Any Literature majors???? I am dumb and need help analyzing this

Question

I have no idea what this means..... 
I am writing a scholarly article essay. The one I chose is "Edgar Allan Poe's Aesthetic Theory, the Insanity Debate, and the Ethically Oriented Dynamics of "The Tell-Tale Heart," by Dan Shen
This is the sentence that I am trying to understand
"First,  being beautiful is not so much an end as a means for conveying the thematic import of the prose narrative."

And

"Second, if the skill of the work inhibits readers' comprehension of the true import of the narrative, then the skill will be regarded as defensive."

Answer

Poe uses beauty as a means to contrast the ugly things about life. You can't have beauty without the ugly. You can't have joy without misery. You can't have sanity without insanity.

Answer

More context would be helpful, but I believe this is the meaning of the sentence: The author uses beauty as a tool to demonstrate the deeper meaning of the story. (Thematic import=meaning/moral of the story.)

Answer

The second one: if an author sounds or writes in an overly complex way, they are trying too hard and overcompensating

Answer

Style isn't goal, but a way of conveying your ideas and giving a piece a certain atmosphere (at least that's how I think of it).

Any Literature majors???? I am dumb and need help analyzing this

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