I am writing an essay on edgar allan poe on his short stories and poems I had to choose an element which is his moods and need to argue whether poe is more successful in his use of it in either the poetry or the short stories? Any ideas on what I should write in my first paragraph?

Do I understand this correctly? You want compare Poe's short stores to his poetry as to which style better expresses moods?

If so, which short stories and poems do you plan to use as examples?

Your first paragraph is your introduction and thesis statement. The rest of the paragraphs that follow will support your thesis. At the end will be a conclusion paragraph.

I am going to talk about the raven and tell tales heart. But I don't know what I need to talk about in the first paragraph in my essay. I am talking about how poetry shows less mood than in his short stories and I need to tell why.. its like a compare and contrast between one poem and one short story.

"The Raven" gives a lot of feeling of mood, so not sure that poem is a good choice. "The Bells" with its emphasis on onomatopoeia might be better.

Tell me why you think it's a good choice. (This will help me help you with a first paragraph.) And tell me briefly why you think that short story offers more mood.

Yeah that is true what if I compare the tell tale heart with annabel lee?

A poem about the death of a beautiful woman? You think there's no mood going on there??

And so far in my into paragraph I have.. edgar allan poe, an american author, poet, editor and literart critic was famous for his gothic horror writing and their unusual endings.( I saw online in his biography) He brings edge and darkness into his writings that readers don't see often.

Can you choose something instead of mood?

You can choose mood morality denouement.. etc

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Originally Posted by kari07

and so far in my into paragraph i have.. edgar allan poe, an american author, poet, editor and literart critic was famous for his gothic horror writing and their unusual endings.( i saw online in his biography) He brings edge and darkness into his writings that readers dont see often.

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That kills off your entire thesis idea of mood.

Please list all the elements you are allowed to choose from.

It says in our anthology we have both poems and short stories by edgar allan poe. Choose an element on which to focus, like mood, morality, denouement, etc. and argue whether poe is more successful in his use of it in either the poetry or short stories.. and the two poems we can choose from are the raven or the annabel lee. The two short stories we can choose from are the tell tale heart or the cask of amontillado... honestly I don't know how to write this I suck at poetry..

How about TERROR as an element? Poe does a fantastic job creating terror in his prose, as he builds tension as he develops his stories, but much less often does terror show up in his poetry where we instead find feelings such as grief and sadness.

All right then. Write about how the "mood" that he strikes in "Tell-Tale Heart" is terror, but doesn't go there in "Annabel Lee" (different mood entirely).

Okay that would be good.. but on which short story and poem would be good to compare and which one has more terror?

I had posted: All right then. Write about how the "mood" that he strikes in "Tell-Tale Heart" is terror, but doesn't go there in "Annabel Lee" (different mood entirely).

You can't say he wasn't successful in establishing mood. He simply established two different moods.

Now the problem for your essay is why and how.

His stories (prose) tend to have terror in them because he can build up feelings of terror in the reader as he writes, can add descriptive adverbs and adjectives in the narrative (storytelling), and even dialogue (conversations) can have terror in them.

His poetry is usually fairly short and very much to the point (no big build-up) and often gives the feelings of loss and sadness and grieving.

Okay so I should write about the tell tale heart and annabel lee? And compare how/

You said you want to compare moods, so compare the horror in "Tell-Tale Heart" with the sadness in "Annabel Lee." Describe why each style of writing is best suited for the moods he evoked. Describe how he produced those emotions/moods.

Now, write an Intro paragraph and put into that paragraph a thesis statement (what you plan to prove with the rest of the essay).