Literary Analysis Of Washington Irving And Edgar Allan Poe

In the Romantic Era, known as the reaction to the age of reason, the emotional aspect of humankind was explored and embraced. Many writers used different types of characters and rhetorical devices to convey individual beliefs of human nature. Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe were famous for their works of romanticism. While Irving creates a humorous tone through his setting and characters, Poe’s mood is one of despair to convey the human condition.

In Poe’s The Raven, Poe describes a Gothic setting in a bleak December. The narrator appears in a lonely apartment with silken purple curtains rustling unsettlingly. “From my books surcease of sorrow – sorrow for the lost Lenore – Nameless here for evermore.” (Poe 10-11) This line intensifies

Irving further describes the forest as each stump around the Devil was hollow and “corrupted” at the core creating an ominous feeling. Yet, the mood changes again to one of humor as Tom’s wife is informed of Tom’s meeting with the Devil and takes it upon herself to bargain with the Devil. “At length she was determined to drive the bargain on her own account, and if she succeeded, to keep all the gain to herself.” (183) The reader is given a delightfully humorous tone through the cold, marital relationship between Tom and his wife. “He leaped with joy; for he recognized his wife’s apron and supposed it to contain the household valuables. – We will endeavor without the woman.” (184) Irving gives a more humorous tone as when Tom finds his wife is gone, he proceeds not to care. Despite the dark undertones, Irving’s humorous tones give a lighthearted twist to a rather corrupt story. Finally, Irving’s humorous tone turns bitterly

Although the two writers are very different, Poe and Irving share very similar inputs on the corrupted human condition. Either through humor or despair, romantic writers opened up the reality of the human condition for everyone to