INSPIRATION SOURCE

Firstly,I want to express my gratitude for such a new and interesting activity as a blog. I've got used to study online and I find it very convenient.This project gives me a brilliant opportunity to expand my horizons in the course of stylistics and to enjoy the beauty of English language. Thank you for your cooperation and interaction)I' m looking forward to some new innovations from you.

The abundance of stylistic devices in Poe's horror stories

Edgar Poe is the master of imagery and the greatest genius of the literary world. To immerse readers into a somber atmosphere and convey the main idea of the story the author resorts to various stylistic devices.  To render the essential symbols of the story Poe uses vivid examples of personification such as: "Time", "Beauty", "Darkness", "Decay", "Death". Moreover, all these notions are deliberately capitalized to draw readers' attention. One more example of personification concerns the ghastly disease which is compared to a living creature: "the pestilence raged furiously". These are the integral categories of  human existence which rule our lives. It's a meaningless task to rebel against these immortal almighty authorities.The highly expressive set of epithets is used to depict the luxurious abbey and the insane splendor of the court : "august taste", "deep seclusion", "madman fashion", "delirious fancies", "voluptuous scene", "gaudy, fantastic appearance ". The astonishing beauty of the castle and it's glaring  сhic are highlighted by means of periphrases: "the creation of the prince's own eccentric,yet august taste". The same function serves the usage of the framing repetition, enumeration and asyndeton in the sentence: "There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. " By means of metonymy Poe turns the gay crowd of knights and dames  into faceless "maskers" and "costumes".The general atmosphere of terror and tensity is intensified by the following metaphors; "the redness and the horror of the blood", "the masquerade license of the night ", "the impulse of despair", "the iron voice of the clock", "the brazen lungs of the clock". The numerous cases of inversion emphasize people's fear of death and hopes that: "Without was the "Red Death.""   However, in the end The Red  Death  is presented by means of simile as a quiet, cold-blooded, deft criminal who steals our souls: "He had come like a thief in the night. "

The Main Characters

The characters we meet in Poe's literary work are  the prince Prospero (the protagonist of the story) and the figure of The Red Death (the antagonist) - a nightmarish disease which devastated the country. To reveal the characters Poe gives them quite suggestive symbolic names. Prince Prospero's name recalls both the terms for wealth and the Shakespearean magician of "The Tempest" who without any doubts abandons his land and escapes from death with a thousand of noblemen. So, at the very beginning we understand that Prospero is destined to be flawed. He runs away when his kingdom needs him desperately which shows  his cowardice and indifference to others. The abyss of his ignorance is revealed by his silly attempts to play tricks on Her Majesty Death. On the other hand, there is something madly heroic and dignified in his efforts to conquer  the Red Death. Prospero definitely has the  strength of spirit  but he wastes it in his hedonistic entertainments and the constant pursuit of pleasures. The figure of the Red Death is a very complicated and sophisticated image. It's the embodiment of hollowness... darkness...It has no tangible forms except the costume and mask but we feel it' aura everywhere. On the one hand, the Red Death dispenses justice over the sinners and punishes the fools who deserve it. But also it massacres thousands of innocent creatures and brings only decay and tortures to the mankind. By means of narrative description with implied judgement the author vividly depicts the personages of the story.

Poe' s Macabre Plot...

   "The Masque of the Red Death" is  an allegoric story about the human eternal desire to avoid death and the absolute futility of such miserable efforts.We can easily view the Prince's masquerade ball as an allegory for the inevitable procession of life into death. Prospero's seven rooms are the eloquent symbols of the seven periods of his life. It can be easily proved by the fact that the first room is located on the eastern side of the corridor, and the eastern side is usually associated with the sun rising or with the commencement of life. The most horrible seventh room is located on the  west side of the corridor, in the direction of the setting sun or the inescapable death. Black and red colours in the last chamber create an oppressive, gloomy atmosphere and remind us of blood, nightmares and sufferings.

