The Use Of Setting In The Raven By Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe lived a tumultuous life with many hardships and very few good times. Every time his life was getting better and looking up, tragedy would strike. These hardships proved to oddly bring out the best in Edgar Allan Poe as a writer. He brought these negatives in his life onto paper and became one of the greatest writers of all time. He revolutionized literature with his use of Gothic elements in his writings to give the audience a sense of fear and mystery. His use of setting in many of his works, was a key component in creating that sense of fear and mystery. Poe’s used setting as a Gothic element to create a sense of mystery, isolation, and the fear of the unknown. In many of his works, Edgar Allan Poe created a sense of mystery
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He used this fear in his stories by starting off the tales with the narrator being by himself. For example, in his poem The Raven, he starts by saying “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore” (Pg.2764). The reader can imply that the narrator is by himself, as the setting has him thinking about someone he lost. The phrase “midnight dreary” implies a depressing or lifeless night. This gives the reader a sense of isolation as the setting puts them in a depressing, isolated state. The sense of isolation that Poe creates in the setting, makes the story scarier as it …show more content…
Everyone is afraid when they do not know what is going to happen next. Horror movies can portray this sensation rather easy, but it is much harder to do so in literature. Edgar Allan Poe was a master at putting this fear of the unknown into his writing. An example is in the story The Tell-Tale Heart, the narrator says, “But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon his eye. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man’s terror must have been extreme!” (Pg. 2729). The scene he describes in the story is intense, but it leaves the reader not knowing what is going to happen next. This creates a sense of fear, because anything can happen. But the setting has a darkness about it that can make the reader fearful that next thing that happens, is not going to be
He used this fear in his stories by starting off the tales with the narrator being by himself. For example, in his poem The Raven, he starts by saying “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore” (Pg.2764). The reader can imply that the narrator is by himself, as the setting has him thinking about someone he lost. The phrase “midnight dreary” implies a depressing or lifeless night. This gives the reader a sense of isolation as the setting puts them in a depressing, isolated state. The sense of isolation that Poe creates in the setting, makes the story scarier as it …show more content…
Everyone is afraid when they do not know what is going to happen next. Horror movies can portray this sensation rather easy, but it is much harder to do so in literature. Edgar Allan Poe was a master at putting this fear of the unknown into his writing. An example is in the story The Tell-Tale Heart, the narrator says, “But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon his eye. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man’s terror must have been extreme!” (Pg. 2729). The scene he describes in the story is intense, but it leaves the reader not knowing what is going to happen next. This creates a sense of fear, because anything can happen. But the setting has a darkness about it that can make the reader fearful that next thing that happens, is not going to be