Lessons from Poe

Edgar Allen Poe's The Masque of the Red Death is truly a masterpiece of classic horror. I learned a lot from this short story about language in horror writing, the value of foreboding terror, and the importance of atmosphere.

Poe uses a combination of words in The Masque of the Red Death to signal to his audience that they are reading a horror story. He does this from the very first lines of the story, where he instills terror in the reader by describing the symptoms of The Red Death in horrific detail. The passage reads,

"No pestilence has ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal--the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim..." (Poe, 17)

Poe's uses words like "fatal", "hideous", "blood", and "scarlet stains"to paint a very gruesome picture. These words triggers a reaction from the reader and lets the reader know exactly what kind of story they are reading. By using frightening words in his description of The Red Death, Poe creates from the very start of his story, a sense of the foreboding terror that awaits.

The Masque of the Red Death

Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Masque of the Red Death." The Short Story: 30 Masterpieces. Ed. Beverly      Lawn. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print. Excerpt from The Short Story: 30 Masterpieces. New York: St. Martin's Press , 1992. 17-22.