Symbolism

The symbols that Edgar uses in his poems most of the time refer to either death or time. For example, in his work ‘The pit and the pendulum’ the main symbols are the pit and the pendulum themselves. The pit stands most likely for the pits of hell. A pit can seem scary, because you cannot see or track time because of it being so dark. It can also refer to a purgatory or a coffin, because of the death of the narrator drawing closer. The pendulum most likely stands for the tracking of time, which is really relevant in the story, because of the narrator trying to stall time before his death.

Writing style

Edgar Allen Poe was well-known for his dark romanticism. Dark romanticism is combining romantic scenarios with gothic topics. For example, in his work ‘The masque of the red death’ it is all about a princes, princesses and masquerades. This topic is combined with the topics disease, death and murder. His writing style is also very mysterious, because of not giving away too much information about what happened before the events, including murders, that are described in the story.

Edgar Allen Poe

Edgar Allen Poe was born on January 19 1809 and died on October 7 1849. He was an American author born in Boston and the second child of actor David Poe Jr and actress Elizabeth Arnold Poe. He studied at the university of Virginia and his jobs were writer, editor, poet and literary critic. Edgar was and is still well-known for his dark romanticism, which is a combination of romantic and gothic writing. He most of the time worked with concepts of motiveless murders.

- “Works with obvious meanings are no longer art.”