... assume the form of black cats. For those who believe, they are symbols of bad luck, death, witchcraft, sorcery, and the spirits of the dead. Appropriately, the narrator calls his cat, Pluto, a name that alludes to the Greek and Roman mythology, where Pluto was the god of the ... dead, and ruler of the underworld. As in other Poe stories, biting and mutilation appear. The narrator of "The Black Cat" first becomes annoyed when Pluto " ... inflicted a slight wound upon [the narrator's] hand with his teeth." (p.13) After the cat bites him, the narrator cuts out its eye. Poe relates "eyes" an...

• Word Count: 4324
• Approx Pages: 17
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... rest. At last when he finishes his work he felt appalled and said "this is indeed life itself! "But turned to his wife discovering that "she is dead". First and foremost, the present article, wants to refer to the reason why Poe has written this short story and what has happened to him in his real life ... onto his last hours of being alive, he did not have anything in his mind about life after death, about that undiscovered country that no traveler returns. Maybe he was dead during the course of narrating that volume he found and all was just a dream of his and he wants to become immor...

• Word Count: 3098
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Illustrates, in no uncertain terms, the evolution of Love-associated Madness through poetry, and the Pain of Unrequited Love: "I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my lids and all is born again. (I think I made you up inside my head.) The stars go waltzing out in blue and red, And ... think I made you up inside my head.) God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade: Exit seraphim and Satan's men: I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead. I fancied you'd return the way you said, But I grow old and I forget your name. (I think I made you up inside my head.) I should have l...

• Word Count: 2614
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... past and exotic, social reform in Transcendentalism states one does not need the past, family or society as guides, that society corrupts. Longfellow practically writes just that, "Let the dead past bury its dead! Act- act in the living present."" He says act, act in the present, not the past. Concerning corruption of society: "It is harder because you will always find ... soul drives everything in nature, does not exist in Romanticism. From "A Psalm of Life-, Longfellow conveys the message if you don't listen to your intuition, you will be dead inside. "For the soul is dead that slumbe...

• Word Count: 2626
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

... a story that is interesting and, unlike most of his other tales, has a happy ending. Poe wrote this during the time that his dear Virginia Clemm was still sick, but not dead yet (Poe's Life). The story shows that even when one is an inch from death, mercy may still find them. Poe needed some hope for his love Virginia, as he ... as an "echo whispering back" to him (Lenore in the Raven). When the narrator says, "sorrow for the lost Lenore," it is assumed that Lenore is dead (The Raven). Just as Poe knew that his dear wife Virginia Clemm soon would be, and did, three years later in 1847 (...

• Word Count: 3693
• Approx Pages: 15
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... his poetry. He began writing "Disasters of War", "The Pit and the Pendulum", and "Until Death." All these stories had something to do with death. Poe believed that the dead are not dead to consciousness. His hope that love could transcend death and his "Prescient ecstasy of the beauty beyond the grave", were inspired by the early deaths of his mother, Jane ... ...

• Word Count: 3165
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Happiest Day, The Haunted Palace, Imitation, In Youth I Have Known One, Israfel, Lake "To --, The, The Raven, Romance, Silence, The Sleeper, Song, Sonnet "To Science, Spirit of the Dead, Stanzas, Tamerlane, To -- -- (Not long ago), to F "S. O "D, To Helen (I saw thee once), and To Zante. Some of his tales included; Angel of the Odd "An Extravaganza, The ... ...

• Word Count: 4073
• Approx Pages: 16
• Grade Level: High School

... drink and got him thoroughly drunk before taking him to the voting polls, telling him who to vote for, and then leaving him on the side of the street for dead. He never made it to New York to look for a new place of residence for he died that night of alcohol poisoning. The pain that Poe suffered throughout his life ... ...

• Word Count: 2529
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... . Yet she seems to prophesize her destiny, as only Poe would have it: "I am dying, yet I shall live." The birth of her child brings about her body's decease, however the dead woman's spirit is reincarnated in the body of her daughter when her husband names the child after her, calling her Morella during the Baptism. The young Morella grows up with ... ...

• Word Count: 3026
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... , "your God has sent you with these angels to ease the pain and induce forgetfulness of sorrow from the memories of Lenore; let me gulp this drug and forget the dead Lenore!- (81-83). To which the raven replied, "Nevermore-(84). "Oracle!- said I, "thing of evil! Prophet still, if bird or devil! Whether sent to lure me, or whether to bring ... ...

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