Choose one of the following topics and write a coherent comparison contrast essay of approximately 3-4 pages (7 to 9 sentences each paragraph):
1) Discuss 2 different types of 1st person narrators and the ways they differ from the writer in “The Oval Portrait” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”.
2)Many of Poe’s most famous works portray individuals who commit crimes. Examining two or three of Poe’s short stories, analyze his depiction of criminals. What are the similarities among the criminals he portrays? What are the differences? Does Poe seem sympathetic in any way toward such people?
3. Tension is a key element of Poe’s stories and poems. Choose one or two of Poe’s works, and analyze the ways in which he builds tension. What sort of literary techniques does he use? How does he manage to increase the reader’s anxiety as the story goes on? You may choose one of Edgar Poe’s stories and “The Raven”. However, for this essay, in the Introduction you need to write about “The Philosophy of Composition”: design, “unity of effect”, prose and poetry, Truth and Beauty, and suspense. While analyzing “The Raven” you must also write about the repetition, the rhyme, alliteration as written in “The Philosophy of Composition”, mostly based on “The Raven”.
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