Terror in an individual's soul was a major theme in the work of the writer, poet, journalist, and man of letters 19th century American critic Edgar Allan Poe. Inspired by the English Gothic novel, he sought to depict the horrors and fears of human life. In his case, however, it was not the external places that caused these terrors; they came from the human core itself. He achieved this not only through the use of specific and vivid vocabulary but also through the length of the sentences in which those words appeared. Reading his stories, we can notice that long, descriptive sentences are sometimes followed by short sentences that make the reader's heart beat faster and his body tremble with terror. In what cases and for what other reasons do these sentences appear? Some illuminating answers are offered by examples from Poe's stories “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Both short stories selected have several things in common. The narrator is unreliable in any case and we don't know much about him. The condition of the narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” resembles that of Roderick Usher, as they both claim to have a hypersensitivity, although it may just be their imagination at play. The narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” killed a man, and Roderick Usher in a sense caused the death of his sister. Both stories also lead to a grand and quite surprising ending, towards which Poe directs us using a gradation achieved with the help of short sentences.“Nevertheless, for a few more minutes I restrained myself and remained motionless. But the beating got stronger and stronger! I thought my heart was going to explode. And now I was worried: the noise would be heard by a neighbor! The old man's time had come!”[1]“Oh! Will I have to fly? Won't he be here soon? Aren't you in a hurry to reproach me for my haste? I did not hear his footsteps on the stairs”?[2]These short sentences are put together to form a gradation towards the climax of the story; they cause suspense in the reader and make him breathe faster. In a way they also transfer the terror from the character in the story to the reader. Poe's stories, however, do not just contain short sentences next to each other. Very often we can encounter one of the short sentences surrounded by sentences composed of longer clauses or multiple clauses, or both. This type of short sentence usually interrupts the descriptive part of the story and raises questions that are often not easy to answer, as these sentences tend to be quite ambiguous. Poe's stories are generally symbolic and often have multiple levels of meaning leading to the border areas between consciousness and madness.[3] These short sentences function as an escalation of the descriptive parts, giving real shape to the growing terror.[...]I spoke faster – more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I got up and discussed nonsense, loudly and with violent gestures, but the noise increased more and more. Why shouldn't they have disappeared?[4] [...] As soon as these syllables passed my lips, - as if a brass shield had actually, at that moment, fallen heavily onto a silver floor - I realized account of a distinct reverberation, empty, metallic and clanging, yet apparently muffled. Completely unnerved, I jumped up; but Usher's measured rocking motion remained undisturbed. I rushed to the chair he was sitting on.[5]These sentences prevent us from reading and make us think; they give us time to remember what happened and make us, 2010.