Symbols of Edgar Allan Poe

The Eye• Considered to be the window of the soul

• A way to see into someone; to know what they are thinking

The Heart.

• The physical pump of the body that sustains life

• The center of all feeling and experience

• Poe places more emphasis on the heart (emotion/experience) than the head (reason/logic)

Unnamed Narrator• Tells the story rather than Poe-

•It’s not meant to be Poe- it leaves the reader to interpret

•It’s usually first person, which makes the reader’s connection to the story more intimate

•Could be the “common man”—anyone!

• Some are sane and some are insane

Dreams and Dreaming• A portal/door to the

inner workings of the mind

• Question whether they are awake or dreaming

• Do they dream to remember, or dream to forget?

Duality of Man•The idea that there are two sides to every person- depictions of how the human mind works heightens a reader’s connection to the story

•Often a rivalry between self, usually sane, and some alter ego, usually insane

•An internal conflict of good versus evil

•In Poe’s stories, evil usually wins—insanity overtakes sanity

Animals • Often uses: a

black ape, raven, cat, serpent, or vulture

• He hints that these animals have some magical or evil powers

•Some are intelligent and tricky

•They are also scavengers.

Supernatural Beauty & Love• Idealizes love and puts it/the

person on a pedestal

• The “beauty” is almost too perfect or divine for this world, speaker is obsessed

• Young, innocent, unattainable – and frequently dead!

•Personification of the memory of someone, even after death. Love has no boundaries…•*** This mostly occurs in his poems

Puzzles and Puzzles and HoaxesHoaxes• Uses puzzles in his Uses puzzles in his

detective storiesdetective stories

•Often very logical Often very logical

• Early readers thought the Early readers thought the stories were real; they were stories were real; they were actually fake hoaxesactually fake hoaxes

The kVortex• Traveling downward

• use of catacombs

• Endless spiral out of control

Time• Uses of significant hours: 3:00, 6:00, 9:00, and Midnight

• References to clocks

• Uses dusk and daybreak

• “The witching hour” meaning midnight

Premature Burial/Suffocation.

• Associated with the deaths of many of his real-life loved ones

• Death is painful and difficult

•The victims are often unprepared for this death (Even if they are aware it could happen, it still catches them by surprise)

• The person is dressed like a clown to represent being a joker or a fool

The Jester

The idea of being consumed…

• The dread of being consumed or mutilated

• Eyes and teeth- their ability to “take in” (or consume) objects