... defend himself for not being insane but his outcome was different: "not confession but self-defense, an attempt to provide a rational account of apparently irrational events and behavior His [sic] aim is to refute [the] claim that he is insane"" (Clemans 630). In "The Black Cat,"" the narrator defending himself, "Yet, mad am I not -- and very surely do I not dream" (Poe ... -Tale Heart"." The old man whose eyes the narrator was afraid of can be Mr. Allan. Poe might have desire if he could kill him [Mr. Allan] but he [Poe] express his desire through his writing. "But he was of a nervous t...

• Word Count: 2343
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Romantic Period. Poe developed a theory that he applied to both his short stories and his poems. Its most basic principle was that in short fiction and poetry, the writer should aim at creating a single and total psychological or spiritual effect upon the reader. The theme or plot of the piece is always subordinate to the author's calculated construction of a single, intense ... into the velvet, I took myself to thinking what this foreboding, solemn, ungraceful, grisly, haggard old bird meant by croaking "Nevermore-(69-72). I sat engaged in guessing this, but did not express a word to t...

• Word Count: 2508
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School