Stephen
November 5th 2003, 01:38 AM
Hey guys, this is just a rough draft, but its one of three essays I need to have written about Poe for English class, and I was wondering if someone could critique it. I realize there are probably a lot of gramatical and spelling mistakes, its only a 1st draft.
His Life on Paper
As thousands upon thousands of readers have stumbled upon the horrific yet wonderful works of Edgar Allan Poe, they are in awe of his suspense creating prowess and inane ability to captivate the imagination with such dark, morbid, yet attention-keeping stories. Surely, there must be more than only an overactive imagination at work here. Poe’s writings are not only a product of a creative genius, but a reflection of the life of a man who suffered through countless stages of chaos, and fully understood the madness, death, and depravity of which he so passionately wrote.
To start with, in nearly all of his works Edgar Allan Poe mentions blood in some form, because of past experiences in his life. For instance, the Mask of Red Death is about the horrors of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis had been the disease that claimed the lives of his wife, his mother, and his step mother. Throughout Poe’s life, every time he saw blood he knew that soon he would have another death to face. Because of this, Poe’s stories are riddled with symbolism of blood, and the color red. These were, to poe, the most horrific things that one could possible see. Poe understood that when one sees blood coming from the mouth of a loved one, he must live in horror and depression of the impending, inevitable doom that awaits till the day he/she dies.
Also, Poe spends much of his writing dealing with issues of the mind and heart, such as madness. For instance, nearly all of his stories speak of being crazy from the perspective of a madman. He nearly went insane by constantly needing to watch his wife Virginia “die” over and over again in his mind, to the point where he could truly taste what it meant to be crazy. This understanding is evident in many of his stories, such as The Tell Tale Heart, in which he asks the readers “But why will you say that I am mad?” and continues to speak of a gruesome murder he committed. Such things strike the heart as personal, because they are coming from the pen of one who has experienced, with good reason, madness. Poe intimately knew what madness was, because almost everyone he had ever loved, everyone that had ever truly made him feel alive had been taken away from him by the claws of death. Though often trying to convince themselves of sanity, Poe’s characters always out to be truly mad in the end, though in denial. Much like his life.
Finally, and foremost, many of his stories have themes used to give ways to get over the death of a loved one that he had experienced. In “Annabel Lee”, Poe writes of a reason for Virginia’s death. Though at first glance this seems purely poetic, at a deeper look one can see that Poe’s works were used to try to answer his own questions: “Why did they die?” His life was plagued with death, and he could only overcome this by trying to rationalize it. Many of his stories, such as “The Cask of Amontillado” feature vengeance as another means to ease the pain of death. In his mind, maybe revenge was the perfect way to finally set himself free from the sadness and rage caused by another’s life being taken. Sadly, in the end none of his characters ever receive the intended satisfaction given by revenge, such has “The Tell-Tale Heart.”
His works are amazing, yet if one reads them for purely literary satisfaction, he/she is only getting half of the treasure. Poe’s writings are incredible not only because they are well written or creative, but also because they are replications of his heart and life, penned down for others to read today. In reading his stories, the images of a poor demented soul constantly fighting off the throes of death of the author linger far longer than of the characters he portrays.
His Life on Paper
As thousands upon thousands of readers have stumbled upon the horrific yet wonderful works of Edgar Allan Poe, they are in awe of his suspense creating prowess and inane ability to captivate the imagination with such dark, morbid, yet attention-keeping stories. Surely, there must be more than only an overactive imagination at work here. Poe’s writings are not only a product of a creative genius, but a reflection of the life of a man who suffered through countless stages of chaos, and fully understood the madness, death, and depravity of which he so passionately wrote.
To start with, in nearly all of his works Edgar Allan Poe mentions blood in some form, because of past experiences in his life. For instance, the Mask of Red Death is about the horrors of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis had been the disease that claimed the lives of his wife, his mother, and his step mother. Throughout Poe’s life, every time he saw blood he knew that soon he would have another death to face. Because of this, Poe’s stories are riddled with symbolism of blood, and the color red. These were, to poe, the most horrific things that one could possible see. Poe understood that when one sees blood coming from the mouth of a loved one, he must live in horror and depression of the impending, inevitable doom that awaits till the day he/she dies.
Also, Poe spends much of his writing dealing with issues of the mind and heart, such as madness. For instance, nearly all of his stories speak of being crazy from the perspective of a madman. He nearly went insane by constantly needing to watch his wife Virginia “die” over and over again in his mind, to the point where he could truly taste what it meant to be crazy. This understanding is evident in many of his stories, such as The Tell Tale Heart, in which he asks the readers “But why will you say that I am mad?” and continues to speak of a gruesome murder he committed. Such things strike the heart as personal, because they are coming from the pen of one who has experienced, with good reason, madness. Poe intimately knew what madness was, because almost everyone he had ever loved, everyone that had ever truly made him feel alive had been taken away from him by the claws of death. Though often trying to convince themselves of sanity, Poe’s characters always out to be truly mad in the end, though in denial. Much like his life.
Finally, and foremost, many of his stories have themes used to give ways to get over the death of a loved one that he had experienced. In “Annabel Lee”, Poe writes of a reason for Virginia’s death. Though at first glance this seems purely poetic, at a deeper look one can see that Poe’s works were used to try to answer his own questions: “Why did they die?” His life was plagued with death, and he could only overcome this by trying to rationalize it. Many of his stories, such as “The Cask of Amontillado” feature vengeance as another means to ease the pain of death. In his mind, maybe revenge was the perfect way to finally set himself free from the sadness and rage caused by another’s life being taken. Sadly, in the end none of his characters ever receive the intended satisfaction given by revenge, such has “The Tell-Tale Heart.”
His works are amazing, yet if one reads them for purely literary satisfaction, he/she is only getting half of the treasure. Poe’s writings are incredible not only because they are well written or creative, but also because they are replications of his heart and life, penned down for others to read today. In reading his stories, the images of a poor demented soul constantly fighting off the throes of death of the author linger far longer than of the characters he portrays.