Abstract

This paper introduces the American famous writer Edgar Allan Poe’s life and analyzes his well-

known short story “the cask of Amontillado” with a brief introduction of the main content and theme,

also presenting some stylistic features of the article.

Introduction

This stylistic paper aims to analyze some stylistic features of Edgar Allan Poe’s “the Cask of Amontillado” in order to make further analysis of Poe’s particular writing style and I’s specific effect he used on the short story. This study also aims to interpret the literary meaning and aesthetic effect of literary texts linguistically.

Eminent German linguist – critic Leo Spitzer (1887 – 1960), known as the father of literary stylistics, maintains that the smallest detail of language can unlock the “soul” of a literary work, according to him, the task of stylistics is to provide a hard and fast technology of analysis. The image used by Spitzer of the philological circle, the circle of understanding, however, seems to suggest that there is no logical starting point. Spitzer may vary in their approaches to be the analysis of literary texts, the stylistics studies carried out by both, nevertheless, bear solid evidence.

Literary stylistics explains the relation between language and artistic function but as far as the issue of presenting a satisfactory and reliable methodology for prose style is concerned with Spitzer statement. The only way out of this state of unproductivity is to read and reread the text carefully in order for us to understand more the literary piece.

Brief Summary:

The narrator, Montresor, opens the story by stating that he has been irreparably insulted by his acquaintance. Fortunato, and that he seeks revenge, however in a measured way, without placing himself at risk. He decides to use Fortunato’s fondness for whine against him during the carnival season, Montresor, wearing a mask of black silk approaches Fortunato

` He tells Fortunato that he has acquired something that could pass for amontillado. A light Spanish Sherry. Fortunate (Italian for “fortunate”) wears the multi – colored jester, including a one cap with bells, Montresor tells Fortunato that if he is too busy, he will ask a man named Luehesi to taste it. Fortunato apparently considers Luehesi as a competitor and claims that this man could not tell amontillado from other types of Sherry. Fortunato is anxious to taste the wine and determine for Montresor whether or not it is truly amontillado. Fortunate insist that they go to Montresor’s vaults.

Montresor has strategically planned for this meeting by sending his servant away to the carnival. The two men descend in to the damp vaults, which are covered with nitre and saltpeter,

a whitish mineral apparently aggravated by the nitre. Fortunate begins to cough. The narrator keeps offering to bring Fortunato back home, but Fortunato refuses. Instead he accepts wine as antidote to his cough. The men continue to explore the deep vaults, which are full of the dead bodies of the Montresor family. In response to the crypts, Fortunato claims to have forgotten montresor’s family coat of arms and motto. Montresor responds that his family shield portrays “ a huge human foot” d, or in a field azure: the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel. “the motto in latin is, ‘nemo me impune locessit’ ”, that is “”no one attacks me with impunity.

Later in the journey, Fortunato makes a hand movement that is a secret sign of the masons, an exclusive fraternal organization; Montresor does not recognize this hand signal, though he claims that he is a mason. When Fortunato asked for a proof, Montre shows him his trowel, the implication that Montresor is an actual stonemason. Fortunato says that he amust be jesting, and the two men continue onward. The men walked into a crypt, where human bones decorate three of the four walls. The bones from the fourth wall have been thrown on the ground. On the exposed wall is a small recess, where Montresor tells Fortunato that the amontillado is being stored. Fortunato now heavily intoxicated, goes to the back of the recess. Montresor then suddenly chaims the slow – footed a stone.

Taunting Fortunato with an offer to leave, Montresor begins to wall up the entrance to this small crypts, thereby trapping inside. Fortunato screams confusedly as Montresor builds the first player. The alcohol soon wears off and Fortunato moans, terrified and helpless as the layers continue to rise, though Fortunato falls silent. Just as the Montresor is about to finish. Fortunato laugh as if Montresor is playing a joke on him, but Montresor is not joking, at last after a final plea, “For the love of God, Montresor”. Fortunato stops answering Montresor, who then twice calls his enemy’s name. after no response, Montresor claims that his heart feel sick because of the dampness of the catacombs. He fits the last stone into place and plasters the wall closed, his actions accompanied only by the jingling of Fortunato’s bells. He finally repositions the bones on the fourth wall. For fifty years, he writes, no one has disturbed them. He concludes with a latin phrase meaning “may he rest in peace”.

