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Key elements in gothic stories
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Edgar Allen Poe was abandoned by his father when he was ten and his mother died when he was eleven. This was most likely the beginning of the decline of his mental thought processes. The poverty, rejection and neglect that Poe experienced had major psychological effects on his personality. Poe was delusional, confused and void of natural emotions. In today’s psychological circles it is likely that Poe would be thought to suffer from Manic-Depressive Bipolar disorder. He was a disturbed individual and the disturbances are reflected in the darkness of his writings. “Poe is known primarily for his mastery of the Gothic genre. Poe's short stories "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "Ligeia" are both classic examples of the genre.” (Canada) Poe’s gothic writings were scary fantasies that demanded the reader participate in the terror.
Poe also uses the unreliable narrator in “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “Ligeia.” The narrator describes his feelings when he first saw the house as “a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.” (pg 689) He goes on to describe the house as if it were a person when he equates the empty windows as “vacant eyes.” Poe created an image in the imagination that can run wild. If he had explained the terrors of the house, then one would have been able to reason or explain them away. By implying he leaves one to experience the same type of terror as one feels when one hears a sound in a house at night and becomes afraid. The imagination begins to wonder about all kinds things that are wrong and even begins to believe that something evil is about to happen. However, the sound turns out to be a limb brushing the window as the wind blows it back and forth and then the person feels silly for being afraid...
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...tion of death, feverish fantasies, the cosmos as source of horror and inspiration, without bothering himself with such supernatural beings as ghosts, werewolves, vampires, and so on.” He went on to say, "Three fifths of him genius and two fifths sheer fudge." It was hard to separate truth from fiction when deciphering Poe’s writings.
Works Citied:
Baym, Nina, ed. “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 7th ed. Vol. I. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008. 689-701. Print.
Canada, Mark, ed. "Edgar Allan Poe." Canada's America1997. http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/canam/poe.htm (June 15, 2011).
Edgar Allan Poe, Review of J. R. Lowell's A Fable for Critics, from Southern Literary Messenger, March 1849, pp. 189-191
Minis, Sarah. Journal for English 28. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. September 3, 1996.
Poe was a very experienced author of unique tales. He was born on January 19, 1809 and died on October 7, 1849. He had a dark life growing up because his mother, foster mother, and his wife died from tuberculous. His father abandoned him and his foster father disliked him. This background may have greatly influenced his work. He wrote 70 poems and 66 short stories during his lifetime. Poe has written many Gothic horror stories. “The Tell Tale Heart,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” show these similarities.
Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, sets a tone that is dark, gloomy, and threatening. His inclusion of highly descriptive words and various forms of figurative language enhance the story’s evil nature, giving the house and its inhabitants eerie and “supernatural” qualities. Poe’s effective use of personification, symbolism, foreshadowing, and doubling create a morbid tale leading to, and ultimately causing, the fall of (the house of) Usher.
The Depiction of Fear in The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
The vision of the mind is easily portrayed through the art of literature, painting a picture with the stroke of words. The natural inspiration that influences the creation of these works is derived from the life and the experiences of the creator. For some, these tales become stories and those stories become novels, but for one man it meant so much more. The works of Edgar Allan Poe became his life; he expressed every feeling and every moment of his existence through ink and paper. Poe involved his entire life in his writing, leaving no element of the story untouched by his trademark of a past. His work became so unique and unorthodox, yet it did not lack the attention it deserved. The American critic, Curtis Hidden Page, suggested that “the essence of his work is logic, logic entirely divorced from reality, and seeming to arise superior to reality” (Quinn 31). The foundation of Poe’s stories seems simple enough, but beneath the surface remains unanswered questions and undiscovered truths, which have yet to be uncovered. The people and experiences throughout Edgar Allan Poe’s lifetime have influenced various themes including: insanity, revenge, death, and guilt which can be distinguished through a collection of his works.
Known for his mystery, macabre and detective fiction genre, Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most remembered poets of all time. Usually when people think of him, mind images of premature burials, murders, madmen, and mysterious women who are taken back from pure death like some zombie-like creatures comes to mind. In 1809, Edgar was born the second son out of three, two of which became actors. After the death of his mother and father at the age of three, John and Francis Allan raised him in Virginia. Edgar was sent to the best boarding schools and later on attended the University of Virginia where he was successfully academic. He was forced to leave due to refusement to pay his gambling debts. In 1827, he moved back to Boston and enlisted in the United States Army where his first poems titled Tamerlane, and Other Poems were published.
