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Dreadfully short, bleak and seemingly disorganised, Shadow A parable,' is yet another of Edger Allen Poe's masterfully created short stories. Unique in both style and design, this story, however, is by far his shortest and the one most reflective of the late authors literary style. No more than thirteen hundred words in length, the story is a quick read, taking no longer than five or six minutes of your time, although, for those not comfortable with old English grammar and heavy, prose laden writing, it may take slightly longer.

The name of the short story itself; Shadow a parable,' gives something away about the nature of the story and how it should be perceived by the reader of a subjective nature, it is, undeniably. Essentially, by hinting at something within the title of the story, Poe once again reflects his love of puzzles and the ways by which he enjoyed manipulating the English language, distorting perception, positioning the reader in un-familiar territory and ever the while, giving something of himself to the text, so that the readers might better understand not only the story being read, by also the reasons behind why they might have been written in the first place and what would have been going through the author's mind during such times of creativity and composition.

Fundamentally, it is important to first gain an understanding of the implications hidden behind the title itself. The latter part of the title, being parable' is inexplicably linked to rationalisms, understanding, perception, subjectivity and of course, personal interpretation. Thus, when placed within the title of the story itself, the relationship which exists between the reader, the text and the meaning the author intended becomes blurred the relationship between such factors, itself, becomes questionable.

The essential part of this puzzle, however, comes within the first aspect of the title, this of course being shadow,' which as many of you will know, is not something of physical origins and has a long history of being utilized for symbolic meaning, representation and also to reflect something of the unknown, misunderstood or even the metaphysical. The concept and ideological rationalism surrounding the shadow, in this case, is fundamental to the message hidden within the title. This of course being, that a shadow, is not of physical origins and yet, is still not of metaphysical origins the shadow is nothing of its own design, rather it is a reflection cast by something which has

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