Essay, Research Paper: Edgar Allen Poe
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author's note: The basis of this report was to pick at least 3 stories of an author(Poe) and comment on the gothicism in them. Enjoy.
Edgar Allen Poe's stories are full of hidden themes, mysterious people and dark elements. Poe, one of the first modern horror writers, has influenced some of the greatest and most well-proclaimed writers of the twentieth century. His style of writing, which combines a use of gruesome detail and dark, creepy settings leaves the reader with a macabre feeling. Poe's life effected his writing and style which is obvious in his stories and various themes found within them. Robert Weinberg, a modern writer, was heavily influenced by Poe, which is also obvious in his writing style. Comparing the two authors and their styles, it is evident how Weinberg was influenced by Poe.
Edgar Allen Poe's style of writing was greatly influenced by his life. He was constantly on the move and most of his life was spent in melancholy and loneliness, which attributed to his dark feeling stories. Shortly after he was born, he moved from Boston to Richmond when his parents died and then to England every summer, where his foster parents, the Allens, would stay. When he was 18, he moved back to Boston and enlisted into the military, of which he was released two years later. In 1830, he joined west Point military academy, but he was expelled from it in 1832. After this he moved to New York and then back to Richmond to be editor of "The Southern Literary Messenger". On May 16, 1836 he married his thirteen-years old cousin, Virginia Clemm. He was discharged from "The Messenger" because of his drinking habits in 1837 and moved back to New York. After a short stay in New York he moved to Philadelphia to become editor of "Burlington's Gentleman's Magazine". This wasn't satisfying to him, so in 1844 he, once again, moved to New York where he joined the team on the "Broadway Journal". "Poe's wife died of tuberculosis on Jan. 30, 1847, in a cottage in Fordham that has since been made into a museum."(Collier's Encyclopedia, pg. 161). In early October of 1849 Poe died in the Washington College Hospital.
All of the death in his life added to the dark tones of his stories and the death theme can be found in just about every one of them. Another theme found in his stories is segregation. This is because of the segregation he experienced throughout his lifetime, like being expelled from West Point or discharged from "The Messenger". This theme is most obvious in Hop-Frog and Masque of the Red Death.
Poe's writing was like no other of his time. It contained all the elements of Gothic horror, with the darkness, the emotion and the power of his stories, combined with his blend of gruesome detail, dark atmosphere and plot twists. All these elements of Gothic Horror make for a short story that sends chills down any spine and keeps its readers turning the pages.
One example of his uniqueness is the first detective story ever written, and possibly also one of his best stories, The Murders in the Rue Morgue. This story, set in a dark French city, has all of Poe's unique implements. When he describes the murder scene, images of what he is describing flow into your mid and you can almost picture the bloody razor laying on the chair, the "…two or three long and thick bloody tresses of gray human hair, also dabbled in blood, and seeming to have been pulled out by the roots" laying on the hearth and the near decapitated body of Madame L'Espanaye awkwardly sprawled on the ground below after being thrown out of the window by the assailant.
Another of Poe's great stories is Hop-Frog. This is a terror of a tale about a pitiful creature who serves as a jester for a king, though he gets the final jest. He is a clever man and the king has him give ideas about what to dress as for the masquerades he throw's. Hop-Frog suggests "ourang-outangs" and explains his idea. The king and his councilors are covered in tar and flax. When everyone is at the party, they all come running out, looking like eight chained apes that just escaped. Suddenly a loose section of chain gets a hook attached to it by Hop-Frog. They are then yanked up and Hop-Frog pretends to try to discover whom they are with a torch in hand. They suddenly catch fire, as tar and flax are very flammable, and left to burn. " 'Ah-ha!' said at length the infuriated jester. 'Ah-ha! I begin to see who these people are, now!' Here, pretending to scrutinize the king more closely, he held the flambeau to the flaxen coat enveloped him and which instantly burst into a sheet of vivid flame." This is when Hop-Frog pretends to be examining their identities and lights the king and his councilors on fire. "The eight corpses swung in their chains, a fetid, blackened, hideous and indistinguishable mass. The cripple hurled his torch at them, clambered leisurely to the ceiling, and disappeared through the sky-light." This is the final scene where the bodies are burned to a crisp and Hop-Frog makes his escape. This story gives the little guy a taste of revenge and, as usual, has Poe's twisted way of describing anything.
