Comparing The Fall Of The House Of Usher And The Raven By Edgar Allan Poe

All humans are designated to their own philosophy of whether or not they want to resemble a negative aspect of human nature or positive aspect. The world isn’t perfect filled with love and happiness as well as it's not all filled with greed, violence, and hatred. Many examples of negative and positive aspects of human nature are shown from author Edgar Allan Poe, which include a poem and stories such as The Pit and the Pendulum, The Fall of the House of Usher & The Raven. Additionally, these are also examples of dark romanticism which was Poe’s interpretation of topics such as death, lost of a loved one and the evils of human nature. As well as, transcendentalism which was influenced by romanticism and taught people to appeal to your own

knowledge rather than anyone else’s. Given these points, human aspects are shown in Edgar Allan Poe’s works in both a negative way as well as in a positive.
Romanticism was a movement in favor into the intuitive.

Edgar Allan Poe was an example of this because his characters were controlled by their own emotions and intuition. Poe and his works emphasized individualism. It also focused on one’s own positive aspects by giving the objective that self beliefs, moral issues, and creativity should all come within what a person believes in. An example of when Edgar Allan Poe uses negative personification is shown by, “The discoloration of ages had been great. Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled webwork from the eaves”(Usher p. 325). Poe’s usage of dark works describing the conditions of the house of Usher shows how negative people think. Words that include “discoloration,” and “fungi” overspreading the whole exterior are examples of negative human aspects. Another example of negative aspects of human nature is, “In other conditions of mind, I might have had courage to end my misery at once, by a plunge into one of these abysses; but now I was the veriest of cowards”(Pendulum p.350). Human beings tend to have this uncertainty of not wanting to be alive and not overcome small obstacles which is another example of human negative aspects. The narrator may not have died at the end, but throughout the story his hopes of surviving were becoming less and less because of his negative thinking. Edgar Allan Poe shows the negative aspects of human’s by his usage of dark works and no expectations of striving for

one’s own life.
Edgar Allan Poe is such a dark writer and you wouldn't imagine him using positive attributes of humans, but he did, with this in mind, “...

took possession of the small remnant which had been spared me by the rats. As I put a portion of it within my lips, there rushed to my mind a half-formed thought of joy-of hope”(Pendulum p.352). This shows how in even the most difficult times, humans are still positive with the smallest amount of courtesy of the food left over from the rats. Also you can notice that the narrator is developing a thought that escaping from the cell is possible and because of this positive attitude he then is rescued. Correspondingly, to “At the request of Usher, I personally aided him in the arrangements for the temporary entombment” as well as, “...said I, shudderingly to Usher, as I led him, with a gentle violence, from the window to the seat”(Usher p.329&331). In these excerpts the narrator shows a delicacy he has toward Usher since he was buried over a long period of time. By him showing his sincerity to Usher Poe shows yet another example of how human aspects are

positive.
In addition, Edgar Allan Poe included negative human aspects shown in The Raven. Poe set a scenery of a dreadful place in the opening line. For example, “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore-while I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping” (Raven p. 360). Poe describes himself and the setting as unlightened and filled with negative human aspects. He shows no motive to come alive, and sets the entire story to be gloomy. In contrast, there’s a part of the poem that contradicts negativity. Several examples include,