Literature

A detailed Summary of Literature

Edgar Allan Poe is famous for his short stories and specifically the manner in which he was able to draw in the audience and totally hold their focus. Interestingly, it seems that all of his stories have a specific location that is defined by a specific space and time. This locale helps to initially draw in the reader to the world that Poe presents as his launching ground for the story. His mastery of the physical world of his tales is amazing, as is the manner in which he creates these realms. Poe examines his own methods of composition and creativity in the essay The Philosophy of Composition. Within this text, he explains the technique in which he creates the perfect physical space. Specifically, the use of effect, tone, and circumscription of space are the means by which Poe provides a physical world that captivates the reader into the story. This technique can be followed into many of his short stories and revealed within those texts.

The Cask of Amontillado provides an excellent example to explore the superior means by which Poe creates a captivating physical world. He begins by setting the effect of the story, which is shown at the outset of the tale to be the revenge of Montressor.

The tone, however, is also one of impending doom and darkness. It was "dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season" (1567) when Montressor decides to act on his revenge. The reader again, senses the hurried and anticipated act of climatic revenge. The physical world begins to draw on the tone, as the descriptions of place have a darker and more sinister manner. Poe has thus focuses his narrative on the similar tone and effect and ties them together through the words of the story and the physical world begins to emerge.

The physical environments in Poe's short stories lend themselves to a highly descriptive nature. It is this nature that Poe uses to emphasize the physical space of the tale to draw in the reader. Without his use of effect, tone, and circumscription of space, it would not be possible for the engaging environments to exist in Poe's work. These techniques of creation are clearly visible in stories such as The Cask of Amontillado and The Fall of The House of Usher and it is evident that the clearly defined physical environments of these tales easily engage the reader. Certainly, the technique that Poe employs greatly helps him to write a completely engrossing and unique world where his stories reside.

Once the tone and effect have been set, Poe uses the famous circumscription of space to chisel out the remaining physical world. The main use and enclosure of space occurs in the catacombs of Montressor's family. Poe describes the vaults as "insufferably damp" (1568) and filled with "white web-work which gleams from [the] cavern walls" (1569). The space of the tombs closes in on the two characters as they move deeper and deeper into the recesses of the catacombs. Poe relies heavily upon his circumscription of space as he says it is "absolutely necessary to the effect of insulated incident: - it has the force of a frame to a picture" (1577). He continues to diminish the space of the story by mentioning when the characters "passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame" (1570). Poe has now closed the physical space down to a dark and heavy crypt, where the light only glows. The reader is now completely drawn into the physical

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1573
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous