The Meaning Behind Our Design

The title of our blog, as you can see, is “Buried Alive In The Stories Of Edgar Allan Poe”. The reason we picked this title was because the act of getting buried alive is a reappearing theme in the stories that we have read by Poe so far. We also thought it was symbolic. We thought it symbolised the reader getting drawn deep into the stories written by Poe.

The font we chose is called “Coming Soon”. We chose this font because not only does it sound creepy, like somebody is going to come find you soon, but also because the visual aspect of the crooked, hand written look and messy design adds an eerie and uncomfortable feel to the blog.

The background that we chose is a picture decaying dead trees in a forest late at night. The main colours in the picture are dark blue and black, accented by a spot of white fog to give it some sort of depth. We chose it because we think it brings out the fear of being a lone with nobody around to help you but also our fear of the unknown.

We picked the best picture possible for each individual post to fit that post. For example, For the post about the story “The Black Cat” we chose a cartoon silhouette of a creepy old man with glasses (Main character) standing be a tree with a cat hanging from a noose. This is a scene straight out of the story itself.

The music we chose are scores from a movie called “Sinister”. We chose these scores because they have a very mysterious and eerie sound to them. There are random noises throughout all the scores which gives the blog that mysterious feel. Also they switch the speaker output for some of the sections of the scores, which means that the sounds fade from right to left to right and so on. It gives you the feeling that something is all around you not just in front of you. The music also goes from soft to loud to soft again very much and at one point there of voices, moaning and almost whispering in your ear, an unknown language until the voice starts screaming. We believe because there are so many random noises that it keeps you on edge the whole time. Just as Poe does, he tried to keep a dark, ghostly feel throughout all his stories.

Flow Like Poe

Cask of Amontilado

 

"He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. I was so pleased to see him, that I thought I should never have done wringing his hand. I said to him--"My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day! But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts" – Cask of Amontillado.

Cask of Amontillado is one of the few gothic short stories from Edgar Allan Poe that flaunts some comedic relief. The quote itself establishes the mood of the story as  a less dramatic story where the main character himself is not the victim of either his actions, actions of others or his morality. Instead, he chooses Fortunato as his victim of revenge and therefore revealing himself as a sadistic character.

The Pit and the Pendulum

“I WAS sick -- sick unto death with that long agony; and when they at length unbound me, and I was permitted to sit, I felt that my senses were leaving me. The sentence -- the dread sentence of death -- was the last of distinct accentuation which reached my ears.” – The Pit and the Pendulum

In my opinion this is the most filled quotation out of all the Poe's stories that I have read, not only does it create doubt in the author through giving us the idea that he is becoming disoriented and how, it also creates suspense by giving the reader doubt that the prisoner may not make it out of the death sentence at all. This leads the story to fill the conventions of the gothic by creating an unreliable narrator as well as stimulating fear within the reader as they become fearful for the prisoner's life and in the end, defines the conventions of gothic literature.

Character Developement in the Black Cat

"I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fiber of my frame." (The Black Cat)

Poe uses this quote from the narrator to develop his character. He does this by showing how the narrator describes himself saying that his original soul was replaced by an alcoholic, "fiendish" one.
The narrator is made to seem out of control with rage. This not only builds his personality but also creates suspense. The reader is given a feeling that some action is about to occur because the narrator is enraged. This is the build up for the crimes which he is about commit and the surprise twist of him hanging his cat. Altogether, this quote give you a great mental image of the monster that this character is turning into and creates the build up component for suspense.  

Establishing the Fall of the House of Usher Setting

“I looked upon the scene before me – upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain – upon the bleak walls – upon the vacant eye-like windows – upon a few rank sedges- and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees – with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream if the reveler upon opium – the bitter lapse into every-day life – the hideous dropping off of the veil.” (The Fall of the House of Usher; Page 21)

This quote is a perfect example of the descriptive tools that Edgar Allan Poe used to set the scene for his gothic short stories. By using the adjectives, "mere", "simple", "bleak", "vacant", "rank", and "decayed" he paints a very detailed image of the eerie mansion and it's surrounding. He also uses expressions such as "utter depression of soul" that create a daunting, gloomy mood. As well, Poe makes us trust and believe that this narrator is reliable by using such keen descriptions of is surrounding environment. Overall, this quote sets the scene and mood brilliantly and establishes credibility in the narrator.