Methodology

Upon reading the story of the cask of amontillado we might be tempted to view Montresor simply as an unreasonable cold – blooded murderer. He presents us with only vague understanding of his motivations and his pretense of good will and careful manipulation of Fortunato the care with which he has planned Fortunato’s cleat, we again have a classic case of Poe’s unreliable narrator, whose guilt and occasional irrationality prevents him from presenting himself truthfully to the reader. However, closer inspection shows that Montresor display’s a particularly black sense of humor, with which he amuses both himself and the horrified reader as he leads Fortunato into his trap. He informs the audience of his intentions before he begins the story of his last encounter with Fortunato, and Poe employs both verbal and dramatic irony to convey the darkness of the story.

Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what the speakers says contrast heavily with the speaker’s actual message. For example, Poe gives the victim the name Fortunato which may mean Fortunate in Italian but adds an extra element of cynical humor to fortunatos social and unsuspecting character. Montresor’s dialogue makes particular use of verbal irony, since he is aware that Fortunato has no idea what awaits him and thus will totally misinterpret Montresor’s word. Montresor tells the victim.

“My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met”Fortunato interprets these word to mean that Montresor is fond of him and is glad to ran into him. Montresor on the orher hand actually despise Fortunato and is only happy to see him because Montresor can now carry out his murderous plans. Furthermore, the word “ luckily ” also recalls the meaning of Fortunato’s name and is thus entirely unfitting for Fortunato’s fate. Other examples of verbal irony include Montresor’s showing trowel to Fortunato’s to prove he is a mason; Montresor is about to become a mason by imprisoning Fortunato, but he is not a free mason because both the audience and montresor are awareof the unfortunate Fortunato’s impending death, dramatic irony also plays a role in the comedy of horror.

Dramatic irony is the result of the disconnect that occurs when a character, namely Fortunato, is not aware of the true meaning of his own actions. The very setting of the story is ironic in that Montresor has chosen the social carnival season to enact his murder because no one will be at his state to witness the crime. Fortunato himself is dressed in a jester’s outfit, and the jingling of his jester’s bells remind us of the atmosphere of happiness and cheer outside the catacombs. Later, as they drink the medoc, Fortunato drinks to the dead and buried, not realizing that he is about to join them and Montresor wryly drinks to Fortunato’s health.

Fortunato does not realize the extent of his danger until he has been chained to the granite, and even then he remains too drunk to completely comprehend what has taken place for some time. After repeatedly insulting Luchresi for his lack of intellect, Fortunato shows himself to be even more dupable fool. Because of Fortunato’s drunken and unsuspicious condition, we do not know if Fortunato would have been any cleverer in his normal state. Nevertheless, by the end of the story, Montresor shows himself to be more villainous and the more intelligent being, as he tells Fortunato, we comes from family with a motto and a coat of arms that indicates a long tradition of revenge and he ignores any pangs of the heart sickness by blaming the damp and shutting Fortunato into the burial ground of his avenging family.

The cask of amontillado we know very little about Montresor’s audience or motivations. The only hint we have comes in the first paragraph, were he implies that his audience already know something of Montresor’s thoughts and personality. The account occurs some 50 years after the event, suggesting that somewhat older Montresor was never discovered and has not greatly changed his opinion that the crime was justified. Montresor has shown himself to be risk averse so his audience so his audience must be someone that he trust. Perhaps a confessor or a relative. Possibly he is at the end of his life and now that he can no longer face any severe consequence, he has decided to tell his story, the ambiguity of the circumstances and Montresor’s escaping of justice lead a sinister done in his story - which is further backed by Poe’s extensive use of irony.

