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Poe’s Recurring Themes, Symbols, and Motifs

Poe’s Recurring Themes, Symbols, and Motifs. HORROR Gothic = literature characterized by a gloomy setting, mysterious or violent events, and an atmosphere of degeneration and decay Where’s a great place to get ideas? In the NEWS! BIZARRE MURDERS happen in the world around you…

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Poe’s Recurring Themes, Symbols, and Motifs

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  1. Poe’s Recurring Themes, Symbols, and Motifs

  2. HORROR Gothic = literature characterized by a gloomy setting, mysterious or violent events, and an atmosphere of degeneration and decay Where’s a great place to get ideas? In the NEWS! BIZARRE MURDERS happen in the world around you… Poe added his psychological insights Master of the Macabre

  3. Eyes • One of his most common motifs • Can be referred to as “orb” • Eyes considered to be window to the soul

  4. Heart • Heart is important as both the physical “pump” of the body & as center of all feeling and experience • As a Romantic, Poe places greater emphasis on the HEART (representing emotion and experience) than on HEAD (representing intellect, rational thought, and scientific reasoning)

  5. ? Unnamed Narrator • Unnamed narrator frequently tells stories (narrator not meant to represent Poe) • Lack of specific identity gives him an EVERYMAN quality

  6. Premature Burial/Suffocation • 2 concepts linked—“Life-in-death” theme • The idea of being enclosed with the dead while still part of the living

  7. Two Sides of Oneself • Duality of man (man is both good and evil, light and dark can be contained in same person) • “Mirror” Image (the double or look-alike stranger) • “Twin” characters (separate yet inseparable) • Doppelganger—the motif of the double or fractured image fairly common to literature

  8. Time/Clocks • Many of his stories are set in ambiguous times and places, making them universal and contemporary to the reader of any era • Poe frequently uses HOURS and times of day (especially 3:00, 6:00, 9:00 and 12:00) • Uses direct and subtle references to TIME or CLOCKS • Events often begin at dusk and end with daybreak“The witching hour” of 12 midnight

  9. Animals • Repetition of certain types of characters—black cats, ravens • Narrator may “lead” the reader into thinking such an animal is innately evil or has magical powers • Reader has to determine based on behavior of the animal whether this is true or if narrator is just projecting his own beliefs onto the animal.

  10. Four Themes To Know… • Death of a WOMAN • Fear of INSANITY • REVENGE • Premature BURIAL/DEATH

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