Justin Anthony Straggi
Mr. Matthew Kaplan
English IV
17 November 2014
Edgar Allan Poe’s Themes, Techniques, and Styles
Typical, Hackneyed Introduction that will put MK to sleep. Introduces something involving Poe’s eclectic amalgamation of detective novels, dark poetry, satires, comedy, and reviews. Justin Anthony is too lazy to do this right now so he will refrain, thus potentially annoying MK. Yawn.
A recurring technique in Poe’s stories is enclosed environments. He tends to confine his protagonists in isolated settings to force them to feel intensely alone. The characters are often solitarily restricted from others and face a world that is strictly physical. According to Shear, the natures of the surroundings usually serve as catalysts …show more content…
Dark Romanticism revolved around man’s inability to discover the truth of the universe. Stylistically, Poe emits these points by creating vividly isolated and mysterious landscapes. In his poetry, the beauty of nature is either “beyond grasp or manifests and disappears suddenly like a shooting star.” This helplessness causes the poet to forever be left in a period of intense torment, as he or she agonizes over the fact that there is no possibility of finding out the absolute truth and harmony of the universe. In “The Lake To,” Poe kindles an extremely threatening landscape that is dark and isolated. The description of the wild environment “conveys a mood of melancholy, loneliness, and isolation.” All of the feelings portrayed by the environment reflect the Dark Romanticism style of a cursed poet, unable to shake off a pessimistic view of the world around him or her. The poet strives to obtain an image of intense beauty, but the vision fades before the poet is able to emit and image of pulchritude. In “Al Araaf,” the narrator of the poem focuses all of his energy on a wondering star, hoping to form an intense image of supernatural beauty. Although there is a possibility that the narrator might be able to achieve an image of ideality through his imagination, the vision disappears, like a shooting star, before the poet could explain the vision …show more content…
The view of nature, according to Dark Romanticisms, is “inscrutable, mysterious, and deformed.” Poe reaffirms this point by stating, “the fair face of Nature was deformed as with the ravages of some loathsome self” (qtd.in Lei). The bizarre world causes problems to the main character’s mind, and thus increases his fear of the events that are about to occur. This could be seen in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” where the readers are immediately confronted with an extremely gloomy landscape. The gloomy and oppressive image continues throughout the entire story, as the bizarre landscape increases to highlight the deformity of the events occurring. The dilapidated mansion forms a symbolic image of a bizarre landscape that reflects the withered mind of Roderick. The landscape mirrors the incomprehensible experience of the narrator, and reflects the narrator’s completely misleading perspective. This bizarre landscape is further shown in Usher’s own poem, “The Haunted Palace,” which plagues a beautiful landscape garden with haunting laughter, thus reflecting the derangement of the characters in the story. The bizarre landscape emits a mysterious image and allows Poe to masterfully fabricate vividly horrific works of fiction that leave his reader’s in complete and utter fear
Mr. Matthew Kaplan
English IV
17 November 2014
Edgar Allan Poe’s Themes, Techniques, and Styles
Typical, Hackneyed Introduction that will put MK to sleep. Introduces something involving Poe’s eclectic amalgamation of detective novels, dark poetry, satires, comedy, and reviews. Justin Anthony is too lazy to do this right now so he will refrain, thus potentially annoying MK. Yawn.
A recurring technique in Poe’s stories is enclosed environments. He tends to confine his protagonists in isolated settings to force them to feel intensely alone. The characters are often solitarily restricted from others and face a world that is strictly physical. According to Shear, the natures of the surroundings usually serve as catalysts …show more content…
Dark Romanticism revolved around man’s inability to discover the truth of the universe. Stylistically, Poe emits these points by creating vividly isolated and mysterious landscapes. In his poetry, the beauty of nature is either “beyond grasp or manifests and disappears suddenly like a shooting star.” This helplessness causes the poet to forever be left in a period of intense torment, as he or she agonizes over the fact that there is no possibility of finding out the absolute truth and harmony of the universe. In “The Lake To,” Poe kindles an extremely threatening landscape that is dark and isolated. The description of the wild environment “conveys a mood of melancholy, loneliness, and isolation.” All of the feelings portrayed by the environment reflect the Dark Romanticism style of a cursed poet, unable to shake off a pessimistic view of the world around him or her. The poet strives to obtain an image of intense beauty, but the vision fades before the poet is able to emit and image of pulchritude. In “Al Araaf,” the narrator of the poem focuses all of his energy on a wondering star, hoping to form an intense image of supernatural beauty. Although there is a possibility that the narrator might be able to achieve an image of ideality through his imagination, the vision disappears, like a shooting star, before the poet could explain the vision …show more content…
The view of nature, according to Dark Romanticisms, is “inscrutable, mysterious, and deformed.” Poe reaffirms this point by stating, “the fair face of Nature was deformed as with the ravages of some loathsome self” (qtd.in Lei). The bizarre world causes problems to the main character’s mind, and thus increases his fear of the events that are about to occur. This could be seen in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” where the readers are immediately confronted with an extremely gloomy landscape. The gloomy and oppressive image continues throughout the entire story, as the bizarre landscape increases to highlight the deformity of the events occurring. The dilapidated mansion forms a symbolic image of a bizarre landscape that reflects the withered mind of Roderick. The landscape mirrors the incomprehensible experience of the narrator, and reflects the narrator’s completely misleading perspective. This bizarre landscape is further shown in Usher’s own poem, “The Haunted Palace,” which plagues a beautiful landscape garden with haunting laughter, thus reflecting the derangement of the characters in the story. The bizarre landscape emits a mysterious image and allows Poe to masterfully fabricate vividly horrific works of fiction that leave his reader’s in complete and utter fear