The Author

Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe’s father and mother, both professional actors, died before the poet was three and John and Frances Allan raised him as foster child in Richmond,Virginia. John Allan: a prosperous tobacco exporter, send Poe to the best boarding schools and later to the University of Virginia, where Poe excelled academically. After less than one year of school, however, he was forced to leave the university when Allan refused to pay his gambling debts.

Poe returned briefly to Richmond, but his relationship with Allan deteriorated. In 1827, he moved to Boston and enlisted in the United States Army. His first collection of poems, Tamerlane and other poems was published that year. In 1829, he published a second collection entitled Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and minor poems, neither volume received significant criticator vpublic attention. Following his Army service, Poe was admitted to the United States Military Academy, but he was again forced to leave for lack of financial support. He then moved into the home of his aunt, Mrs. Maria Clemm and her daughter Virginia in Baltimore, Maryland.

Poe began to sell short stories to to magasines at around this time, and in 1835, he became the editor the Southern literary Messenger in Richmond. He brought his aunt and twelve-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm, with him to Richmond. He married Virginia in 1836. Over the next ten years. Poe would edit a number of literary journals including Burton’s Gentlemen’s magazine and Grahams magazine in Philadelphia and the Boadway journal in New York City. He published some of his best known stories and poems including “The fall of the house of Usher”, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The murders in the Rue Morgue”, and “The Raven”.After Virginia’s death from tubercolosis in 1847. Poe’s life-long struggle with depression and alcoholism worsened. He returned to Richmond in 1849 and then send out for an editing job in Philadelphia. For unknown reasons he stopped in Baltimore. On October 3, 1849, he was found in a state of semi – consciousness. Poe died four days late of “acute congestion of the brain”. Evidence by medical pratitioners who re-opened the case has shown that Poe may have been suffering from rabies.

Poe’s work as an editor, a poet, and a critic had a profound impact on american and international literature. His stories mark him as one of the originators of both horror and detective fiction. Many anthologies credit him as the “architect” of the modern short story. He was also one of the first critics to focus primarily on the effect of the style and of the structurein a literary work. As much, heb has been seen as a forerunner to the “art for the art’s sake” movement.

Theoretical Framework

Irony

The cak of amontillado by Edgar Allan poe, 1846, has to be one of the best examples of irony in american literature that I have come across. Irony can be utilized as verbal or dramatic and this story involves both these forms. There are different levels of irony at play in this story. Poe cleverly weaves this story so that he has perfect control of the narrative while allowing the reader some freedom in their own interpretations as well.

The basis of the story “the cask of amontillado is stated best here” the thousands injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured up on insult. I vowed revenge and “A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.”. Essentially it is a tale of revenge. It does not matter that whether or not we know how Fortunato insulted Montresor. The story is quite effective behind it, it allows the reader the freedomfor his or herself what the wrong was.

Here in the first case of irony, while we all that the outcomeof this story. Montresor referes to Fortunato as “my friend” and pretends concern for his healthabouth making the trecks to the vaults as they are ”insufferably damp”. They are encrusted with nitre. “the irony here is that we know that Montresor does not care about the well being of Fortunato. Yet he refers to him as “friend”. Take a look at Fortunato’s name in and of itself. Poe was being destroy here by giving the comment “my dear Fortunato, you are luckily met” is one of the most ironic statement of the whole story, because if he had not run to Montresor at all that fatefull evening, perhaps he would have had much better luck and been much more fortunate.

Conclusion

Through the analysis of the stylistic features of Edgar Allan poe’s story “the cask of amontillado”, it can help the reader more understand the writing style of the author. The author uses specific adjectives and phrase to emphasize his description. Employs some rethorical devices such as figures of speech to make his story more picturesque: also use the special way of “surprise ending” to produce the irony and surprising effect at.

THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO (2,495 words)

By: Edgar Allan Poe

Pronouns: 394 Conjunctions: 368

Nouns: 338 Preposition: 260

Verb: 347 Article: 260

Adverb: 223 Adjectives: 329

Period (.)= 148 Exclamation point (!)= 28 Question mark (?)= 9

Comma (,)= 125 Semi-colon (;) Double dash(--)= 17

Theme

This story is a powerful tale of revenge. Montresor, the sinister narrator of this tale, pledges revenge upon Fortunato for an insult. Montresor intends to seek vengeance in support of his motto “nemo me impune lacessit” “no one assails me with impunity” on the coat of arms, which bears his this motto appears “a huge human foot d’lor, in a field of azure: the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are embedded in the heel”. It is important for Montresor will derive pleasure from the fact that “as Fortunato slowly dies, the thought of his rejected opportunuties of escape will sting him owith unbearacle regret, and as he sobers with terror, the final blow will come from the realization that this craving for the wine has led him to his soom. In the structure, there can be no doubt, that both Montresor’s plan of revenge and Poe’s story are carefully crafted to create the desired effect.

Punctuation Marks

In this story Poe uses predominantly in his story are two dashes mainly because the story is mostly a dialogue. He uses it to give the sentence a break, and to add more emphasis on what’s following it. Poe also does a few times to combine two dashes, two dashes, a semicolon and a comma in the same couple of sentences to break and connect everything.

A good examples of this can be found in lines 4 – 6. This semicolon separates the first part and the middle part of the sentence but Poe uses it there because both sentences before and after the semicolon are very closely related.

He also uses ywo dashes in the dialogue, but he usually does it when someone is interrupted while speaking: or to make the speaker hesitated before saying the next word. Poe uses commas as well to separate sentencesand repetitive things and he uses commas to separate the number of tiers that he is lining up to seal Fortunato’s life. He uses question marks as well whenever ther is a question involved and the same goes for the exclamation mark.

The exclamation mark becomes very noticeable at the end of the story. The exclamation point is very prominent.

Sentences

Poe varies the length of the sentences greatly in the story. He fluctuates so much with the sentence lengths because of all the dialogue he put in the story. The typical type sentence though ranges froem four words, the thirty- three word sentence contains two commas and semicolon in this story. Poe keeps ,ost sentences short, mainly because of the dialogue, but the loonger sentences are kept readable with breaks provided by the commas and the semicolons.

Repetition of Words and Sounds

Repitition can be found in examples such as “ugh” “ugh” and “ha,ha,ha”.. “For the love of God”, near the end. Luchresi cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado and Fortunato is also constant repitition.

Onomatopoeia

“ugh,.. ugh,..ugh,..ugh,..” instead of saying that Fortunato had a cold or was sick, the author used onomatopoeia to show the reader that he ha a cough or was very ill.

First Paragraph

This paragraph consists on Montresor’s confession to the readers as to what he is planning against his so-called friend Fortunato. The main character of this story has some disturbance that has bothered him for a quite sometime. At this point we do not know exactly what Fortunato has really done, but we can percieve the wrath and anger that Montresor alo tells us that his revenge is being carefully planned that is a secret and it is official. Fortunato is going to pay for everything he ever said to Montresor. In Montresor’s opinion the only way to make something bad into something good is to teach the person who bullies or annoys you exactly how

do you feel. Nothing could take the idea away from Montresor, not his money, nor his pallazo, nor his good fortune. He only wants revenge.

Second Paragraph

In the second paragraph Montresor states that in spite of his decision of killing Fortunato, he continued smiling in his face Fortunato’s but he ads and he did not perceive that my smile now was the thought of his immolation so when they meet each other they behave as always but now Montresor’s smile has another meaning for himself.

(other paragraph still in the process of analyzing)

Point of View

The point of view in the cask of amontillado is first person, also called first – person narratives, this style uses “I” or “We”. In first person point of view, the text narrated by a character. We(readers) get the story from Montresor’s point of view.

