Edgar Allan Poe Literary Influences On The Tell Tale Heart

Many authors’ literary works are often influenced by their own personal experiences. Among these authors we find Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809. His parents were David and Elizabeth Poe. He had one brother and a sister. After his father’s abandonment and his mother’s death Poe was separated from his siblings and was adopted by the Allan’s, which is why he then changes his name, after this he went to school but had to quit because of a drinking problem. Due to his drinking problem he also was kicked out of the army. During the following years he wrote poems and shorts stories, some were more successful than others. He finally died in Baltimore on October 7, 1849. Poe is perhaps the best known American Romantic who wrote in the Gothic mode. His stories are usually dark, dealing with the macabre, the supernatural, and the horrifying. Some of his popular works are the “Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Raven.” Throughout Poe’s poems and stories the theme of death is always present. He found inspiration in a world of disorder, perversity, and romantic emotion and used it in his stories and poems. In “The Raven” he uses alliteration, anaphora, and image. In the short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” Poe …show more content…
The story begins with a narrator telling the reader he is not insane. He claims that his senses are sharpened and that he hears the sounds in heaven, earth and hell. He concludes that it was not his fault that he committed murder but the old man’s evil eye. He then tells how he observes the old man for several days until the day he finally kills him and buries him under the floorboards of the house. After a neighbor heard a shriek the police showed up to his place and the narrator invited them to go ahead and search the house and then they sit right above the dead body. Everything is going well until the narrator hears the old man’s heart beating rapidly and he confesses to the