Poe and His Compositions
If a casual reader just read Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," he wouldonly understand a part of what makes Poe such a master writer. Somewriters can only manage one genre well, but Poe managed to write poetry,prose, and fiction, and each a little differently. Reading only one pieceby Poe is like eating your toast without butter. The toast will taste allright, but it will taste even better if you enhance it with a littlesomething extra. "The Tell-Tale Heart" is the story of a madman, for whoelse would murder an old man simply because he has a hideous eye' Yet,there is more to the narrator of this piece, just as there is more to Poethan horror. As one Poe critic maintains, "The complete unity of the storydisarms the critical faculties until the imagination of the madman seemsfor the moment reality. It is an almost perfect illustration of Poe's owntheory of the short story, for every word contributes to the centraleffect" (Quinn 394). From the first sentence in the short story, thenarrator admits he is nervous, and the reader gets a mental picture of amadman who should probably be locked up. However, the man is not so madthat he cannot intricately plan the murder of the old man, and he is a
Poe's poem shows he still believed in the idealwoman, even if every woman he had ever loved had been taken from him. His first "To Helen" poem, written in1831, celebrated his love for a woman who felt like a mother to him, andhad died six years before he wrote the poem. Interestingly, Poe wrote poetry to and about the women in his life,but he rarely included them as the central characters in his fiction. Only reading one work by an artist does notgive a clear view of their work or their underlying themes and thoughts,and so, reading a more diverse group of the artist's work will give aclearer picture of what the artist is trying to accomplish, whilefamiliarizing the reader with a variety of the artist's thoughts and ideas. Perhaps one of the reasons Poe's work is so dark is that his own lifewas filled with despair and sadness. This critic writes, "Thus he mingled in his verses the 'Nicean' bark thatcarries the weary voyager back to the land of classic beauty and the woman,her hair in hyacinth curls, poised in a window niche like the statue of agoddess" (Bittner 69). Its subject is the waythe mind can move toward the past and, in some such symbol as theindefinable beauty of woman, is able to comprehend a world and culture longvanished from this earth" (Davidson 33). Thus, Poe weaves some very complex notionsinto this short story, and goes far beyond terrifying his audience, hemakes them dig deeper into the mind of a madman, and attempts to show whatmotivates the mad, as well as the sane. Certainly, the old man doesnot suspect him, or he would have left the house. In conclusion, studying one work by any artist can give a false senseof their writing personality and what they are trying to accomplish withtheir work. It depends on the reader, their understanding of the workand the artist, and simply how they interpret the words and underlyingmeanings in any given work. Sadly, this poem makes it clear Poe has suffered duringhis life, and that his memories of better times are all that may keep himgoing, and keep him writing. "The poem is, therefore, not about a woman,Mrs.
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Acceptance Essays
