English – Gothic genre
Part A
“Analyse and compare how TWO texts you have studied in class portray elements of Gothic literature.”
In the 18th century the Romanticism movement took place that celebrated the beauty within humans, which later provoked the subgenre of Gothic literature to be invented, which explores the darkness of the human psyche and finds both truth and beauty within the texts. “The Haunted Palace” a poem about a beautiful castle In the valley has been taken over by evil spirits, and “The Raven” about a talking raven's mysterious visit to a depressed lover, who is slowly falling into madness, are both allegorical poems written by the well-known 19th century poet Edgar Allan Poe, who created the movement of the dark romantics. He conveys obvious conventions of Gothic genre through the thematic exploration of mental instability, the portrayal of an isolated, medieval setting and also through the philosophical interplay between heaven, earth and hell. The vast range of conventions used throughout both of these poems work together to create an allegorical text that reflects the human experience.
In both poems the thematic exploration of mental instability is conveyed using allegory. Allegory is when the original reading of a poem can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. In “The Haunted Palace” allegory is used in the quote “And all with pearl and ruby glowing was the fair palace door” This is a metaphor for his mouth, the pearls being his teeth and the ruby being his red lips. A few lines after it says “flowing, flowing, flowing.” That gives imagery of blood when combined with the red ruby lips, as having bright red lips naturally is an unusual feature. This conveys that the man was coming into harms way. Similarly in “The Raven” Poe uses allegory to reveal the madness of the man who has lost his lover Lenore. It is specifically seen in the quote “ And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?” This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”— “ It explores the fact that he knows his lover Lenore has passed yet he still calls out her name as if it could be her tapping at his chamber door. Another technique that exemplifies the mental instability of the narrator is meter. In “The Haunted Palace” trochaic tetrameter (four stressed followed by four unstressed syllables in a line) is used. In this context it uses ...
