The writings of Edgar Allen Poe vs. Stephen King.

Essay by matthill18High School, 12th gradeA+, August 2003

download word file, 5 pages 5.0

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To analyze and compare and contrast the writing styles of Stephen King and Edgar Allan Poe you must look at each one of their backgrounds and forms of writing. Stephen Edwin King is one of the most popular and best selling writers of today. Stephen King's horror can be appealing, as it strikes everyone from Edgar Allan Poe to Chuck Berry (Stine Vol. 26 238)

King is a prolific and popular author of horror fiction. In his works, King blends elements of the traditional gothic tale with those of the modern psychological thriller, detective, and science fiction genres. His fiction features colloquial language, clinical attention to physical detail and emotional states, and realistic contemporary settings that help make supernatural elements convincing. King's wide popularity attests to his talent for creating stories in which he emphasizes the inability to rationalize certain facets of evil in seemingly commonplace situations (Marowski Vol.

37 1).

Stephen King also incorporates the feelings of optimism and his own personal events into his writings. In addition to these ideas, King uses plain imagery and puts it into

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practical everyday places. He also uses symbols and unique characterization (Hegarty 5-6).

Since King's writing style, characterization, and structure isn't extraordinarily good he must find something else that will keep the reader interested. He does this by writing about things that are important to us such as life, family, death, friends, failure, and success. He writes about fears that are in everyone, such as death, animals, and the unknown, so that he can get into the readers head.

"To find the secret of his success, you have to compare King to Poe" (Stine Vol. 26 241).

Two famous writers have ruled the world of death and horror with incredible triumph, both blessed with the talent of...