Edgar Allan Poe’s life experiences with death, loneliness, lost lovers, and poverty created the right background for him to become one of the most influential writers in Gothic literature. Two excellent examples of Poe’s life experiences having direct influence on his writings and specific gothic style stand out with their unique poetic structure. The poem, The Raven, and the short story, The Fall of The House of Usher are prominent examples perfect for literary analysis. Specifically, they both contain the key structures of all Gothic literature, while also describing events and imagery that tied to actual events in Poe’s life. Both works use three themes of gothic literature; descriptions of women dying, ruined buildings, and dark romanticism.
…show more content…
It seemed the moment things began to turn around for him bright moments would be promptly interrupted by the dark shadow of death and despair, much like many of the tales he became famed for. He was a child of two traveling actors, his father abandoned him, and his mother passed away at the age of three. Poe was left with only a child’s memories of a dying mother. These tragic life circumstances gave young Edgar a unique perspective on writing and poetry, which led him to pursue the gothic theme in his primary work. He lived in poverty for the rest of his life after accumulating debt during his college years and never saw much success from his work. Poe dealt with the death of three women in his life, his mother, first love and wife. His stories and poems reflect the way he was feeling throughout the hard times in his life. The elements of macabre are also present in actual events of Poe’s life. Heavily influenced by the German Romantic ironists, Edgar Allan Poe made a firm mark in Gothic fiction especially through the tales of the macabre, which made him one of the most celebrated of all American authors. Gruesome, death, decomposition, premature burial, sorrow of losses, coming back from the dead are all elements of macabre found in The Raven and The Fall of the House of Usher and sadly also in his life’s …show more content…
These circumstances led to his surroundings resembling the ruined buildings frequently described in gothic literature. In The fall of the house of Usher, the condition of the house made him ill. Poe describes the house, “I know not how it was — but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable; for the feeling was unrelieved by any of that half-pleasurable, because poetic, sentiment, with which the mind usually receives even the sternest natural images of the desolate or terrible.” (Poe) He states that the house was a sense of insufferable gloom much like a home you would see in a lower class neighborhood. Poe creates a setting of a dark and eerie place to be. Finding beauty in tattered run down places was a part of life for Poe who never had many material possessions or wealth. He lived in places not too different than the House of Usher and the home that the man weeping for his Lady Lenore resided in. Poe’s stories solely relied on his intuition and emotions, which are heavily related to the Romantic time
It seemed the moment things began to turn around for him bright moments would be promptly interrupted by the dark shadow of death and despair, much like many of the tales he became famed for. He was a child of two traveling actors, his father abandoned him, and his mother passed away at the age of three. Poe was left with only a child’s memories of a dying mother. These tragic life circumstances gave young Edgar a unique perspective on writing and poetry, which led him to pursue the gothic theme in his primary work. He lived in poverty for the rest of his life after accumulating debt during his college years and never saw much success from his work. Poe dealt with the death of three women in his life, his mother, first love and wife. His stories and poems reflect the way he was feeling throughout the hard times in his life. The elements of macabre are also present in actual events of Poe’s life. Heavily influenced by the German Romantic ironists, Edgar Allan Poe made a firm mark in Gothic fiction especially through the tales of the macabre, which made him one of the most celebrated of all American authors. Gruesome, death, decomposition, premature burial, sorrow of losses, coming back from the dead are all elements of macabre found in The Raven and The Fall of the House of Usher and sadly also in his life’s …show more content…
These circumstances led to his surroundings resembling the ruined buildings frequently described in gothic literature. In The fall of the house of Usher, the condition of the house made him ill. Poe describes the house, “I know not how it was — but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable; for the feeling was unrelieved by any of that half-pleasurable, because poetic, sentiment, with which the mind usually receives even the sternest natural images of the desolate or terrible.” (Poe) He states that the house was a sense of insufferable gloom much like a home you would see in a lower class neighborhood. Poe creates a setting of a dark and eerie place to be. Finding beauty in tattered run down places was a part of life for Poe who never had many material possessions or wealth. He lived in places not too different than the House of Usher and the home that the man weeping for his Lady Lenore resided in. Poe’s stories solely relied on his intuition and emotions, which are heavily related to the Romantic time