Using the first person point of view, a writer can choose to give the reader a particular perspective. Montresor does not reveal any detail so this makes him an unreliable narrator. Montresor is vague about why he is so angry with Fortunato. He claims that he has suffered a thousand injuries from Fortunato with the last straw being an “insult”. The story has no information about how Fortunato has wronged Montresor. Montresor insist that his revenge must be dratic but this doesn’t clue the reader in whether or not Fortunato deserves his fate.

Irony

In this story we can find three types of Irony:

Verbal – involves ssaying one thing but opposite

Eg. 1. “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met”

-he did not met his friend by a chance neither Fortunato was “luckily met”

2. “I shall not die of cough” Fortunato (lines 92 -93)

Montresor knowingly replies “true--true”

The reader finds out at the end that this was in fact use of verbal irony because

Montresor kills Fortunato and not his cough.

Examples of Irony

The Title – the word cask meaning wine barrel, is derived from the same root word used to form casket, meaning coffin, thus, the cask figuratively represents Fortunato’s casket.

Fortunato’s Name – the italian name “Fortunato suggests good fortune, luck”, however, Fortunato is anything but fortunate he is going to death.

Fortunato’s costume – Fortunato dresses as court jester. His festive outfit contrasts with the ghastly rate that awaits him from time to time, the bell on his cone – shaped hot jingles – nice comic touch from Poe.

Reference to the Mason – Fortunato asks Montresor whether he is a mason, meaning a member of fraternal order of free mason. Montresor says he is indeed a mason. He is using the word to mean a craftsman who build with stones and mortar and because he will be building Fortunato’s tomb “a stone wall”.

Statement of the Problem

Results and Discussion

Parts

THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO

by Edgar Allan Poe(1846)

THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely, settled --but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.

It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was my in to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my to smile now was at the thought of his immolation.

He had a weak point --this Fortunato --although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity, to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian millionaires. In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack, but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from him materially; --I was skilful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could.

It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. I was so pleased to see him that I thought I should never have done wringing his hand.

I said to him --"My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day. But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts."

"How?" said he. "Amontillado, A pipe? Impossible! And in the middle of the carnival!"

"I have my doubts," I replied; "and I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter. You were not to be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain."

"Amontillado!"

"I have my doubts."

"Amontillado!"

"And I must satisfy them."

"Amontillado!"

"As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchresi. If any one has a critical turn it is he. He will tell me --"

"Luchresi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry."

"And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your own.

"Come, let us go."

"Whither?"

"To your vaults."

"My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you have an engagement. Luchresi--"

"I have no engagement; --come."

"My friend, no. It is not the engagement, but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted. The vaults are insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre."

"Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely nothing. Amontillado! You have been imposed upon. And as for Luchresi, he cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado."

Thus speaking, Fortunato possessed himself of my arm; and putting on a mask of black silk and drawing a roquelaire closely about my person, I suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo.

There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honour of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the morning, and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned.

I took from their sconces two flambeaux, and giving one to Fortunato, bowed him through several suites of rooms to the archway that led into the vaults. I passed down a long and winding staircase, requesting him to be cautious as he followed. We came at length to the foot of the descent, and stood together upon the damp ground of the catacombs of the Montresors.

The gait of my friend was unsteady, and the bells upon his cap jingled as he strode.

"The pipe," he said.

"It is farther on," said I; "but observe the white web-work which gleams from these cavern walls."

He turned towards me, and looked into my eves with two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication.

"Nitre?" he asked, at length.

"Nitre," I replied. "How long have you had that cough?"

"Ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh!"

My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes.

"It is nothing," he said, at last.

"Come," I said, with decision, "we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchresi --"

"Enough," he said; "the cough's a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough."

