Tension and Suspense in Poe's Writing Essay

Like many of Edgar Allan Poe's reads “The Cask of Amontillado” can easily exceed many reader’s idea of an eerie tale. This piece, told through the eyes of someone set on murdering another man who considers the distraught individual a friend of his, really provokes tension, suspense and mystery. These engendered feelings are created by Poe’s use of literary elements such as imagery, foreshadowing and the story’s setting. Although there are countless other causes for the mystery, tension and suspense, the three elements mentioned previously are some of the most pronounced. The most important of every story revolves around the setting, and the setting in this particular piece, imposes a sense of mystery throughout the read. The fact that this…

genre. His influence has inspired countless writers, including Stephen King, to follow the path of this genre he so thoughtfully initiated. In many of Poe’s works, readers will also see considerable amounts of perversion in the narrators that can be off-putting, yet add interest to the story line, as these episodes are not seen in everyday life. Poe’s work is greatly acclaimed for its use of what is known as an unreliable narrator in stories such as The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart.…

Suspense is a vital element to any story, as it creates interest for the reader. There are numerous ways to portray suspense, a few of which are used in W.W. Jacobs' and Edgar Allen Poe's short stories. In the short story, “The Monkey’s Paw,” by W. W. Jacobs, Mr. White and his family receive an enchanted monkey’s paw from Sergeant Morris. They wish for 200 pounds, despite the Sergeant warning them of the consequences of altering fate. The outcome of this is that their son, Herbert, dies, and as…

literature to its potential. The setting in literature has always been essential in the writing of stories to allow readers to be emerged in the world of the story. An author who has excelled in his use of setting in his writing was Edgar Allan Poe. With years of experience in expertly crafting settings in his works, Edgar Allan Poe has been known for being one of the very best at using setting efficiently in his writing. Throughout his works, Poe used his unique skill with setting to further…

into the story by using his writing to portray suspense. Indeed the author Edgar Allan Poe uses his writing to develop anticipation. In the stories “The cask of amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” Poe uses his writing to produce suspense to the reader by using the characters movements, speech, foreshadowing, and irony. Edgar Allan Poe builds suspense in his stories “The cask of amontillado” and in the story “Tell-Tale Heart” by writing and using literary techniques to build tension. In the…

Suspense creates a sense of tension and excitement. In literature, authors tend to use suspense to make the reader feel doubt, uncertainty, and most importantly, anxiety. Aside from withholding information from the readers, or keeping the action intense, these authors are able to use these different techniques to build suspense. Richard Connell and Edgar Allan Poe are such authors. While “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell and “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe both use…

‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ is an American classic of the Gothic fiction, first published in 1843 by Edgar Allen Poe. Poe combines his own lifetime experience of bereavement, human despair and troubled human relationships into one disturbing, yet engaging first-person narrative told by an unreliable narrator. Poe’s use of first-person narration is essential to enlightening the audience as the narrative exemplifies an internal monologue of the disturbing mentality of a man who claims to be “sane.”…

The mood, or atmosphere, of a story helps a reader to have a greater understanding of what he or she is reading. The mood is established by the writer’s tone, which is a reflection of the author’s feeling towards the subject. Edgar Allan Poe was a remarkable American writer from the 19th century who mastered the use of mood and tone. He is widely known for his ominous style of writing, especially in his short story titled “The Masque of the Red Death”. In this story, Poe engenders a mood of…

Short stories that depict suspense draw the readers in and bring anxiety along with suspension into the story. Authors use literary elements to represent the idea that they are trying to point out. In the short story “The Landlady,” by Roald Dahl, Billy Weaver, a young 17 year old man, came across a boarding house named “Bed and Breakfast,” but he didn’t know that it would lead to his death. Although, in the short story by Edgar Allan Poe, "A Tell-Tale Heart," the narrator kills an old man…

You’ll have to go back to the mid 19th century. Edgar Allan Poe was an author and poet who lived in the 1800s. Many credit him as the “father” of detective mystery, the genre of solving murders. One of the big components that make detective mystery stories so interesting is suspense, something Poe used frequently. Edgar Allan Poe used techniques like sentence structure, tone, and unreliable narrator to build suspense in his works. One of the craft elements Edgar Allan Poe uses to create…