The life of Edgar Allan Poe, was stuffed with tragedies that all affected his art. From the very start of his writing career, he adored writing poems for the ladies in his life. When he reached adulthood and came to the realization of how harsh life could be, his writing grew to be darker and more disturbing, possibly as a result of his intense experimenting with opium and alcohol. His stories continue to be some of the most frightening stories ever composed, because of this, some have considered this to be the reason behind these themes. Many historians and literature enthusiasts have presumed his volatile love life as the source while others have credited it to his substance abuse. The influence of his one-of-a-kind writing is more than likely a combination of both theories; but the main factor is the death of many of his loved ones and the abuse which he endured. This, not surprisingly, darkened his perspective considerably.
In the short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, the point of view is told from our unknown narrator, whom comes to help fix the house, and help comfort Roderick Usher, but does not end up helping him. Also the main theme is evil since the house is evil. After Roderick buries his dead sister, Madeline, she comes back to life and kills Roderick, the unknown narrator runs for his life, and watches the house collapse. In the other themes, madness and insanity, is because Roderick is having mental and emotional breakdowns because of his sister’s death. AN interesting fact about Poe is that he loved cats. Poe’s own cats name was Catterina.
Patterson, Arthur. "The Fall of the House of Usher." Notes presentation of the Folio Club 1996 Online. Google Online. Retrived on April 5th 2005. http://www.watershedonline.ca/literature/Poe/pousher.html.
Edgar Allan Poe, the man known as the father of horror stories. His short stories and poems are known to be gloomy, dark, and morbid. Most people are not aware that many of his works are reflections of his own life. Throughout his whole life, Poe experienced numerous tragedies. Many of his hard experiences can be seen in his poems Annabel Lee, Alone, and Israfel. His short stories were also affected by his past. The Raven also has small depictions of Poe’s life. A tragic past, consisting of a lack of true parents and the death of his wife, made Edgar Allan Poe the famous writer he is today, but it also led to his demise and unpopularity.
Bleiler, E.F. "Edgar Allan Poe." Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror Vol. II. Ed. E.F. Bleiler. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1985: 697-705.
Edgar Allan Poe’s life was full of many difficulties especially in his early years. He was born in Boston on January 19, 1809. From his father deserting the family, to his mother dying of tuberculosis, young Edgar seemed to have experienced it all just at the age of three. Not to mention, Poe had been separated from his other siblings after the death of his mother. Poe was then orphaned and later became a ward of the Allans. The Allans were part owners in a merchandising firm known as “The House of Ellis and Allan.” They were quite wealthy, but emotionally were less rich. Poe accompanied the Allans to London at the age of six. In London the Allans opened a new branch, but later when the tobacco market collapsed they had to return to America (Silverman 1). After returning from London, where Poe attended a border school, he began study at the University of Virginia. Financial difficulties caused him to drop out soon after starting school. Around this time Poe heard about the death of Frances Allan, who was his foster mother, and he published Poems by Edgar A. Poe. This volume included some of his most significant works, including “To Helen” which speaks specifically about death, which is a usual theme in most of his works. He attended West Point in 1830 and later served in the U.S. Army. Poe was discharged in 1831 and then began work as an editor and journalist. Poe settled in Baltimore where he lived with ...
In the beginning of the story, with an extensive and vivid description of the house and its vicinity, Poe prepares the scene for a dreadful, bleak, and distempered tale. The setting not only affects Poe’s narration of the story but influences the characters and their actions as well. Both the narrator and his boyhood friend, Roderick Usher, question w...
“The Fall of the House of Usher” is a story does not use the typical, first person point of view where the protagonist tells a personal account of a crime that he or she has committed. Instead, the narrator is a character of whom we know very little, who acts like an observer. The friend of Roderick invites the reader into the madness of the mind of fantasy and reality.
In the case of Poe’s narrator, he showed symptom of paranoia He believed that his old room mate’s eye was evil.” One of his eyes resemble...
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The American Tradition in Literature. Ed. George Perkins and Barbara Perkins. ___________________: McGraw Hill., 2008. Pg-pg. Print.