Poe’s Recurring Themes, Symbols, and Motifs

Master of the Macabre  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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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.

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