The above is just one of the many examples of Poe's style. Another of Poe's short stories serves as an example of Poe's excellent power with a pen, The Masque of the Red Death. This is a story about an eccentric prince who hides himself and one-thousand of his closest friends in a far-off section of his palace, away from The Red Death. The Red Death is a plague sweeping the countryside, which causes its victims to bleed profusely from their pores. He decides to through a masquerade ball, but it is crashed by an unknown masquerader. "His vesture dabbled in blood-and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror.". This line is describing to masked intruder at Prince Prospero's masquerade. He is dressed as someone who has caught the Red Death. The masquerader resembles the Red Death, which was scouring the countryside that they were hiding away from, but it penetrated their safe haven and destroyed them like it did the rest. "And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.". With such a manipulation of words and descriptions, how can an author not be influenced?
Robert Weinberg is probably the most Edgar Allen Poe influenced author ever to be heard of. In every book he quotes one of Poe's works at least once and in Vampire: The Masquerade of the Red Death, a trilogy of vampire novels, he dedicates the book to Poe directly: "To Edgar Allen Poe, for obvious reasons."(Weinberg, Dedication Page). Weinberg is most known for Vampire: The Masquerade of the Red Death, which is set in "…a harsher, crueler version of our world."(Weinberg, Dedication Page), it has a number of plot twists, some gruesome details and even inserts French words at some points, which Poe also did often.
A few choice quotes in which one can see the similarities between his and Poe's writing styles are "The smell of charred and blackened human flesh assaulted his nostrils. A horrified glance around the courtyard revealed a dozen bodies of Villon's favorites, their beautiful features burned beyond recognition."(Weinberg, p. 65). In this line, Weinberg describes the scene of a museum in which some unknown force burnt and killed many innocent victims, who happen to be mostly the higher of the social ladder. A highly noticeable similarity is Weinberg's use of description of the burned bodies, which is very similar to Poe's in Hop-Frog. Another is the fact that it was all well-off people who were killed, just like in Hop-Frog with the king and his councilors, or in Masque of the Red Death with the prince and his visitors.
One more similar line is a scene describing a frightening slaughter, in which "The bodies of the man, his wife and their three children had been discovered lying in the grass, outside the main building with their heads missing." (Weinberg, p. 171). This can be compared to the murder scene in Murders in the Rue Morgue when describing the murder of Madame L'Espanaye and how she was decapitated, as well.
Weinberg is truly a great author. He has written eight novels, five non-fiction books and numerous short stories. His works have been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Bulgarian. He is the two-time vice-president of the Horror Writers Association, two-time winner of the World Fantasy Award and also teaches creative writing at Columbia College in Chicago.
As stated above, Poe had heavy influences on Weinberg's writing. With all the things present in works of both authors, like gory details, plot twists, use of foreign words, dark atmospheres and setting and even the types of stories: horror, mystery and sometimes a combination of both. Even the title of his trilogy Vampire: Masquerade of the Red Death parallels to Edgar Allen Poe's The Masque of the Red Death.
With all the evidence stated above and all of the similarities between Poe's works and Weinberg's works, it is hard to deny that Poe was the one of the first horror writers and that he had influence on modern horror writers.
Sources
. Collier's Encyclopedia. "Poe, Edgar Allen". V. 19, pp. 161-163. Macmillian Education Company, 1991
. Poe, Edgar Allen. "Hop-Frog", "The Masque of the Red Death", "Murders in the Rue Morgue" Complete Stories & Poems of Edgar Allen Poe. New York: Doubleday.
