User:Nicolettesoul/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
The Masque of the Red Death

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose this article to evaluate because I've been reading a lot of Edgar Allan Poe's works lately and am most interested in this particular work. I think it's important to read how works of literature are composed on Wikipedia because it's typically the first place someone looks to get a brief summary and information on the work and the author themselves. I also think it can be easy to insert your own opinions into literature, so I wanted to see how one may properly write an article on a work like this and if I could catch some mistakes within the article.

Evaluate the article
Lead Section:

The lead section of this article is very straightforward in what the article is about. It introduces the topic in the first sentence, The Masque of the Red Death, clearly and gives a brief summary of the work and states when the work was published and who the author is. It talks about the work being an allegory, but uses the phrase "some critics" which is considered a "weasel word." Other than that, the article does discuss what is written in the leading section; the plot of the short story by Poe, an analysis of how it might be an allegory, various interpretations of his work, and other forms of media his story has been alluded to.

Content:

The content of this article stays relevant to the topic, starting with a full summary rather than a brief summary provided in the lead section. In the analysis section, the article shifts through the various interpretations given by interpreters and readers of Poe’s works, and as well as gives a brief history of what has been said to have inspired Poe to write this work (Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto). The most important information this article focused on is the interpretation of the Red Death itself and what it might represent.

Tone and Balance:

When reading this article, I thought that the different interpretations were equally talked about. It stays neutral on each. An example of this in the article is the first paragraph of the “Analysis” section where the editor of this article explains how his work may be allegorical, but ends with a statement of how Poe never explicitly states if the short story has a moral to be taught or not, which I thought helped end it on an ambiguous note, and reminder that these are just interpretations rather than facts. The article doesn’t force one viewpoint over the other.

I believe the article is going through the most popular interpretations, and stating those, but can emphasize more that these are not facts and rather opinions from specific experts and scholars who study Poe’s works.

Sources and References:

The article provides many links and references throughout the reading, some referencing words that may require explanation and definitions, or external links that would provide more context and explanations especially when referencing historical moments that could’ve possibly inspired Poe’s work and the fictitious red death disease.

After clicking on some sources that were linked, and skimming through them, it appears that it did back up their claims, but as for reputable sources, I think they could’ve used more credible sources.

Organization and Writing Quality:

The article is put in 8 different sections, starting with the plot summary, and ending with the external links section. The titles of each section are short and straightforward on what the section will focus on.

I will say that the analysis section is slightly confusing as it places ‘the Red Death’ as its own sub section while the other interpretations don’t get a clearly titled subsection and maybe that could strengthen the article for reader’s looking to read a specific interpretation explanation.

Images and Media:

The article proves different photos on the right hand side of the article only. The photos are illustrations of certain scenes from Poe’s short story and are captioned as such. One illustration leaves little explanation in the caption, making me have to wonder what the photo is supposed to be alluding to or what scene it may be representing of the story or how it pertains to the information it is posted beside. I think the photos could also be laid out in a more appealing way, considering it’s all to one side and I hadn’t really seen them in my first read through as I was focused on the writing rather than any photos.

Talk Page Discussion:

The talk page also brings up my concern with one of the illustrations, and someone had replied it’s obviously of the story, but the problem is it doesn’t explicitly say and assuming someone is reading this just to get a summary of the story, they may not know exactly what part of the story it’s representing.

The article is on the WikiProject Novels and  was rated on the B-scale on the quantity scale, and has a High-Importance rating on the project’s importance rating.

Overall Impressions:

I think the article is informative, and leaves someone perhaps wanting to do more research to do some deeper reading and analysis of the work. It could be better in explaining some interpretations and enforcing that’s just what they are and perhaps label their analysis section with more than just the interpretation of the red death as they talk about the other interpretations as well.