Edgar Allan Poe, The Masque of the Red Death

Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

“The Masque of the Red Death” (1842) is considered by Poe scholar T.O. Mabbott a “masterpiece” among his “very short stories” (

Poe

2:667). Originally published for

Graham’s Magazine

in May of 1842 under the title “The Mask of the Red Death. A Fantasy”, reprints followed in the Baltimore

Saturday Visiter

and

The Literary Souvenir

of Lowell, Massachusetts, both in that same year. By July of 1845, the text was published under its now well-known title in

The Broadway Journal

(

Poe

2:670). Poe made minor revisions to the tale prior to its later reprinting in 1845, with the most obvious change being the title itself, which now emphasises the masquerade that takes place rather than any one individual who has dressed up for the celebration. Plot wise the text reads like an odd…

3127 words

Citation: Sucur, Slobodan. "The Masque of the Red Death". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 November 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=206, accessed 19 March 2024.]

206 The Masque of the Red Death 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.