Edgar Allan Poes The Premature Burial :: essays research papers

The Mind vs. the UndeadThe Romantic Era was a time when writers wrote with passion in relation to elements of writing such as the imaginative or supernatural, the improbable, the sentimental, and the horrifying. Edgar Allan Poe was one of the many writers who theatrical roled elements such as these in his writings. Poe was famous for reflecting the dark aspects of his mind in a story, creating detailed imagery challenging the reader. The fantastic and supernatural elements are expressed in The Premature Burial as impossible and in a sense, horrifying. The idea of people walking by and by their believed death is very extreme thinking in a world that seems normal.The writing style of Edgar Allan Poe shows the writer to be of a dark nature. In this story, he focuses on his fascination of being buried alive. He quotes, To be buried alive is, beyond question, the most terrific of these ghastly extremes which has ever fallen to the lot of untainted mortality. page 58 paragraph 3. The dark nature is reflected in this quote, showing the supernatural side of Poe which is reflected in his writing and is also a characteristic of Romanticism. Poe uses very much detail, as shown in this passage, The face assumed the usual pinched and sunken outline. The lips were of the usual marble pallor. The eyes were lusterless. There was no warmth. Pulsation had ceased. For three age the body was preserved unburied, during which it had acquired a stony rigidity. page 59 paragraph 2. The descriptive nature of this writing paints a vivid picture that intrigues the reader to use their imagination and visualize the scene presented in the text. This use of imagery ties with aspects of Romanticism because of the nature of the descriptions Poe uses. Describing the physical features of one who seems dead is a horrifying perspective as not many people thing about the aspects of death.The mind is a very powerful tool when it is exploited to think about situations out of the ordinary. Des cribing in vivid detail the conditions of one after his, her, or its death associates the mind to a world that is filled with horrific elements of a dark nature.