Edgar Allan Poe Literary Analysis

In practically any memorable story, the setting plays a significant role in setting the tone and shaping the theme that the author is trying to convey. Whether it’s a rural area, a suburban neighborhood, or a big city, the characters’ surroundings considerably impact their lives and how the story unfolds. Edgar Allan Poe fully utilizes vivid imagery of dark and dreary settings to create haunting and eerie moods centered on the theme of death in three of his most well-known works: “The Raven,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.”
In the world of poetry, one of the most well-known poems is Poe’s “The Raven.” Its famous opening line, “Once upon a midnight dreary…” (1) sets a dark and melancholy tone. It is only suitable that a poem focused on the theme of death is set at midnight on a stormy night “in the bleak December” (7). This setting perpetuates the torment felt by the narrator as the raven continues to tap on his chamber door and repeat the word “nevermore.” It also contributes to the themes of death and insanity by
Being set at “dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season” (392) contributes to the irony of the story, since a carnival is usually considered a happy and enjoyable place, as well as the façade Montresor is putting on to conceal his plans to kill Fortunato. When the characters move to the catacombs, the environment begins to become more revealing, describing “long walls of piled skeletons, with casks and puncheons intermingling,” which foreshadows Fortunato’s death. As they descend deeper, the darkness and skeletons that fill the catacombs express the theme of death and vengeance much more strongly, and allows Montresor to finally fulfill his