SILENCE: A FABLE

By: Edgar Allan Poe

An Analysis:

Edgar Allan Poe was the first celebrated American writer for his literary pieces which
mainly focused on the themes of strangeness, mystery, and terror. His poems, short stories,
and other literary works suggest dark themes that reflect his grief for women, not only
because of his wife’s death but also the fact that he was orphaned at an early age.
Poe was also a literary critic, in fact, he was the first to propose setting standards by
which to judge literary works. He is also regarded as a major figure in the world of literature
primarily based on his uniqueness, novelty, and profound poems, critical theories, and short
stories. His short story “Silence: A Fable” is spell-binding, mysterious, and mystical which
captivates the readers' interest and imagination.
The story precedes many of the hardships that Poe deals with in his life. His dark
imagination led to the invention of this short story wherein it is a manifestation of his prior
works like the Macabre: Tales which depicts horror, suspense, and mystery. Edgar Allan Poe
experienced pains and tragedies in life, which greatly influenced his writing’s dark themes.
He dealt with all of the troubles and pain in his life (the death of most of his family and loved
ones, especially his wife) by getting involved with alcohol heavily. He may have felt that his
own feelings and thoughts were too strong and that he needed an outside force to take his
mind off his problems. In fact, it was said that he could hardly create a meaningful literary
piece if he was not under the influence of alcohol. Over time, he drowns himself in solitude
and desolation from his bittersweet experiences in life.
The symbolic significance of the title “Silence: A Fable” is that “silence” is connected
with isolation and loneliness. It was evidently stated throughout the story. The man seems to
isolate himself for he cannot even hear the sound of heaven, the thunder in the sky, and
everything around him because he is drawn in his own thoughts of emptiness and
insignificance, void of any ounce of emotion.
There are a lot of literary devices used in the poem “Silence: A Fable”. The author
used symbolism through the use of “silence” and “desolation” which symbolizes mankind in
a manner that when a man is silent, he tends to desolate himself to everyone. E.A Poe also
uses figurative language like personification in this line “And there is an indistinct murmur
which cometh out from among them like the rushing of subterrene water. And they sigh one
unto the other”. The words murmur and sigh were the keywords which implies that water can
murmur and sigh wherein it is highly impossible because water is a non-living thing. He also
uses Hyperbole in this line “and nod to and fro by their everlasting heads” which implies
exaggeration. Aside from that, Poe also used repetition wherein words like “rain”, “silence”
and “desolation” were repeated over and over. And the last one is this sentence “And the man
trembled in the solitude –but the night waned and he sat upon the rock” wherein it was
repeated four times.
 It is indeed the author talks about the tendency of a man to be lured to his own
thoughts and emotions which keep him silent. In the short story, the man wants to stay in the
region of Libya by the borders of the river Zaire. So, the silence brings along the pain of the
isolation and solemnity. Edgar Allan Poe tries to explain to his readers that death becomes the
ultimate silence.
The main message of the short story is about the complexity of life. The demon that
was mentioned in the short story is not the demon itself, but the demons within us. The
demons that dictate us to fall down and assimilate all the negativities that the world offers,
sulking ourselves to death which separate us from the real world of happiness.
As I read “Silence: A Fable” by Edgar Allan Poe, the short story relates to me so
much because I don’t really know how to express myself to the other people around me
because I don’t know where to start or how to communicate about my problems. I prefer
keeping it to myself. I don’t want to bother someone because I’m afraid they might not listen
to me. When I have problems, I prefer not to talk and just stay silent. However, I realized that
silence is not always the solution to get away from the pain or the problems that we
encounter. Sometimes you need someone that you can always talk to, to express yourself to,
just like your parents and friends, whom you really know and whom you trust, because
simply doing that, can make you feel calm and it can also make you feel better.
In connection with the spiritual basis of the short story, we could connect it to the Old
Testament. It was stated there that God’s silence was a sign of judgment. Whenever God
rejected Saul as king over Israel, his judgment was shown by his silence. Silence is not a bad
thing; it will become a bad thing only when we let silence eat us and direct us to some degree
of torment and agony. In silence, we tend to think a lot, and those thoughts may be good or
bad. If we let that thought rule over us, it will destroy our own being. The moral is that, we
must learn how to speak our self, it is good to have someone to talk to, to have someone to
share our thoughts and how we feel. We must not cage ourselves in silence. If you don’t have
someone to talk to, prayer is one of the best things to do for we seek intervention from God
who is the most powerful. We all know that in every prayer we utter, he is just listening to us
and answering those prayers in unexpected ways.

Prepared by:
RINA C. PENTECOSTES
LOVELY CLAIRE B. ESGUERRA
JANE ANGEL A. LATAUAN
JANARY F. TOPAZ
CRISTIN-ANN E. MARAMAG
DIANA MAE DAQUIAL
JUNWEL S. RECTO
JOHN JOSE M. MALANA

DATE: SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

TOTAL WORDS: 1001