   The careless Prince with his loud company  attempt to defeat their fears of the Red Death that has taken away millions of innocent people. In the abbey they hide from the terrifying  Red Death and constantly invent various funny activities to engage themselves. The ignorant "party-goers" have shut themselves in the golden cage refusing to face the truth and fight against the circumstances. But the Red Death follows them  off the reel reminding about her presence by means of the never-ending stokes of the clock. When the clock strikes midnight, indicating the end of the day and  consequently the end of a human existence, the figure of the Red Death appears on the threshold. Prospero's orders to seize, unmask, and hang the terrible enemy emphasize three aspects of death that cannot be changed. To seize death would be to prevent it from doing harm, to unmask it would be to show its secrets, and to hang it would be to kill it. It is clearly impossible to do any of these three, and accordingly, when the crowd manages  to overcome its fear and tries to catch the mystical figure, they find nothing to grasp.When faced with the figure of the Red Death, Prospero is rooted to the floor  in the first room at first but then  he gets into the seventh room, where he dies, caught at last by the fatal Red Death.

  The events in the analysed story are presented in a  detailed way, that contributes to our highly sensitive perception of the plot. From the point of view of presentation the text is the 3^rd person narrative.Poe uses this technique  to make the story more objective and free from any personal attitude for the readers to evaluate the actions and sayings of the personages and come to their own conclusions.The contextual type of the story under consideration is the author’s narrative description.

The Red Masque of the Red Death

  Having read a quite suggestive title of the story I associated it at once with some disastrous and terrible happenings in the life of the main personages. Undoubtedly, my expectations were confirmed if not even surpassed.  Death, Horror, Blood, Inevitability, Darkness, Hollowness...The head is spinning because of all these mystical unearthly matters.  However, the challenge is accepted. No steps back.

   Edgar Allan Poe thoroughly elaborated the setting of the story. A  "crenellated abbey ", an "extensive and magnificent structure ", an isolated palace  is the place where the events take place in the story. Having been in seclusion for 5 or 6 months in the realm of Beauty and Wealth, people completely forgot about the outer world with its' hazards and sufferings. Those six luxurious chambers substituted the whole Universe for the prince and his devoted knights and dames of the court. But...What was there in the seventh room? What was patiently waiting for such a life-thirsty company there?What mysteries were hidden in that fantastical residence of Red and Black?  

   

“A Bird Came Down the Walk” byEmily Dickinson

I have found one very interesting picture presentation of this poem and I'd like to share it with you. Enjoy)

http://zenpencils.com/comic/99-emily-dickinson-a-bird-came-down-the-walk/

The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?

Edgar Allan Poe 

Edgar Allan Poe - an insane genius, an obsessed artist, a passionate revolutionist who turned the world upside down creating his literary masterpieces: "The Fall of The house of Usher", "The Raven", "The Black Cat", "The Masque of the Red Death", "Elonora" and many others. Making tangible contributions to the development of the genres of horror and science fiction, Poe is considered to be the father of the modern detective story and highly lauded as a master of lyrics. His thrilling, sometimes macabre, psychologically tense works touched the deepest reaches of his reader's soul. Isn't this unique personality  worth admiration of the whole Universe? 

The Mysterious World of Edgar Allan Poe

http://www.americanliterature.com/author/edgar-allen-poe/short-story/the-masque-of-the-red-death

Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling at once five balls in the air. Let's name them - work, family, friends, health and spirit. You are keeping all of them in the air. You are trembling like an aspen leaf because it's unbearably difficult to strive the right balance. Quite soon you will understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other 4 balls are made of glass. If you drop one of them, they will be irrevocably scuffed, damaged and shattered. They will never be the same. Edgar Allan Poe - a prominent American writer and a tremendously popular creator of a new literary genre - a horror story- played the same breathtaking game juggling 5 balls in the air and... he failed. He was defeated, conquered by his own self. He dropped all the balls except the rubber one- his last refuge that made him live and pave the way for his incontestable genius. 

Being greatly impressed by the talent of this literary virtuoso, I have chosen  for my project his short story "The Masque of the Red Death".

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