Comparing The Fall Of The House Of Usher And The Raven

Throughout the history of literature there have been various authors who have taken their genre style and enhanced it. An author who was well known for this in the 1800s was the American writer Edgar Allan Poe. Poe is celebrated for his works like The Fall of the House of Usher and The Raven. In writing these poems and tales, he took the horror and romanticism genre and began to add more supernatural themes as well as emotional themes. This not only created a more interesting story, it also began to evolve into what is now known as the dark or gothic romanticism genre. Although the romanticism genre started in Europe, the American side of the genre was more focused on the hidden part of the individual exaggerate themes like the grave and death. Also, the more macabre aspects of American works would sometimes take a backseat to the beauty of the world around them. Poe did not

In discussing the differences between the two genres and Poe’s place in all of it, it is pertinent to look at the actual literature during this time. Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher was written in 1839 and was centered around a boyhood friend by the name of Roderick Usher and his estate. The tale opens up with the line, “During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn… when the clouds hung oppressively low…” which already sets the dark and macabre tone (Baym et al. 702). This beginning is one of the more defining factors of Poe and American romanticism due to the gloomy and natural imagery. He doesn’t tell you the narrator’s name, but rather he focuses on developing the nature surrounding the character. This brevity in details