Attention Grabber: Edgar Allan Poe is an American author best known for his tales of mystery Connection: He has written numerous short stories and of those many are about horror. Sentence that flows: In the “Pit and the Pendulum” Poe demonstrates his skills of creating mood and suspense. Thesis: Edgar Allan Poe’s expertise in creating mood and suspense in best seen through his use of imagery, symbolism, and word choice 2. Body Par Topic: Poe uses imagery by using an object that is not really there in order to create a visual comparison Example: “I gasped and struggled at each vibration.
I shrunk convulsively an its every sweep. My eyes followed its outward or upward whorls with the eagerness of the most unmeaning despair; they closed themselves spasmodically at the descent… ” (Poe 298). Explanation: Poe creates this image in one’s head. When thought about the pendulum being swung around his body creates fear in the readers mind. Poe does this on purpose. Example: “These shadows of memory tell, indistinctly, of tall figures that lifted and bore me in silence down-down-still down-till a hideous dizziness oppressed me at the mere idea of the interminableness of the descent” (Poe 292).
Explanation: Poe uses this phrase to have the reader feel for the prisoner and also to create suspense. Summary: Poe imagery as a strong point to create mood and suspense 3. Body Par Topic: Symbolism is a literary device that can be used for creating mood and suspense. Example: “The first stoke of the razor-like crescent athwart any portion of the band could so detach it that it might be unwound from my person by means of my left hand. But how fearful, in that case, the proximity of the steel! The result of the slightest struggle, how deadly! ” (Poe 298).
Explanation: The pendulum is symbolic because it represents the time remaining for the narrator to survive. Example: “I put forward my arm, and shuddered to find that I had fallen at the very brink of a circular pit, whose extent, of course, I had no means of ascertaining at the moment, Groping about the masonry just below the margin, I succeeded in dislodging a small fragment and let if fall into the abyss” (Poe 294,295). Explanation: The pit is symbolic because it represents hell, a place no one wants to go Summary: The pit and the pendulum create suspense while both have symbolic meanings 4.
Body Par Topic: With the right word choice the mood and suspense can be seen through Poe’s word choice Example: Poe talks about “the condemned to death… ” (Poe 293). Explanation: This word choice is a example of for shading while also creating a mood for the reader to think about. Example: “… of stern contempt of human torture” (Poe 290). Explanation: Any reader must feel bad for someone who has been throught torture. Poe knows this and since he knows this it is what makes him an expert at creating mood and suspense. Summary: Through the word choice in stories suspense can be seen 5.
Conclusion: Restated thesis: Imagery, symbolism, and word choice can all be seen as instruments of how Edgar Allan Poe is an expertise in creating mood and suspense First Support: The setting produces a lot of imagery to the reading causing the reader to feel the mood and suspense Second Support: The pit and pendulum represent the symbols Poe uses to create mood and suspense. Third support: Using select words guarantees one to feel scared. Clincher: Edgar Allan Poe uses advance literature and hidden symbols to create mood and suspense that can not be seen in other authors stories.
