Abstract This paper analyzes the various stories and novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe, with a focus on character development. The paper compares the themes of romantic fate and death within the short stories analyzes the characters to identify how death underlies these tales. The paper then analyzes the theme of romantic fate.
From the Paper "Character Analysis: Comparing the Themes of Romantic Fate and Death within the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe In this literary study, the theme of romantic fate and death in the short stories and novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe will be examined. By analyzing the various theme of death that arise in Poe's "The Cask of the Amontillado" and Hawthorne's "The Birthmark", a character analysis will be brought forth to identify how death underlies these tales. Furthermore, the theme of romantic fate will be presented with a character analysis perspective in Poe's poem "Ligeia" and Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter" and The Scarlet Letter to define love that can never be consummated. In essence, these various literary forms project a character representation of romantic love and death, which abound within the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe."
Abstract The author of this paper examines how Edgard Allan Poe's own life's obstacles influenced and inspired the writing of "The Masque of the Red Death." One specific source of inspiration involves Poe's foster father, John Allan, ignoring Poe's pleas for help in assisting his wife, who was ill with tuberculosis. In the story, the audacity of Prince Prospero holding a ball while the outside world dies can be taken as a symbol that reflects John Allan ignoring Poe's many pleas for assistance. There is no compassion in the prince just as John Allan felt no compassion for Poe. "The Masque of the Red Death" is Edgar Allan Poe's literary way of exposing the truly wicked ways of his enemies and visiting upon them the most horrible punishment he can imagine to serve them justice for their crimes.
From the Paper "Edgar had never forgiven John Allan and despised everything that he had and Edgar did not. This hatred extended from solely John Allan to any wealthy person who was not willing to help or at least acknowledge his own genius. Nathanial Hawthorne was one such person who was so fascinated with Edgar's tales that he took the time to write him a rather cordial letter expressing his admiration for his earnest criticism and writing ability. On the other hand Edgar felt very slighted and unappreciated compared to many of his literary peers. "He could not stand to see other writers, such as Henry Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson and James Russell Lowell, earn more praise and money than he did" (Streissguth 79). Aristocracy seemed to hold Edgar down and when examining "The Masque of the Red Death" we see the revenge that he would wish extracted upon them. Prince Prospero is the embodiment of John Allan and all other men who possessed wealth, but refused to come to his aid. It is possible that Edgar desired the very pestilence that had haunted him for so many years to go forth and destroy those who never knew want or suffered from financial trouble. What better way to see his enemies destroyed than by the disease he was most familiar with?"
This paper is a comparison and contrast of Edgar Allan Poe's two styles of writing: the gothic genre of Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" and the detective genre of "The Purloined Letter."
Abstract This paper is a comparison and contrast of Edgar Allan Poe's two styles of writing: the gothic genre of Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" and the detective genre of "The Purloined Letter". The paper includes topics such as diction and the ease or difficulty in the ability to read and comprehend Poe's stories.
From the Paper "Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most well known names in literature. He was a short story writer, a poet, a literary critic, a journalist, an editor, an essayist and novelist. Edgar Allen Poe virtually created the detective story genre and perfected the psychological thriller. Poe is celebrated as one of America's greatest writers of short stories but his first published works were poems. Arguably, the most prominent feature of Edgar Allen Poe's writing is his obsession with death."
Abstract This paper examines some of the contributions of Edgar Allan Poe's only novel, "Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket". It examines in particular the ways in which Poe approaches the foreign and the different, in this work as well as adjacent works. It analyzes the introduction of the strong and sometimes hidden elements of horror in Poe's works.
From the Paper "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) is the only novel written by Edgar Allan Poe, and yet despite this singularity it is in fundamental ways connected to the rest of his body of work as well as to other important works of 19th century American fiction. This paper examines some of the contributions of this novel, examining in particular the ways in which Poe approaches the foreign and the different ? a concept that was in many ways (some explicit, some deeply encoded) a proxy for race in both the work in question and that of other works adjacent in time and theme to Poe's novel, especially that of Herman Melville's Moby Dick (1851)."
Abstract This paper compares the works of Sheridan LeFanu and Edgar Allen Poe. It focuses predominantly on why Poe is better known, although they address similar themes. It explains that LeFanu's stories, though technically well-written and at least briefly engaging are rigidly conventional by today's standards and thus immediately forgotten. It points out, however, that Poe's stories baffle the reader, sending them through a tangled web of complicated sentences, strenuous adjectives, and puzzling layers of multiple interpretations.
From the Paper "The mainstream film industry appears to be crawling with insipid, run-of-the-mill movies, which despite managing to temporarily captivate our attention, never quite seem to leave much of an impression. They essentially serve as a momentary means of time disposal. Occasionally, however a film comes along which portrays such brilliantly penetrating individuality and piercing emotion, we find ourselves endlessly haunted, long after our initial viewing. The world of literature can be similarly divided. Two prime examples of such opposites emerged from the literary horror genre of the mid-nineteenth century: Sheridan LeFanu and Edgar Allen Poe."
