What Figurative Language Does Edgar Allan Poe Use?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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What figurative language does Edgar Allan Poe use? In addition, in Edgar Allan Poe's poem entitled The Raven the eight types of figurative language as mentioned by Abrams theory(1999), are found including

Personification, Simile, Metaphore, Imagery, Allusion, Alliteration, Hyperbole, Onomatopoeia

.

What are 2 similes in The Tell-Tale Heart?

“It increased my fury as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.” [The simile is

the comparison of the heartbeat to a drumbeat

.] “His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness. . . . “[The simile is the comparison of the darkness to pitch.]

What literary devices does Edgar Allan Poe use in The Tell-Tale Heart?

Some of the most prominent literary devices that Poe uses in his classic short story, ”The Tell-Tale Heart,” include

symbolism, simile, point of view, and imagery

.

What is a simile in alone by Edgar Allan Poe?

Simile: Poe is

comparing his life to the average person

. Poe uses this simile to show how different his life was then the average child. I could not bring. My passions from a common spring—From the same source I have not taken. My sorrow—I could not awaken.

Why does Poe use symbolism?

Edgar Allan Poe, for example, used symbolism in most of his and short stories in order

to force the reader to see his views on life, religion, love, and death

.

Figurative language makes meaning by

asking the reader or listener to understand something by virtue of its relation to some other thing, action, or image

. Figurative language can be contrasted with literal language, which describes something explicitly rather than by reference to something else.

The use of hyperbole in The Tell-Tale Heart gives the reader an idea of what the narrator is experiencing through the use of exaggeration.

“he can hear all things in the heaven and in the earth [and] many things in hell”

(1). So, he isn't gripping reality, due in part to a sick mind, and in another part to a sick body.

Poe's works remain popular today and are read all over the world. His poems and short stories reflect his tumultuous life and the deaths of four prominent women in his life:

his birth mother; foster mother; young wife, Virginia; and Jane Standard

. He was also influenced by his lost childhood love, Sarah Royster.

alliteration. “

the hearkening of the hideous heart

” repetition. “faster, faster, called the engineer”

“The Tell-Tale Heart” frequently uses auditory imagery.

As the speaker goes mad, he becomes more obsessed with the sound of his neighbor's beating heart

. The repetition of the sound of the heart is what actually drives the speaker mad and causes him to turn himself in to the police.

In brief, the main difference between figurative language and imagery is that figurative language is a language that creates a meaning that is different from the literal interpretation of words, but imagery is the use of descriptive language that engages the human senses.

Alone' is a

lyric poem

. A lyric poem has a tone of deep feeling or emotional reflection on the author's part. The first 12 lines of this poem follow the iambic tetrameter exhibited most clearly by the first 4 lines.

Throughout the story, Poe uses symbols such as the rooms, the masked figure, and the clock

to convey the theme that no one can escape death

. The image of the rooms used in the story has a main contribution to the theme being conveyed. Prince Prospero's abbey consists of seven different and symbolic rooms.

For Fortunato, Amontillado symbolizes

pleasure and enjoyment

.. He would probably do just about anything for it, but it betrays him. This is basically what led Amontillado to his tragic death, if he would have been sober he would not have fell for Montresors tricks.

  • Simile. A simile is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things and uses the words “like” or “as” and they are commonly used in everyday communication. …
  • Metaphor. A metaphor is a statement that compares two things that are not alike. …
  • Hyperbole. …
  • Personification. …
  • Synecdoche. …
  • Onomatopoeia.

Find Connecting Words


Look for the words “like” or “as” to find a simile, and look for the word “is” to find a metaphor

. When you see those words, take a step back and look at what they are connecting. If two things are being compared, you might have a simile or a metaphor.

The first instance of personification is

in stanza two when the narrator describes the embers in the fire as projecting their ghosts upon the floor

. Of course, embers are inanimate. They do not have souls, so they cannot have ghosts. But this is the literal view of the words' meanings.

When Louise hears the news that her husband, Brently, has died, she weeps uncontrollably, and the story uses the metaphor of

a storm

to suggest that Louise's grief is a natural force that's overwhelming, larger-than-life, and uncontrollable. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms.

Poe's work was likely inspired by

his own tragic childhood

; both of his parents died while he was very young, and his foster mother passed away when he was 20.

Amira Khan
Author
Amira Khan
Amira Khan is a philosopher and scholar of religion with a Ph.D. in philosophy and theology. Amira's expertise includes the history of philosophy and religion, ethics, and the philosophy of science. She is passionate about helping readers navigate complex philosophical and religious concepts in a clear and accessible way.