Though well known for works such as: Annabel Lee, The Raven, The Tell Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado, Poe is also recognized as being the creator of Gothic writing. Poe's Gothic writing style primarily focused around the themes of death and mourning which lands him a place in the dark romanticism genre. His extreme writing style separates him from other writers as his dark tone creates him a space in a genre of his own. ... Another reason Edgar Allan Poe is the master mind behind literature as we know it today is because of his incredible use of irony and symbolism. In order to cr...

• Word Count: 1445
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The irony contained within the title "Essential Beauty" is that the beauty is an illusion, and underneath all the billboards that "block the ends of streets with giant loaves" there is a harsh reality, only hidden behind the images of aspiration. ... The image of the upper ("crust") class family - "the white clothed ones from tennis clubs"- is meant to portray another ideal of a family, however, the reality is the "boy puking his heart out in the Gents" showing that the family is just as dysfunctional as the rest of society. ... However, there are many ways to interpret these lines and the wom...

• Word Count: 414
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Black can be interpreted as to represent the entire spectrum of corrupt behavior, where a character such as Abigail is often associated with darkness, threatening to attack the other girls "in the black of night," and the stain on her name and reputation. ... At the end of Act three Proctor exclaims, "When you know all in your black hearts God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together!... There is a vast extent of dramatic irony used that intensifies emotions of suspense for the reader. ... This dramatic irony serves two purposes. ... Miller intensified ...

• Word Count: 1145
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The last paragraph of the story lends more credence to the fact that he is a psychopath in which he tells us "[his] heart grew sick – on account of the dampness of the catacombs." ... The main character of the story, Emily Grierson, was raised by her father, who was a very controlling man; he chased away all of her potential suitors when she was young because they were not wealthy enough; the irony being that her family had lost their money and were no longer as highly regarded as they once were. ... These three stories have similar components; while Poe and Faulkner both use of dark hum...

• Word Count: 799
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Brown provides readers with narratives of daily life on the plantations, at slave auctions and during the dark hours of individual pain but what makes his narratives so unique is his constant reference to all these situations in the paradoxical realm of democracy and religion. It is very eye opening to read of Brown's harsh condemnation of the religious basis and justification of slavery in the south when he (on more than one occasion) highlights the irony of the mistreatment of blacks by their white masters. ... Brown always felt in his heart that he should be free and vowed to "not...

• Word Count: 541
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The irony found here in American history is that the country gained their freedom and equality from Britain, and was now fighting the same war against them. ... Perhaps the greatest irony is the fact that the southern states now wanted to be free, and separate from the northern states. ... It was truly a test of the heart of the United States as to whether or not it could overcome such a trying time. ... The Civil War was, and still is, a very dark point in American History. ...

• Word Count: 1438
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Such distinctions become blatantly obvious in the books Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt and Into That Darkness, written by Gitta Sereny. ... Hannah Arendt, through her use of black humor and bitter irony, portrays Adolf Eichmann not as a Nazi mastermind, but instead as a mentally dim and mediocre beurocrat. ... After the fall of the Third Reich, many Nazi's attempted to defend their actions by claiming an "inner emigration", meaning that while their physical beings were following orders and committing genocide, their "true hearts and souls" were not present and therefore not guil...

• Word Count: 1385
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

On the contrary, the illustrations in Blake's original plate for "Infant Sorrow" are contrastingly in a dark room. ... The dramatic irony in this poem makes the boys seen even more pitiful and also creates a tone of naivety. ... In the "Nurse's Song" from Songs of Innocence, "the voices of children" (Line 1) is described laughter "heard on the hill" (Line 2), and it set the nurse's heart "at rest" (Line 3) where "everything else is still" (Line 4). ... What is more, the situations of each poem is in absolute contrast w...

• Word Count: 1939
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Small lies/secrets such as these escalate throughout the play where Ibsen reveals a much bigger and darker secret which Nora is hiding from her husband. ... This is dramatic irony as we as the audience know that Nora is in fact, saving the money she receives, as opposed to Torvald's assumptions of her 'spendthrift' ways. ... Kate says cruel words to Ann when she asks her to absolve Chris of any guilt and give her blessing; "The night he gets into your bed, his heart will dry up that's your lif...

• Word Count: 1949
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

A whole subcontinent was picked up without half trying Images of the British raj in India are everywhere of late. On television reruns, the divided rulers of Paul Scott's Jewel in the Crown sip their tea in scented hill stations and swap idle gossip in the palaces of local princes. At movie houses,...

• Word Count: 5127
• Approx Pages: 21
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips'5. ... Seen as an avenging servant of God, he represents the rival to Dracula, who is often likened to the Devil: 'His eyes flamed red with devilish passion'9, and thus seeks to end the Manichaean conflict between light and dark. ...

• Word Count: 4055
• Approx Pages: 16
• Grade Level: Undergraduate