Debating if a piece of text is literature or not is still a tricky topic in this day and age. The Oxford English Dictionary defines literature as “Written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit” but to really define and classify a text as literature you need to delve deeper, ask more questions and do this with a completely unbiased and open mind. Perhaps no other authors work has been debated in this manner quite as much as Edgar Allan Poe. His short stories, although famous and extremely well known always fall under the debate “Is this really literature?” a debate which the author of this essay believes the answer to be yes.
The word “canon” was developed in the discipline of English in the 1920s and is used …show more content…
to display structure within a text. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Poe uses an excellent metaphor when describing how the crime Montresor committed on Fortunato has not left his conscience in the past fifty years. This is displayed by the description of Montresor’s arms as “A Huge human foot d’or, in a filed azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel” (Poe, 418). The serpent is the crime, and although the crime is done or “dead” it still remains with him or in his …show more content…
How well is it put together, language used, what makes it unique etc. The language used in Poe’s stories although at times difficult to read and even more so to understand, gives his work a certain unique aesthetic quality. Some critics have slammed Poe for his style while others have praised him and have pointed to the fact Poe’s work needs to be observed in terms of his “larger artistic intentions” (Poe, 824). In “The Fall of the House of Usher” for example, the atmosphere the author creates coincides perfectly with the plot of the story. As the narrator approaches the residence it is evening time and a “sense of insufferable gloom pervades” (Poe, 199). Gothic style literature and darkness go hand in hand and it is essential for the narrator the display this vividly in order to set the tone of the story and the mood throughout. This would be considered an aesthetic object of Poe’s stories and it is displayed in all his gothic
The word “canon” was developed in the discipline of English in the 1920s and is used …show more content…
to display structure within a text. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Poe uses an excellent metaphor when describing how the crime Montresor committed on Fortunato has not left his conscience in the past fifty years. This is displayed by the description of Montresor’s arms as “A Huge human foot d’or, in a filed azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel” (Poe, 418). The serpent is the crime, and although the crime is done or “dead” it still remains with him or in his …show more content…
How well is it put together, language used, what makes it unique etc. The language used in Poe’s stories although at times difficult to read and even more so to understand, gives his work a certain unique aesthetic quality. Some critics have slammed Poe for his style while others have praised him and have pointed to the fact Poe’s work needs to be observed in terms of his “larger artistic intentions” (Poe, 824). In “The Fall of the House of Usher” for example, the atmosphere the author creates coincides perfectly with the plot of the story. As the narrator approaches the residence it is evening time and a “sense of insufferable gloom pervades” (Poe, 199). Gothic style literature and darkness go hand in hand and it is essential for the narrator the display this vividly in order to set the tone of the story and the mood throughout. This would be considered an aesthetic object of Poe’s stories and it is displayed in all his gothic