Abstract This paper discusses and reflects upon the lonely and difficult life of Edgar Allan Poe. The paper explains that Poe suffered from depression for most of his life and that it was this depression that eventually caused his early death. The paper uses the poetry of Poe as well as biographical information to reflect on the American poet's life.
From the Paper ""Helen, they beauty is to me Like those Nicean barks of yore, That gently, o'er a perfumed sea, The weary, way-worn wanderer bore To his own native shore" (Barnet, Berman, and Burto 697). This is the first verse of the poem called, "To Helen," and it is only one of many poems and writings that Edgar Allan Poe wrote during his life. "Helen of Troy, [was] considered the most beautiful woman of ancient times" (Barnet, Berman, and Burto 697). No doubt, Edgar Allen Poe was touched by her beauty and moved to write this poem. Poe's biography will show that his life was difficult due to losing both of his parents before the age of three. This and the lost of his wife caused Poe to suffer with depression. This depression is what finally caused him to die at an early age. Looking at the biography and..."
Abstract This paper examines the personal and historical context of Edgar Allan Poe's work. It focuses in on Poe's handling of human nature in three stories: "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Tale-Tell Heart," and "The Black Cat," and the poem, "The Raven."
From the Paper "Edgar Allan Poe is known as the writer of ghost stories .And while it's certainly true that many of his tales have the requisite elements of ghost stories, ghoulies and ghosties and things that go bump in the night, they are much more than simply attempt to .."
Abstract In this article, the writer discusses Edgar Allen Poe's poem "To Helen (Poem of a Later Life)", as a piece of persuasive flattery. The writer contends that the flattery is self-serving and that Poe was interested in his artistic legacy as much as persuading the recipient to marry him.
From the Paper "Edgar Allan Poe was a poet short-story writer and critic. During his prolific writing career, Poe would produce many volumes of verse short stories and criticism. He was also a man whose life was characterized by frequent financial difficulties, failed or tragic love affairs and or marriages and a seemingly unquenchable romantic. A number of his love affairs served him well as the source of ideas for his poems among which "To Helen (Poem of Later Life)" ... "
Abstract This paper looks at Edgar Allan Poe, his life and his work, and how they were affected by alcoholism. It looks at how the theme of alcoholism crept into his stories by having alcoholics as characters, or characters descending into madness from drinking. It shows that despite his drinking problems, Poe produced masterpieces that have world wide acclaim and are still high on the reading list of mystery lovers today.
Abstract Edgar Allan Poe wrote several stories about maladies of being insane. These include "The Tell-Tale Heart", "Ligeia", and "The Fall of the House of Usher". The paper analyzes these short stories and shows how Edgar Allan Poe used the theme of sanity and insanity throughout these three stories with suspense and trauma building the story until the reader must decide whether the person is actually sane or insane.
From the Paper ""I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever" (Poe 1). Sounds like a crazy man living with paranoia that drives the person to do something insane like murdering the man because of his evil eye. Edgar Allan Poe wrote several stories about maladies of being insane. These include The Tell-Tale Heart, Ligeia, and The Fall of the House of Usher. Analyzing these short stories will show that Edgar Allan Poe used the theme of sanity and insanity throughout these three stories with suspense and trauma building the story until the reader must decide whether the person is actually sane or insane. In "The Tell-Tale Heart" Poe guides the reader through the story with the statement from the narrator that he could not be insane. "True! - nervous - very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why...""
Abstract This paper discusses the effects of Poe's ground-breaking literary style on modern pop culture. Comparisons are made to several artists, musicians and composers, directors, and authors, such as Manet, Kupka, Munch, Jim Morrison, Claude Debussy, The Alan Parsons Project, Alfred Hitchcock, Tim Burton, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Franz Kafka, to name a few.
From the Paper ""Edgar Allan Poe never produced any biological offspring during his lifetime, but clearly his literary children are everywhere" (Magistrale 9). Poe's impressive avant-garde style provides inspiration for many people to fabricate captivating pieces. Because he writes an excess of 120 poems, sonnets, and stories in his lifetime, Poe remains a prominent figure in society. A tremendous appreciation for Poe's work motivates his so-called "children" to sample his style in a vast number of their own ways. Therefore, the great influence Edgar Allan Poe's writings have on modern culture is evident in many areas including art, music, and literature."
