Allan Poe, describes the tale of a narrator who is deeply enthralled by his own imagination and thoughts and is submersed in the act of escaping reality. This cautionary tale warns readers about the dangers of...

Dr. James Knoll, a forensic psychiatrist, says, “The paranoia exists on a spectrum of severity. ... Many perpetrators are in the middle, gray zone where psychiatrists will disagree about the relative contributions of moral failure versus mental...

Edgar Allan Poe’s unusually common usage of orangutans in his short stories is no secret. In The Murders of the Rue Morgue, the orangutan turns out to be the murderer who deprived Madame L’Espanaye and her daughter of their lives. Its actions are...

As the narrator of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” thinks to himself when he is unnerved by the sight of the story’s titular house, “while, beyond doubt, there are combinations of very simple natural objects which have the power...

According to the psychoanalyst Carl Jung, ‘man is an enigma to himself’.[1] In his seminal work The Undiscovered Self, Jung notes how man’s world revolves around what he believes himself to be, what he thinks is right and what he believes he is...

Edgar Allen Poe is, perhaps, the most popular Gothic author in American history. Many of his stories show the darker side of humanity and provoke a sense of eeriness in the reader. But what exactly makes his stories creepy or uncanny? To answer...