"True --true," I replied; "and, indeed, I had no intention of alarming you unnecessarily --but you should use all proper caution. A draught of this Medoc will defend us from the damps.

Here I knocked off the neck of a bottle which I drew from a long row of its fellows that lay upon the mould.

"Drink," I said, presenting him the wine.

He raised it to his lips with a leer. He paused and nodded to me familiarly, while his bells jingled.

"I drink," he said, "to the buried that repose around us."

"And I to your long life."

He again took my arm, and we proceeded.

"These vaults," he said, "are extensive."

"The Montresors," I replied, "were a great and numerous family."

"I forget your arms."

"A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel."

"And the motto?"

"Nemo me impune lacessit."

"Good!" he said.

The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy grew warm with the Medoc. We had passed through long walls of piled skeletons, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs. I paused again, and this time I made bold to seize Fortunato by an arm above the elbow.

"The nitre!" I said; "see, it increases. It hangs like moss upon the vaults. We are below the river's bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones. Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your cough --"

"It is nothing," he said; "let us go on. But first, another draught of the Medoc."

I broke and reached him a flagon of De Grave. He emptied it at a breath. His eyes flashed with a fierce light. He laughed and threw the bottle upwards with a gesticulation I did not understand.

I looked at him in surprise. He repeated the movement --a grotesque one.

"You do not comprehend?" he said.

"Not I," I replied.

"Then you are not of the brotherhood."

"How?"

"You are not of the masons."

"Yes, yes," I said; "yes, yes."

"You? Impossible! A mason?"

"A mason," I replied.

"A sign," he said, "a sign."

"It is this," I answered, producing from beneath the folds of my roquelaire a trowel.

"You jest," he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces. "But let us proceed to the Amontillado."

"Be it so," I said, replacing the tool beneath the cloak and again offering him my arm. He leaned upon it heavily. We continued our route in search of the Amontillado. We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame.

At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner. From the fourth side the bones had been thrown down, and lay promiscuously upon the earth, forming at one point a mound of some size. Within the wall thus exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior crypt or recess, in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven. It seemed to have been constructed for no especial use within itself, but formed merely the interval between two of the colossal supports of the roof of the catacombs, and was backed by one of their circumscribing walls of solid granite.

It was in vain that Fortunato, uplifting his dull torch, endeavoured to pry into the depth of the recess. Its termination the feeble light did not enable us to see.

"Proceed," I said; "herein is the Amontillado. As for Luchresi --"

"He is an ignoramus," interrupted my friend, as he stepped unsteadily forward, while I followed immediately at his heels. In niche, and finding an instant he had reached the extremity of the niche, and finding his progress arrested by the rock, stood stupidly bewildered. A moment more and I had fettered him to the granite. In its surface were two iron staples, distant from each other about two feet, horizontally. From one of these depended a short chain, from the other a padlock. Throwing the links about his waist, it was but the work of a few seconds to secure it. He was too much astounded to resist. Withdrawing the key I stepped back from the recess.

"Pass your hand," I said, "over the wall; you cannot help feeling the nitre. Indeed, it is very damp. Once more let me implore you to return. No? Then I must positively leave you. But I must first render you all the little attentions in my power."

"The Amontillado!" ejaculated my friend, not yet recovered from his astonishment.

"True," I replied; "the Amontillado."

As I said these words I busied myself among the pile of bones of which I have before spoken. Throwing them aside, I soon uncovered a quantity of building stone and mortar. With these materials and with the aid of my trowel, I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche.

I had scarcely laid the first tier of the masonry when I discovered that the intoxication of Fortunato had in a great measure worn off. The earliest indication I had of this was a low moaning cry from the depth of the recess. It was not the cry of a drunken man. There was then a long and obstinate silence. I laid the second tier, and the third, and the fourth; and then I heard the furious vibrations of the chain. The noise lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labours and sat down upon the bones.

