A review by crescent1202
A Descent into the Maelstrom by Edgar Allan Poe

4.0

I read this short story for an AP Literature class of mine. My group and I had to present it to the class and give a brief summary, describe the use of figurative language, use an example of literary criticism, etc. I found that there wasn't much literary criticism for the story to begin with. That may have had to do with the fact that the story itself didn't reach much popularity compared to Poe's other works. Despite the lack of popularity, I expected the story itself to be very interesting. Poe's works as a whole are incredibly fascinating to me. However upon reading this I didn't feel as much fascination as I had hoped. Perhaps because in a literal sense it was a story about a potentially unreliable elderly man telling a story of a whirlpool that almost killed him. But after taking a step back and looking over the story once again produced a change of opinion. The use of imagery and personification were beautiful and frightening. It made me feel as though the Maelstrom itself was a living breathing destruction machine; a strong yet mesmerizing god. Poe's writing was beautiful just as expected.

As I wrote this review I originally wanted to give A Descent into the Maelstrom a 2 out of 5 stars. I was genuinely bored with the story until I was able to research and really appreciate the story for what it was, and I can say that I was utterly impressed.