Roald Dahl And Edgar Allan Poe Essay
Comparing and Contrasting the Works of Edgar Allen-Poe and Roald Dahl The backgrounds of Edgar Allen Poe and Roald Dahl were both scattered with tragedies, and this affected their writing each in their own individual ways, but also related their styles to some degree. Poe's life was constantly bombarded by troubles, it seemed as though everyone around him was cursed his mother, and Mrs. Allen; a motherly figure to Poe, both passing when he was fairly young. Dahl's childhood followed a slightly less macabre path than Poe’s, although he was burdened with the fact that both his father and his sister died due to illness, he had a very strong relationship with his mother, this created a constant in his life, a beacon of happiness that was not present in Poe’s life. In his childhood he was told the fairy tales of Norway, which were often quite dark. Besides just hearing the fairy tales from his mother he also went to Norway frequently in the summer where he would see nature all around him, unable to be seen where he had lived.
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Poe’s writing fashion was unlike Dahls in a few key ways, his literature was more abruptly twisted, dark, and upfront.
This can be explained by his childhood, he constantly saw death since being a young child, this can be translated into a blunter view of the world, tainted with despair and unable to see the world in a happy way. His upfront writing can be seen in “The Tell Tale Heart.” The story did not hide the fact that the man was plotting, and committing a gruesome murder. This is unlike Dahl’s story “The Landlady” because the murders were merely hinted at but not construed out right for the reader to witness. The time periods that they lived in also contributed to the diction they use. When one is reading Poe’s fiction words that are outdated by today’s standards are clearly visible like “hearken” and “bosom.” Dahl’s word choice is more modern, due to the time he wrote and
lived.
Poe and Dahl both shared in the type figurative language they chose to use, they both used a high amount of similes and metaphors to convey the meaning of their stories. An example of Dahl using figurative language can be found in the first paragraph of his story “The Landlady.” Where he states “But the air was deadly cold and the wind was like a flat blade of ice on his cheeks.” This form of simile is describing the things around the main character, Billy, the message is conveying the wind is bitter and cold. However unlike Dahl’s writing Poe uses metaphors to describe unsaid emotions within the character instead of using figurative language to describe physical things around him. Like when the main character could hear the old man's heart beating, even after his death. This can be an example of a metaphor for the main character’s guilt, and regret.
Poe’s writing fashion was unlike Dahls in a few key ways, his literature was more abruptly twisted, dark, and upfront.
This can be explained by his childhood, he constantly saw death since being a young child, this can be translated into a blunter view of the world, tainted with despair and unable to see the world in a happy way. His upfront writing can be seen in “The Tell Tale Heart.” The story did not hide the fact that the man was plotting, and committing a gruesome murder. This is unlike Dahl’s story “The Landlady” because the murders were merely hinted at but not construed out right for the reader to witness. The time periods that they lived in also contributed to the diction they use. When one is reading Poe’s fiction words that are outdated by today’s standards are clearly visible like “hearken” and “bosom.” Dahl’s word choice is more modern, due to the time he wrote and
lived.
Poe and Dahl both shared in the type figurative language they chose to use, they both used a high amount of similes and metaphors to convey the meaning of their stories. An example of Dahl using figurative language can be found in the first paragraph of his story “The Landlady.” Where he states “But the air was deadly cold and the wind was like a flat blade of ice on his cheeks.” This form of simile is describing the things around the main character, Billy, the message is conveying the wind is bitter and cold. However unlike Dahl’s writing Poe uses metaphors to describe unsaid emotions within the character instead of using figurative language to describe physical things around him. Like when the main character could hear the old man's heart beating, even after his death. This can be an example of a metaphor for the main character’s guilt, and regret.