The Literary Works of Edgar Allen Poe

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the themes of death and horror are explicitly expressed in Poe's story, "The Cask of Amontillado" and how, similarly, artistic expression of the same themes is illustrated in his poems, "The Bells" and "The Haunted Palace." The author posits that, in these literary works, the themes of death and horror are contained, and what makes these works distinct from Poe's other works is that it represents two symbols of "truths" about human nature. It looks at how the theme of horror is illustrated by the protagonist's or Voice's (in the case of the poems) descent towards insanity, while the theme of death is best represented by the commitment of murder or simply a depiction of the individual's effort to conceal or escape his insanity through death.

From the Paper:

"His mastery of the horror and mystery genre allowed Poe to create literary works that have, interestingly, symbolically represented the fears of humanity tales and poems of horror that depict death, nightmares, and ultimately, the descent towards insanity, an outright escape from the realities of the world. Indeed, the correlation between death and horror is embedded in almost every tale and poem Poe creates for his audience. Ultimately, horror is presented as a precursor to death, a progression from the self-realization about the truth of the nature of one's self towards seeking refuge in death in order to escape this "truth.""

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