Edgar Allan Poe and His Use of Literary Devices | Teen Ink

Edgar Allan Poe and His Use of Literary Devices

May 28, 2008
By Anonymous

Literary devices are a major part of writing. A good author will use literary devices to bring the reader into what they are reading. When an author does this, the reader begins to feel and think as the characters feel and think. This is what Poe does to a reader when he whites a story. Poe’s use of anadiplosis, bomphiologia, chronographia, enargia and other literary devices helps the reader to embrace the characters.
Poe uses a good amount of anadiplosis. This is when the last word or words in a sentence is used as the first word or words in the next sentence. To understand this, you do not have to look far into hi writing. Some examples of this can be found in “The Pit and the Pendulum” when Poe writes “…That I could not force my Imagination to regard as unreal. Unreal-Even while I breathed…” (The Pit and the Pendulum, NP). “For the moment at last, I was free. Free and in the grasp of the inquisition…” (The Pit and the Pendulum, NP).

Poe also uses a device known as bomphiliogia. Bomphiliogia is bombastic, pompous speech such as “Very suddenly there came back to my soul motion and sound-the tumultuous motion of the heart, and, in my ears, the sound of its beating. Then a pause in which all is blank. Then again sound, and motion, and touch…” (The Pit and the Pendulum, NP). He especially uses it in “The Pit and the Pendulum”, although it he uses it throughout his work.

Enargia is another literary device used by Poe. Enargia is a vivid description of something. A person can see that he uses it throughout his work, but he uses it most often in his creative short stories. The way he describes the torture chamber in “The Pit and the Pendulum” is a good example of energia. He does this when he writes “I now observed-with what horror it is needless to say-that its nether extremity was formed of a crescent of glittering steel, about a food in length from horn to horn; the horns upward, and the under edge evidently as keen as that of a razor...appended to a weighty rod of brass…” (The Pit and the Pendulum)
This helps the reader to feel as though they too are in the torture chamber. Many of his poems also show use of it.
Another device he uses is chronographia. This is a type of enargia. He does this when he talks about time using a very drawn on approach. “Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made a circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock…a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour…” (The Masque of the Red Death, NP).
Poe also uses a kind of soraismus in his writing. Soraismus is “the mingling of languages either through ignorance or a desire to show off” (Zimmerman, NP). He uses this in “The Gold Bug”. In this he writes, “No, dat he aint!-he aint find nowhar-dat’s just whar de shoe pinch-my mind is got to be berry hebby bout poor Massa Will.” (The Gold Bug, NP). He uses this because it give the reader a sense of how the character talks. Poe writes “
Poe also uses Chaismos to spice up his writing. He does this by saying one thing in one sentence, then saying the same thing flipped around in the next sentence. An example of this is
“When the boy kicked the ball, he fell”. The next sentence would say something like “the boy fell when he kicked the ball”.

Symbolism is also a great part of Poe’s writing. He masters it in his every work. In “The Pit and the Pendulum”, the whole story symbolizes the dark and rough time in the torture chambers. In “The Black Cat”, the cat symbolizes a kind a hatred that people keep bottled up. INJ the story His hatred toward the cat grows and he finally turns to drastic measures. In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the beating heart represents a person’s conscience after they have done a terrible deed. “I felt that I must scream or die! and now-again!-hark! louder! louder! louder! Louder!” (The Tell-Tale Heart, NP) is an example of the beating heart.
One of the other literary devices that Poe uses is personification. Personification is used to give a lifelike description of an object. Personification is on e of the literary devices that bring his writings to life. For instance, “…weighty rod of brass, and the whole hissed as it swung through the air.” (The Pit and the Pendulum, NP) is one example. Another example is “In the centre yawned the circular pit from which jaws I had escaped; but it was the only one in the dungeon”. In “The Lake: To-“Poe uses some personification to personify the night. For example, “Of a wild lake, with black rock bound, And the tall pines that towered around. But when the Night had thrown her pall Upon that spot, as upon all,” (The Lake: To-, NP). Another example in the same poem is,”Death is a poisonous wave”.
“For instance, up to now I have counted twenty-three types of devices of balance, including antanagoge, three kinds of doublets (antithetic, pleonastic and range), triplets (and other kinds of seriation), antimetabole, inclusio, and palindrome… I have also catalogued nearly two dozen devices of description, from anemographia to triplets adjectival and adverbial, and conclude that Poe is a highly descriptive writer… Additionally, I have enumerated three dozen types of emotional appeal and other devices of vehemence--no surprise to those well acquainted with the prose and poetry of the passionate and histrionic Poe (Zimmerman, NP)”.
Anadiplosis, bomphiologia, chronographia and enargia greatly influence Poe’s writing style. Using these and many other types of literary help bring his writing to life. He uses this and his imagination to create high quality work. The way Poe uses them to recreate the stories inthe readers mind makes him a very popular writer in American literature. Scholars continue to study his work and his use of literary devices.