This paper examines two short stories: "The Murders at the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allen Poe and "The Hound of the Baskervilles" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
675 words (approx. 2.7 pages), 2 sources, 2005, $ 26.95
Abstract This paper explains that light and darkness are key focal points in learning the source and origins of the murders in these two short stories. The author points out that, by taking a logical and more scientific approach to diminishing superstition and hearsay, both of these authors offer an intelligible solution to the crimes they confronted in the 19th century. The paper relates that both Doyle and Poe use the almost gothic landscape of the English Moors to reflect the sinister evil of their plots.
From the Paper "This literary study examines the use of light and darkness that Edgar Allen Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle use to solve various crimes in their short stories. By comparing the use of light and darkness within "The Murders at the Rue Morgue" by Poe and "The Hound of the Baskervilles" by Doyle, one can understand how logic and pseudo-science deduce the perpetrators of these crimes. In the short story "The Hound of the Baskervilles" we can learn how darkness and light are effective ways for the main perpetrator of the murders is revealed. Doyle, like Poe, uses the almost gothic landscape of the English Moors to reflect the sinister evil that the Hound presents in this tale, but ultimately the darkness is merely a cloak for a more logical explanation to the murders."
Abstract This paper looks at two works by Washington Irving, "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and Edgar Allan Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher" as examples of American mythology. The paper discusses similarities of theme, structure and cultural context of these three stories, comparing them to contemporary urban legends in their moral-giving roles.
From the Paper "The short stories by Washington Irving, "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "The Fall of the House of Usher" written by Edgar Allan Poe are all relatively early American short stories, written by authors with a penchant for darkness in their works. While written in different time periods, by authors with very different backgrounds, these stories' similarities outweigh their differences, as we shall see. All three stories share thematic, structural, historical and cultural similarities that give the reader a particular sense of the mystical in such a way as to call them American mythology. Poe's and Irving's stories are not light-hearted, and are written in serious tones that lead the reader to wonder if they're really true or not."
Abstract This literary study examines the ideology of romantic beauty in the poem "On the Medusa of Leonardo Da Vinci in the Florentine Gallery" by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The writer notes that the central theme of romanticism that arises in this poem focuses on the dark and terrifying Grecian mythological creature Medusa. The writer maintains that for romantic poets such as Shelley, there was a concerted effort to represent feminine beauty and grace through the veil of darkness or death in this poem about Da Vinci's famous painting. In essence, the premise of death and decay is the central element of romantic beauty in Shelley's poem about Da Vinci's depiction of the terrifying Medusa.
From the Paper "This critical perspective is one key aspect for understanding why Shelley saw beauty in this terrible creature--through the lens of mythological history and the victimization of Medusa at the hands of Minerva and Neptune. In this manner, the basis of romantic beauty hinges on the darkness of humanity, which invariably will produce a cycle of life. For romantics like Shelly, this cycle of death and decay is an essential part of life that illuminates the beauty he sees within Da Vinci's Medusa.
"The evolution of the poem further builds upon the beauty of Medusa as a seductive woman figure that seeks to bring down any man that comes within her grasp. Shelly is keen to point out her horrifying appearance, but it is her inner 'grace' that defines her beauty through the image of death and decay that seduces men .."
Abstract This paper studies the Romantic period in English literature, from 1798 to 1832. The paper evaluates the lyrical ballads of Sir William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which were published at the turn of the 19th century. The paper first analyzes William Wordsworth's poems "Expostulation and Reply" and "The Tables Turned", to demonstrate how the Romantic poets turned to nature as their schoolroom and derived life's lessons from nature. Next, the paper examines three Coleridge poems: "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," "Kubla Khan" and "Christabel". The paper explains that each of these poems demonstrates the juxtaposition between nature and the sub-conscious, particularly the dream-state.
From the Paper "The old regime in England took its stand in the face of revolutionary fervor based on the American and French Revolutions. For those who sympathized with the Revolution, they needed a new revolution directed against reason and toward something else, and that "something else" was imagination (Adams 363). Romanticism was a movement marked by a shift in feeling, a shift in sensibility, as well as a new concept of man's relation to the natural order and to Nature in particular. As with most movements, the perception that a group of poets exhibited this sort of shift in sensibility is something imposed after the fact by critics reading the works of Keats, Coleridge, and Wordsworth, among others, and finding that many of their sentiments and responses demonstrate a similarity in outlook different from the previous age. Romanticism was marked by certain attitudes, among them the following: 1) a growing interest in Nature and in the natural, primitive, and uncivilized manifestations of Nature; 2) a growing interest in scenery; 3) an association of human moods with the "moods" of Nature, leading to a subjective feeling for it and interpretation of it; 4) an emphasis on natural religion; 5) an emphasis on the need for spontaneity in thought and action and in the expression of thought; 6) more importance given to natural genius and the power of the imagination; 7) a tendency to exalt the individual and his or her needs and an emphasis on the need for a freer and more personal expression; and 8) the cult of the Noble Savage (Cuddon 814-815)."