. Weinberg, Robert. Vampire: Masquerade of the Red Death Trilogy. Clarkston, GA: White Wolf Publishing, 1995
Edgar Allen Poe's stories are full of hidden themes, mysterious people and dark elements. Poe, one of the first modern horror writers, has influenced some of the greatest and most well-proclaimed writers of the twentieth century. His style of writing, which combines a use of gruesome detail and dark, creepy settings leaves the reader with a macabre feeling. Poe's life effected his writing and style which is obvious in his stories and various themes found within them. Robert Weinberg, a modern writer, was heavily influenced by Poe, which is also obvious in his writing style. Comparing the two authors and their styles, it is evident how Weinberg was influenced by Poe.
Edgar Allen Poe's style of writing was greatly influenced by his life. He was constantly on the move and most of his life was spent in melancholy and loneliness, which attributed to his dark feeling stories. Shortly after he was born, he moved from Boston to Richmond when his parents died and then to England every summer, where his foster parents, the Allens, would stay. When he was 18, he moved back to Boston and enlisted into the military, of which he was released two years later. In 1830, he joined west Point military academy, but he was expelled from it in 1832. After this he moved to New York and then back to Richmond to be editor of "The Southern Literary Messenger". On May 16, 1836 he married his thirteen-years old cousin, Virginia Clemm. He was discharged from "The Messenger" because of his drinking habits in 1837 and moved back to New York. After a short stay in New York he moved to Philadelphia to become editor of "Burlington's Gentleman's Magazine". This wasn't satisfying to him, so in 1844 he, once again, moved to New York where he joined the team on the "Broadway Journal". "Poe's wife died of tuberculosis on Jan. 30, 1847, in a cottage in Fordham that has since been made into a museum."(Collier's Encyclopedia, pg. 161). In early October of 1849 Poe died in the Washington College Hospital.
All of the death in his life added to the dark tones of his stories and the death theme can be found in just about every one of them. Another theme found in his stories is segregation. This is because of the segregation he experienced throughout his lifetime, like being expelled from West Point or discharged from "The Messenger". This theme is most obvious in Hop-Frog and Masque of the Red Death.
Poe's writing was like no other of his time. It contained all the elements of Gothic horror, with the darkness, the emotion and the power of his stories, combined with his blend of gruesome detail, dark atmosphere and plot twists. All these elements of Gothic Horror make for a short story that sends chills down any spine and keeps its readers turning the pages.
One example of his uniqueness is the first detective story ever written, and possibly also one of his best stories, The Murders in the Rue Morgue. This story, set in a dark French city, has all of Poe's unique implements. When he describes the murder scene, images of what he is describing flow into your mid and you can almost picture the bloody razor laying on the chair, the "…two or three long and thick bloody tresses of gray human hair, also dabbled in blood, and seeming to have been pulled out by the roots" laying on the hearth and the near decapitated body of Madame L'Espanaye awkwardly sprawled on the ground below after being thrown out of the window by the assailant.
Another of Poe's great stories is Hop-Frog. This is a terror of a tale about a pitiful creature who serves as a jester for a king, though he gets the final jest. He is a clever man and the king has him give ideas about what to dress as for the masquerades he throw's. Hop-Frog suggests "ourang-outangs" and explains his idea. The king and his councilors are covered in tar and flax. When everyone is at the party, they all come running out, looking like eight chained apes that just escaped. Suddenly a loose section of chain gets a hook attached to it by Hop-Frog. They are then yanked up and Hop-Frog pretends to try to discover whom they are with a torch in hand. They suddenly catch fire, as tar and flax are very flammable, and left to burn. " 'Ah-ha!' said at length the infuriated jester. 'Ah-ha! I begin to see who these people are, now!' Here, pretending to scrutinize the king more closely, he held the flambeau to the flaxen coat enveloped him and which instantly burst into a sheet of vivid flame." This is when Hop-Frog pretends to be examining their identities and lights the king and his councilors on fire. "The eight corpses swung in their chains, a fetid, blackened, hideous and indistinguishable mass. The cripple hurled his torch at them, clambered leisurely to the ceiling, and disappeared through the sky-light." This is the final scene where the bodies are burned to a crisp and Hop-Frog makes his escape. This story gives the little guy a taste of revenge and, as usual, has Poe's twisted way of describing anything.
