Through reading selected pieces of his work, how does Poe utilize horror in defining his works? The element of death is an obvious presence in his works, but how does the element of death differ from the element of horror?

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2000

Answers

I think death plays a key part in horror, especially Poe's, because so many people are afraid of it. Back in the early 1800s, people weren't as accustomed to death as we are now: they didn't see a bloody corpse in a movie or even in real life as much (hopefully not) as we do in the 90s and 2000s. I believe that we've grown somewhat immune to the whims of gore and staged death in movies. That's probably why... death was much scarier to people in Poe's day and age.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001