Edgar Allan Poe Symbolism Essay

Edgar Allan Poe, who is a world known author, was born on 19 January 1809, and died on 7 October 1849, at the age of 40. In his life he published over 60 short stories and poems. As a child there was no consistency with his family life. His mother died of tuberculosis and his father disappeared at the age of 3. Then he moved on to a foster family where his foster mother also died of tuberculosis and he and his foster father did not get along. Later he married his cousin, and she also died of tuberculosis. His childhood is probably the main reason why all of his stories are dull, dark and similar like “The Cask of the Amontillado”, “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “Masque of the Red Death.”
The stories “The Cask of the Amontillado”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, and “The Masque of the Red Death” all have many similarities including that the …show more content…
In “The Fall of the House of Usher” the symbol is the house symbolizing that the family is falling apart. In the story it says, “I looked upon the scene before me—upon the bleak walls—upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain—upon the bleak walls—upon the vacant eye-like windows—upon a few rank sedges—and upon a few white trunks of the decayed trees.” In “The Masque of the Red Death” a symbol is the ebony clock which symbolizes that life is ticking away. In the story it says, “But of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause momentarily in their performance to hearken the sound” In “The Cask of Amontillado” the symbol is Montresor’s crest. In the story it says, “a huge human foot d’or, in a field of azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel,” witch shows that if someone does something bad to him he will get revenge. This shows Poe uses