Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was known for his Gothic fiction works that were attributed to the dark romanticism genre. His fiction often explored ideas from phrenology and physiognomy, which attempted to explain a person's character based on the shape of their skull or facial features. Poe's literary style was dark and gloomy, as evidenced by the opening line of "The Raven." His themes typically involved death and its physical signs. Poe used techniques like short sentences, repeated words, and a first-person point of view to convey the narrator's intense thoughts and drive readers from cultural conformity.

1. EDGAR ALLAN POE’S STYLE
Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849)

2. He is known for Gothic fiction works. His works are
mainly attributed to the dark romanticism genre. His
fiction often included ideas pertaining to phrenology
(study of bumps on the outside of the skull to explain
a person’s character) and physiognomy (the study of
facial features to explain a person’s character).

3. In The Raven, Poe starts off
the story with "Once upon a
midnight dreary, while I
pondered, weak and weary.”
This sentence identifies how
he sets the setting for the
story. This sentence makes
you think of a dark lonely
night. This is a good
example of how Poe's
literary style is dark.

4. His themes deal with questions of
death, including its physical signs, the
effects of decomposition, concerns of
premature burial, the reanimation of the
dead, and mourning.
He used irony and ridiculous
extravagance to drive the reader from
cultural conformity and for comic relief.

5. Poe’s Sinister Style
Key Aspects of Poe’s Style:
• Short sentences or sentences with dashes and
other interruptions
• Repeated or italicized words that draw
attention to the narrator or to a concept
• Frequent use of first-person point of view
• Rhythm that conveys the intensity of the
narrator’s thoughts

6. Analysis of Style
-Group yourselves in to three.
• In six minutes, read your assigned excerpts.
• Find several example of each stylistic device
(Poe used) in the passages. Decide what effect
Poe was trying to create in each case.
• Choose one member to discuss your work in
front.

7. Group 1
from “The Tell-Tale Heart”
True!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous
I had been and am; but why will you say that I
am mad? The disease had sharpened my
senses– not destroyed– not dulled them.
Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I
heard all things in the heaven and in the
earth. I heard many in hell. How, then, am I
mad? Hearken! And observe how healthily–
how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

8. Group 2
from “The Black cat”
For the most wild, yet most homely narrative
which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor
solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect
it, in a case where my very senses reject their
own evidence. Yet, mad I am not– and very
surely do I not dream. But to-morrow I
die, and to-day I would unburthen my soul.

9. Group 3
from “The fall of the house of usher”
During the whole of a dull, dark, and
soundless day in the autumn of the year,
when the clouds hung oppressively low in the
heavens, I had been passing alone, or
horseback, trough a singularly dreary tract of
country; and at length found myself, as the
shade of melancholy House of Usher. I know
not how it was– but, with the first glimpse of
the building, a sense of insufferable gloom
pervaded my spirit.

10. Application
1. Changing Style: Working with a
partner, rewrite one of the opening
passages, expressing the same ideas but
simpler language. Then compare your version
with the original. What’s missing in the
changed version? share your observations in
front.