The above is just one of the many examples of Poe's style. Another of Poe's short stories serves as an example of Poe's excellent power with a pen, The Masque of the Red Death. This is a story about an eccentric prince who hides himself and one-thousand of his closest friends in a far-off section of his palace, away from The Red Death. The Red Death is a plague sweeping the countryside, which causes its victims to bleed profusely from their pores. He decides to through a masquerade ball, but it is crashed by an unknown masquerader. "His vesture dabbled in blood-and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror.". This line is describing to masked intruder at Prince Prospero's masquerade. He is dressed as someone who has caught the Red Death. The masquerader resembles the Red Death, which was scouring the countryside that they were hiding away from, but it penetrated their safe haven and destroyed them like it did the rest. "And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.". With such a manipulation of words and descriptions, how can an author not be influenced?
Robert Weinberg is probably the most Edgar Allen Poe influenced author ever to be heard of. In every book he quotes one of Poe's works at least once and in Vampire: The Masquerade of the Red Death, a trilogy of vampire novels, he dedicates the book to Poe directly: "To Edgar Allen Poe, for obvious reasons."(Weinberg, Dedication Page). Weinberg is most known for Vampire: The Masquerade of the Red Death, which is set in "…a harsher, crueler version of our world."(Weinberg, Dedication Page), it has a number of plot twists, some gruesome details and even inserts French words at some points, which Poe also did often.
A few choice quotes in which one can see the similarities between his and Poe's writing styles are "The smell of charred and blackened human flesh assaulted his nostrils. A horrified glance around the courtyard revealed a dozen bodies of Villon's favorites, their beautiful features burned beyond recognition."(Weinberg, p. 65). In this line, Weinberg describes the scene of a museum in which some unknown force burnt and killed many innocent victims, who happen to be mostly the higher of the social ladder. A highly noticeable similarity is Weinberg's use of description of the burned bodies, which is very similar to Poe's in Hop-Frog. Another is the fact that it was all well-off people who were killed, just like in Hop-Frog with the king and his councilors, or in Masque of the Red Death with the prince and his visitors.
One more similar line is a scene describing a frightening slaughter, in which "The bodies of the man, his wife and their three children had been discovered lying in the grass, outside the main building with their heads missing." (Weinberg, p. 171). This can be compared to the murder scene in Murders in the Rue Morgue when describing the murder of Madame L'Espanaye and how she was decapitated, as well.
Weinberg is truly a great author. He has written eight novels, five non-fiction books and numerous short stories. His works have been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Bulgarian. He is the two-time vice-president of the Horror Writers Association, two-time winner of the World Fantasy Award and also teaches creative writing at Columbia College in Chicago.
As stated above, Poe had heavy influences on Weinberg's writing. With all the things present in works of both authors, like gory details, plot twists, use of foreign words, dark atmospheres and setting and even the types of stories: horror, mystery and sometimes a combination of both. Even the title of his trilogy Vampire: Masquerade of the Red Death parallels to Edgar Allen Poe's The Masque of the Red Death.
With all the evidence stated above and all of the similarities between Poe's works and Weinberg's works, it is hard to deny that Poe was the one of the first horror writers and that he had influence on modern horror writers.
Sources
. Collier's Encyclopedia. "Poe, Edgar Allen". V. 19, pp. 161-163. Macmillian Education Company, 1991
. Poe, Edgar Allen. "Hop-Frog", "The Masque of the Red Death", "Murders in the Rue Morgue" Complete Stories & Poems of Edgar Allen Poe. New York: Doubleday.
. Weinberg, Robert. Vampire: Masquerade of the Red Death Trilogy. Clarkston, GA: White Wolf Publishing, 1995
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