In order to shed some modern light on this seminal author, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature to examine Poe's influence on the detective genre, followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion. Review and Discussion A prolific author despite his relatively short life, Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809 and died when he was just 40 years old in 1849 (Pollin 535)
In this regard, Scaggs adds that, "Crime fiction, however, of which Poe's detective stories form a subset, has a much earlier provenance" (7). In fact, the "earlier provenance" includes two Old Testament stories dating to the 4th century BCE (Scaggs 8)
Poe shows as much in his gothic horror tale. And as Plato himself proposed: "If the head and body are to be well, you must begin by curing the soul" (Kyziridis 43)
He made an attempt at University, but had to leave for reason of lack of funds (Edgar had received an allowance but had also run up a number of debts). He made an attempt at military, first under a false name, then under his real name at West Point -- but again, he did not fit in well and absolved to leave through court martial (Meyers 32; Hecker 54)
Thus we see the madness develop in Poe's characters -- and in "Tell-Tale Heart" no less. Poe attempts to explain the actions of the narrator by appealing to the motive of Shakespeare's Iago, which another poet identified as "motiveless malignancy" (Ruhl), but we may suspect that Poe's narrator is truly concerned more with the meaning of the symbol of the eye than with revenge (which is accordingly an obsession of Iago)
And to wish them dead," (McElroy, 103). Critics feel that the wife being one of the "mirrors of [the narrator's] lost self" (Heller 103) offers a clue to narrator's motive for killing his wife but Susan Amper chooses to disagree calling the story "a fabrication, by which [the narrator] seeks to conceal the true nature of his crime" (475)
He begins to "to hate.. And to wish them dead," (McElroy, 103)
., to do wrong for wrong's sake" (Poe 852) and also to the black cat which he refers to as "a hideous beast had seduced [him] into murder" (859)
82). This in essence is the primary foundation for Poe's dark excursions into the human mind as expressed through his "tales of terror" which illustrate "the pressures of abnormal psychology (via) neurasthenia, hallucinations, neuroses and psychoses" (Buranelli, 1977, p
As a biographical reference, "The Tell-Tale Heart" illustrates Poe's lifelong interest in human psychology, a subject which he found to be of great importance to the overall psychological makeup of his manic characters. His use of the term "mania" in other tales "calls into question judgments of sanity in his narrators" and points to Poe's evident interest in medical theories and abnormal psychology (Phillips, 1979, p
The best way to express this is to use nature imagery and the poet uses beautiful imagery to express his feelings. For example, he writes that his love is like the "melodie/That's sweetly played in time" (Burns 3-4)
In the poem "Annabel Lee," Edgar Allan Poe captures the mystery of love with the mystic images of heaven and the sea. For example, he begins his poem by describing a maiden who lived "In a kingdom by the sea" (Poe 2)
This poem is interesting in that the poet uses humor along with images of nature to illustrate his point. For example, the poet tells us that his lover's eyes are "not at all like the sun" (Shakespeare 1)
He describes to a tee (with certain qualifications as to how long the disease takes from infection to fatality) the viral disease that affected some parts of Africa -- the Ebola virus. Issac Asimov in his collection of essays "The Roving Mind" (Asimov 1983) writes of how ignorant Arthur Conan Doyle was as a chemist in writing the Sherlock Holmes mysteries
Unless of course, he saw his personal struggles as synonymous with being buried, while continually seeking redemption. This is unlike Franz Kafka, who in his most well-known short story Metamorphosis (Kafka and Appelbaum 1996) where he describes the terrors and struggles of an individual who wakes up having metamorphosed into an insect
And the problems before death are exacerbated if the person being buried is claustrophobic: the agony is significantly enhanced. In writing this essay, use was made of the book containing these short stories with illustrations by Michael McCurdy (Poe and McCurdy 2005)
Because of the way he tells the story he sounds like a very calm and relaxed man, and he appears to be very honest. It is this honesty that makes his readers believe that the horror he describes could be true (Poe, 1956)
In some writing, this might seem like an attempt to sway the reader too much toward what the narrator or writer thinks, but the way Poe writes, it seems much more realistic and important. Instead of seeming to sway the reader, it seems merely to remind the reader that the main things in life are often painful and dramatic (Poirier, 1966)
In some writing, this might seem like an attempt to sway the reader too much toward what the narrator or writer thinks, but the way Poe writes, it seems much more realistic and important. Instead of seeming to sway the reader, it seems merely to remind the reader that the main things in life are often painful and dramatic (Poirier, 1966)
Moreover, the chimneysweeper argues that being apart from his environment contributed to his current station. He claims, "Because I was happy upon the heath/And smiled among the winter's snow/They clothed me in the clothes of death/And taught me to sing the notes of woe" (Blake 5-8)