ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
He was born on January 1, 1809 in Boston. He was an american poet, storywriter and critic. In his childhood he had lost his parents. He was brought up in a family of businessman John Allan. He spent years 1815-1820 in England and then he came back to the USA. After misunderstandings with his stepfather he left to Boston, where he anonymously published poem collection Tamerlane and other Poems. In 1830 his stepfather sent him to military academy West Point. Later he had been expelled for neglecting his duties. After that he moved to his relative and married her 13-years old daughter. In 1831 he published his second poem collection Poems. He wrote sketches, stories and reviews. He won a financial prize for his story Manuscript Found in a Bottle. Later in New York he wrote The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym and in Philadelphia Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. In years 1841-1842 he was the editor of Graham`s Magazine and he won another prize for The Gold-Bug story. The poem The Raven secured him a later world fame. In 1847 his young wife died. Poe got in a mental crisis and in 1848 he tried to commit a suicide. He became a drunk and he was involved in fight in a tavern. On October 7, 1849 he died in a hospital in Baltimore. His last collection is The Bells. His poetry is prominent by sense for melody of words and sonorous rhymes. In prose he shows his excellent sense for notion by atmosphere or secret and mystery an ability of precise logical deduction. Stories like The Pit and the Pendulum or A Cask of Amontillado are masterpieces of a literature terror. The moment of terror doesn`t rise from the dark, supernatural powers, but as a result of sophisticated human wrath and this keep an action on a plain of reality. Poe was a master of calculated psychological essence. The most famous Poe`s novelettes which are precedessors of modern novels are: The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Roget, The Gold-Bug and The Purloined Letter. Poe was the first to create a character of detective-amateur, who solved mysterious cases by logical thinking. His Dupin is precedessor of Sherlock Holmes. Poe was also an excellent literary critic. He founded a theory of modern short story. THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH
Main characters: Prince Prospero, “Red Death”
Setting: Story is set in the Middle Ages to one monastery.
The story: The “Red Death” has been destroying the country for a long time.