Impact Of Romanticism On American Literature

The Romanticism period of writing changed the entire course of American literature, it was period of intellectual orientation the produced many different kinds of literature. This ideas developed and changed the literary works around the world. Writers and artist of this time liked to try to take a new twist on things of the new world in contrary to the enlightenment, the romanticism era was to get away from the enlightenment. Edgar allen Poe was no different, Poe was a product of this period, with his many short stories and poems such as “Annabel Lee”, “The Raven”, “The masques of the red death”, “The fall of the house of usher”, “Pit and the pendulum”, “The cask of amontillado” and many more. Poe 's stories had a gothic twist on them and …show more content…
Poe does this really well in “the fall of the house of usher”, with Roderik. Roderik, was a weary soul, he constantly worried about everything which made him paranoid. He believe truly that he had the disease that the rest of his family had encountered. As well in “the fall of the house of usher”, roderick actions then made his sister madeline act eventually in an awful way. Madeline went mad, and was trying to kill everyone in the house the way poe makes these characters, is main reason as to why the atmosphere of fear and horror is so strong in “the fall of the house of usher”. When poe develops the characters he gives us an atmosphere that Roderick is fearful when Madeline is just crazy. Leaving an atmosphere that Roderick is going to end up being a threat to everyone. The “Pit and the pendulum” is another story that the character is the main cause of the atmosphere. The narrator (we don 't know his name) is having a flashback of when he was imprisoned. The entire story almost feels rushed because the narrator is in such horror and fear that he is about to die that, the reader doesn 't even feel as if they can keep up. The narrator is experiencing the situation again through paranoia. As Poe developes this character he immediately shows fear in the narrator as the reader continues to read the fear …show more content…
In “the pit and the pendulum” you realize pretty quick that the conflict is already there. The narrator says “I was sick”(Poe, “Pit and the pendulum”), “Swallowed up in a mad rushing descent as of the soul in hades”(Poe, “Pit and the pendulum”). These are both are showing that something deep and scary is going on and you are immediately pulled in because of the implied fear in the atmosphere of the story. Later in the story we realize that the narrator is just paranoid, this event has already occurred, yet he still believes is about to die because of his flashbacks “In death; no!!” (Poe, “Pit and the pendulum”)Which makes us scared for him because this guy is living his life feeling like he is about to killed by a swinging pendulum. With this conflict Poe is showing the reader the true fear in the narrator. the narrator truly believes he is about to die. Which makes the entire story fearful of what is next. Poe switches it up in how he show the conflict within the story, “the masque of the red death”. Poe gives us two conflicts Man vs. nature because, the prince is trying to fight the red death, and man vs. himself, because the prince is so cocky that he is going to beat the read death that he end ups being killed by it. Which creates an