Edgar Allan Poe Group

Question:

m-elisabeth-r
m-elisabeth-r
Student
High School - 10th Grade

What are some of the most symbolic literary works by E. A. Poe?

I am currently learning about Poe and some of his works and they interest me. Any suggestions?

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Posted by m-elisabeth-r on Monday November 2, 2009 at 7:47 PM and tagged with allen, edgar, literature, poe, symbolic.

Answers:


  1. kc4u Teacher
    College - Senior

    eNotes Editor

    E. A. Poe's works are mostly symbolic--his poems, short stories and the one novel that he has written, all have symbolic properties in different ways. Pay attention to the Gothic symbolism in Poe. He is one of the first writers to give the Gothic genre a genuine modern twist. With Poe, the Gothic is a garb for the world of hysteria, obsessional neurosis, perversion and other kinds of mental derangement. Considered to be an exponent of the macabre Romantic /sur-real school, Poe's writing presents to us a critique of American Transcendentalism too.

    Read The Philosophy of Composition, a text where he talks about the compositional process of his famous poem The Raven. Read The Purloined Letter, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, The Pit and the Pendulum,The Oval Portrait, Berenice, The Hop-Frog, The Fall of the House of Usher, Ligeia, The Premature Burial, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar

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    Posted by kc4u on Tuesday November 3, 2009 at 12:50 AM

  2. habuy2k
    habuy2k Teacher
    High School - 10th Grade

    I think that one of Poe's most symbolic works is the Masque of the Red Death.  Everything in the story symbolizes something else.  The rooms symbolize life from birth to death.  The clock symbolizes the time that the people who are in the abbey have left to live.  The  Prince represents all of our desires to cheat death.

    Other symbolic works include The Raven, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, and the Cask of Amontillado. 

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    Posted by habuy2k on Tuesday November 3, 2009 at 11:23 AM

  3. mlk
    mlk Student
    College - Sophomore

    • i think the most symbolic literary works of e.a.poe are THE BLACK CAT, and LEGIA. u should definetely take a look at them especially MORELLA and check the significance of teeth and mouth. they are said to represent the intimate parts of the female anatomy. very  interesting symbolism by the way.

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    Posted by mlk on Saturday December 5, 2009 at 12:21 PM