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This article has 35 comments.


LN21511 said...
on Mar. 7 2011 at 3:50 am

The articles are so good and helps me know a lot of things about his works such his best writings .this is one of the best works or writings for me....!!!!

 


pmkenzie said...
on Feb. 24 2011 at 3:58 pm
pmkenzie, ,, Other
0 articles 11 photos 20 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love." - Professor A. Dumbledore

And so did you. :P

*write


Lily said...
on Feb. 19 2011 at 9:12 pm
u spelled right wrong in the third line

on Dec. 27 2010 at 10:15 am
SpringRayyn PLATINUM, Lakeville, Minnesota
34 articles 2 photos 658 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Don't punish yourself," she heard her say again, but there would be punishment and pain, and there would be happiness too. That was writing."
--Markus Zusak, "The Book Thief"

I would have never known any of those literary devices except personification. I might have used them without knowing what they were called, but now I do know. Nice work!

on Dec. 9 2010 at 3:32 pm
very good and well written

Julz101 SILVER said...
on Dec. 5 2010 at 1:23 pm
Julz101 SILVER, Poughkeepsie, New York
8 articles 50 photos 3 comments
Our school just did a whole bunch of things on Poe. This is great!

JessAryn said...
on Nov. 13 2010 at 8:38 am
JessAryn, Fifield, Wisconsin
0 articles 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
If god brings you to it, he will help you through it.

This was a very very good article! I absolutely LOVE Edgar Allan Poe. I did notice alot of simple spelling and grammar mistakes in this article though. just saying....

on Nov. 7 2010 at 7:41 pm
VERY well written. Helped me alot.

on Aug. 17 2010 at 11:31 pm
SamIsSmiling GOLD, Rimbey, Alabama
10 articles 0 photos 36 comments

Favorite Quote:
"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." Albert Einstein

Amazing job. I was taking notes :P

on Jul. 26 2010 at 8:03 pm
deus-ex-machina14 BRONZE, Stewartsville, New Jersey
1 article 0 photos 439 comments

Favorite Quote:
"There are two main tragedies in life. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it." -Oscar Wilde

Loaded with good, strong facts and sensible opinion. Good job!

HelloLove said...
on May. 21 2010 at 11:08 am
HelloLove, Dexter, Michigan
0 articles 0 photos 68 comments

Favorite Quote:
Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! How I wonder what you're at.
-Hatter
Tut, tut, child! Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it.
-Dutchess

very well written! I love it. :)

<3E.A.Poe<3 said...
on May. 6 2010 at 11:16 am
Love this.

neimyne BRONZE said...
on Apr. 7 2010 at 8:40 pm
neimyne BRONZE, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
3 articles 3 photos 27 comments
Very informative! I will certainly look back to this as a reference.

niza carl said...
on Dec. 14 2009 at 9:51 pm
thank alot..helps me in my assignment

superkid48 said...
on Nov. 12 2009 at 11:59 am
This is a very good article on Edger's use of literary devices. A lot of information. Nice job.