When at last the clanking subsided, I resumed the trowel, and finished without interruption the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh tier. The wall was now nearly upon a level with my breast. I again paused, and holding the flambeaux over the mason-work, threw a few feeble rays upon the figure within.

A succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently back. For a brief moment I hesitated, I trembled. Unsheathing my rapier, I began to grope with it about the recess; but the thought of an instant reassured me. I placed my hand upon the solid fabric of the catacombs, and felt satisfied. I reapproached the wall; I replied to the yells of him who clamoured. I re-echoed, I aided, I surpassed them in volume and in strength. I did this, and the clamourer grew still.

It was now midnight, and my task was drawing to a close. I had completed the eighth, the ninth and the tenth tier. I had finished a portion of the last and the eleventh; there remained but a single stone to be fitted and plastered in. I struggled with its weight; I placed it partially in its destined position. But now there came from out the niche a low laugh that erected the hairs upon my head. It was succeeded by a sad voice, which I had difficulty in recognizing as that of the noble Fortunato. The voice said--

"Ha! ha! ha! --he! he! he! --a very good joke, indeed --an excellent jest. We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo --he! he! he! --over our wine --he! he! he!"

"The Amontillado!" I said.

"He! he! he! --he! he! he! --yes, the Amontillado. But is it not getting late? Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo, the Lady Fortunato and the rest? Let us be gone."

"Yes," I said, "let us be gone."

"For the love of God, Montresor!"

"Yes," I said, "for the love of God!"

But to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply. I grew impatient. I called aloud --

"Fortunato!"

No answer. I called again --

"Fortunato!"

No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so. I hastened to make an end of my labour. I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up. Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat! 

On January 19, 1809, Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe's father and mother, both professional actors, died before the poet was three and John and Frances Allan raised him as a foster child in Richmond, Virginia. John Allan, a prosperous tobacco exporter, sent Poe to the best boarding schools and later to the University of Virginia, where Poe excelled academically. After less than one year of school, however, he was forced to leave the University when Allan refused to pay his gambling debts.

Poe returned briefly to Richmond, but his relationship with Allan deteriorated. In 1827, he moved to Boston and enlisted in the United States Army. His first collection of poems, Tamerlane, and Other Poems, was published that year. In 1829, he published a second collection entitled Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. Neither volume received significant critical or public attention. Following his Army service, Poe was admitted to the United States Military Academy, but he was again forced to leave for lack of financial support. He then moved into the home of his aunt, Mrs. Maria Clemm and her daughter Virginia, in Baltimore, Maryland.

Poe began to sell short stories to magazines at around this time, and, in 1835, he became the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond. He brought his aunt and twelve-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm, with him to Richmond. He married Virginia in 1836. Over the next ten years, Poe would edit a number of literary journals including the Burton's Gentleman's Magazine and Graham's Magazine in Philadelphia and the Broadway Journal in New York City. It was during these years that he established himself as a poet, a short-story writer, and an editor. He published some of his best-known stories and poems including "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," and "The Raven." After Virginia's death from tuberculosis in 1847, Poe's life-long struggle with depression and alcoholism worsened. He returned briefly to Richmond in 1849 and then set out for an editing job in Philadelphia. For unknown reasons, he stopped in Baltimore. On October 3, 1849, he was found in a state of semi-consciousness. Poe died four days later of "acute congestion of the brain." Evidence by medical practitioners who re-opened the case has shown that Poe may have been suffering from Rabies.

Poe's work as an editor, a poet, and a critic had a profound impact on American and international literature. His stories mark him as one of the originators of both horror and detective fiction. Many anthologies credit him as the "architect" of the modern short story. He was also one of the first critics to focus primarily on the effect of the style and of the structure in a literary work; as such, he has been seen as a forerunner to the "art for art's sake" movement. French Symbolists such as Mallarmé and Rimbaud claimed him as a literary precursor. Baudelaire spent nearly fourteen years translating Poe into French. Today, Poe is remembered as one of the first American writers to become a major figure in world literature.

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