'The Black Cat' - Short Story by Edgar Allan Poe. "The Black Cat" is one of Edgar Allan Poe's most memorable stories.
The tale centers around a black cat and the subsequent deterioration of a man. The story is often linked with "The Tell-Tale Heart" because of the profound psychological elements these two works share. "The Black Cat" first appeared in The Saturday Evening Post on August 19, 1843. This first-person narrative falls into the realm of Horror/Gothic Literature, and has been examined in association with themes of insanity and alcoholism. Following is the complete text for Poe's tragic and horrific tale: The Black Cat For the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief.
From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not uncongenial with my own. Pluto--this was the cat's name--was my favorite pet and playmate. Study Guide. The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. By Edgar Allan Poe 1843 TRUE!
--nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Now this is the point. Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door. I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in bed, crying out --"Who's there? " I kept quite still and said nothing.
Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little --a very, very little crevice in the lantern. It was open --wide, wide open --and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. Edgar Allan Poe Biography. American writer, critic and editor Edgar Allan Poe is famous for his tales and poems of horror and mystery, including "The Raven" and "The Fall of the House of Usher.
" Synopsis Born January 19, 1809, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. Read Edgar Allan Poe books online. Top 10 Creepiest Tales of Edgar Allan Poe. Creepy Edgar Allan Poe.
Can you think of a name more synonymous with spine-tingling macabre literature? A master craftsman of prose and poetry alike, Poe dwells in that dark corner of our literary consciousness, along some creaky corridor laden with dust and cobwebs. Even more than a century on, reading Poe still feels like walking a razor’s edge between grim amusement and irrevocable madness. Here is a list of ten of Poe’s best-known tales and poems. Hop-Frog published 1849 A dwarfish court jester serves as the titular character of this fiendish revenge tale. Edgar Allan Poe. Born in Boston, he was the second child of two actors.
His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died the following year. Thus orphaned, the child was taken in by John and Frances Allan, of Richmond, Virginia. Although they never formally adopted him, Poe was with them well into young adulthood. Tension developed later as John Allan and Edgar repeatedly clashed over debts, including those incurred by gambling, and the cost of secondary education for the young man. Poe attended the University of Virginia for one semester but left due to lack of money. Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the next several years working for literary journals and periodicals, becoming known for his own style of literary criticism. Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and around the world, as well as in specialized fields, such as cosmology and cryptography.
Life and career Early life.