Everyday Canvas

Poe and Words

Prompt: Edgar Allen Poe said: “Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.” Is this true for you? Do you have to be horrified by reality to be impressed? Or does Poe mean something else? What do you think?

=====================

If we substitute the word horror in the quote with words like emotion, excitement, or intensity, then what the quote says would be true for me because I don’t have to be horrified to be impressed. Knowing me, if I were to be horrified, from fight or flight, I’d choose the flight, and yes, I would probably be more than impressed, too, and probably end up suffering from a kind of mini PTSD.

Words, on the other hand, have definitely a great power, aside from being elements of speech and writing. “In the beginning was the word.” Remember?

It might just be that the words have their own direct energy, and who knows, they may just transform into some kind of magical vibrations to affect us. Come to think of it, wasn’t Hitler some kind of a dark magician to pull the wool over the eyes of his entire nation? Don’t the presidential candidates do the same thing to us regardless of the context of what they say?

The quote, however, reflects Poe’s feelings perfectly to show how he created his spine-chilling and bizarre work, which is also magnificent, brilliant, and beautiful. To say Poe operates from an eerie mood would be understating it; however, through his horrendous descriptions and imagery, he manages to create that very mood in the minds of his readers.

The reality of that “exquisite horror” in Poe’s words owe their impact partially to his great art of foreshadowing, so even before he lays a scene of terror in front of your eyes, you are already in a grim and ominous mood.

As an example here is one of my favorites where Poe’s foreshadowing is concerned.
Now, this, together with the earlier stanzas, is before the raven comes in the poet’s chamber:

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”—
Merely this and nothing more.

Need I say more?