A few weeks ago I shared some of what I’ve learned about Edgar Allan Poe’s literary style. Here’s the post. This week I wanted to share a little more about what I’ve learned about Poe’s short stories. 

While Poe’s reputation as a master of the macabre is well-earned, to label him only as a horror writer misses the creativity that makes his short stories fascinating. Poe helped to popularize so many of the genres we continue to hold dear, such as Gothic, horror, and suspense. He also essentially created the detective story. Beyond the ghoulish plots, he wove a rich tapestry of literary elements that continue to captivate readers and inspire writers. 

What makes a Poe story a Poe story?

The Unreliable Narrator 

One of Poe’s main contributions to the short story form is his use of the unreliable first-person narrator. He places us directly inside the mind of characters whose sanity is questionable, whose perceptions are skewed, or whose motives are deeply flawed. Or all of the above.

How about the chilling precision of the narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” who insists on his sanity even as he plans and executes a murder motivated by an evil eye and then confesses all to the police? Or the tormented narrator of “The Cask of Amontillado,” who calmly recounts his perfect revenge as if it were an everyday thing to do? By seeing the world through a distorted lens, Poe doesn’t tell a simple story. He creates an unsettling experience where the reader is forced to question the narrator’s ability to tell the truth. 

Terror of the Soul

Poe’s horror often isn’t about jump scares or external monsters like Freddy Krueger. Instead, Poe delves into the deepest recesses of the human psyche, exploring guilt, obsession, and paranoia, as well as the slow unraveling of the mind.

In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Roderick Usher’s heightened senses and decaying mental state are as terrifying as his sister’s eventual return from the dead. Or maybe she isn’t dead. We aren’t sure. “The Black Cat” follows a man’s descent from beloved pet owner to alcoholic murderer, driven by a grotesque spirit of perverseness. Poe called this the Imp of the Perverse. He understood that most chilling horrors reside within us, which helps his stories resonate on a deeply unnerving level.

Precision in Emotion

I spoke in my previous post about Poe’s belief in the “single effect” theory. By the single effect, Poe meant that every word, every phrase, and every element of a short story should contribute to evoking one dominant, overwhelming emotion or impression in the reader. 

Poe meticulously crafted his narratives to achieve this singular impact. There are no unnecessary details, no wasted words, and everything serves the overarching emotional goal, making his stories incredibly immersive. You feel as if you are standing alongside his characters as you read.

Atmosphere as a Character 

Poe’s settings are rarely just backdrops. His settings feel like living, breathing entities that reflect and influence the characters’ internal states. The setting can become extensions of the characters’ minds or active participants in their torment.

The crumbling House of Usher, which seems sentient with its fungi-covered stones and dark tarn, is as much of a character in the story as Roderick and Madeline. The claustrophobic, torturous confines of the dungeon in “The Pit and the Pendulum” amplify the protagonist’s terror. Poe’s descriptions don’t just set the scene. They create a palpable sense of psychological entrapment.

Pioneering the Detective Story 

Poe pretty much invented the modern detective story. His character C. Auguste Dupin, who appears in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Mystery of Marie Roget,” and “The Purloined Letter,” set the groundwork for the countless literary sleuths who came after him, including Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle was inspired by Poe, and Holmes shares many traits with Dupin.

Dupin relies on keen observation, deduction, and an understanding of human psychology to solve crimes. Poe was a noted puzzle-solver himself, and he would ask readers of the newspapers where he worked to send in puzzles. Apparently, he never found one he couldn’t solve. 

Not Everyone’s Cup of Tea

I’m aware that not everyone loves Poe. When I was reading his work, I could appreciate much of it for being the precursor to many of our beloved modern genres. Still, there were times when I felt his style was extremely repetitive, even monotonous, to the point of being predictable.

Harold Bloom, one of my favorite literary critics, was not a fan. While I was researching Poe, I discovered the Edgar Allan Poe edition of Bloom’s Modern Critical Views, where Bloom questions Poe’s writing ability and place in the canon of American literature. In later years, Bloom decided that perhaps he had been intolerant in his earlier considerations of Poe, and he revised his earlier harshness, a bit. Chris Power in The Guardian concurred with Bloom by saying that Poe was “no prose stylist.”

Perhaps Poe relied too much on strict structures of prose and poetry, and perhaps he stuck too closely to his idea about the single effect, to the point where his prose can feel overly simplistic. Even Bloom conceded Poe’s ability to peer into the darkest corners of the human mind and craft narratives that evoke powerful emotions. Poe’s unique blend of imagery and emotion ensures his place as one of literature’s most fascinating figures. Whether you like his work or not, Poe has influenced, and continues to influence, many well-known writers.

References

“A Brief Survey of the Short Story: Edgar Allan Poe” by Chris Power

“Neither Life Nor Death: Poe’s Aesthetic Transfigurations of Popular Notions of Death” by Ruth Mayer

Edgar A. Poe by Kenneth Silverman

“Analysis of Poe’s Death Theme in the Short Stories” by Lin Xiabon

Categories: Creative Writing, Research, Writing, Writing InspirationTags: creative writing, creative writing inspiration, Fascinating elements of Poe’s short stories, researching Edgar Allan Poe, writing, writing inspiration, writing tips