The Romantic Period and Edgar Allan Poe

532 Words2 Pages

The Romantic Period is characterized as an artistic and intellectually stimulating literary movement. Writers of this genre and time are considered to be those who fused the elements of romance in their writings to enhance the human experience. Edgar Allan Poe, known as the father of the modern short story, epitomizes this notion in his writings. In “Annabel Lee,” and “The Oval Portrait,” Edgar Allan Poe uses romance to illustrate the essence of death and misery and to illustrate elements in which the reader can actually feel that was is happening in the story is happening to them.

In “The Oval Portrait”, Edgar Allan Poe creates a setting in an abandoned castle where the main character and his valet are forced to take shelter in after an unknown accident wounds the main character. Edgar Allen Poe creates a mysterious and spooky ambient that illustrates both horror and misery. Upon sighting the painting of the young woman, the main character is amazed at the life like qualities of it. He remains sited for almost an hour just looking at the painting. He then decides to educate himse...

Show More
Related

  • Kathy Prendergast 'Introduction To The Gothic Tradition'

    1523 Words  | 4 Pages

    Romantic literature, as Kathy Prendergast further claims, highlighted things like splendor, greatness, vividness, expressiveness, intense feelings of passion, and stunning beauty. The Romantic literary genre favored “parts” over “whole” and “content” over “form”. The writer argues that though both the Romantic literary genre and the Gothic art mode were medieval in nature, they came to clash with what was called classical conventions. That’s why, preoccupations with such things as the supernatural, the awful, the dreadful, the repulsive and the grotesque were the exclusive focus of the nineteenth century Gothic novel. While some critics perceived the Gothic as a sub-genre of Romanticism, some others saw it as a genre in its own right (Prendergast).

    Read More

  • Empiricism In Poe's The Fall Of The House Usher

    1295 Words  | 3 Pages

    Romanticism was a movement in art and literature in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in revolt against the Neoclassicism of the previous centuries. The romanticism movement in literature consists of a few of the following characteristics: intuition over fact, imagination over fact, and the stretch and alteration of the truth. The death of a protagonist may be prolonged and/or exaggerated, but the main point was to signify the struggle of the individual trying to break free, which was shown in “The Fall of the House Usher” (Prentice Hall Literature 322).

    Read More

  • Madness in The Yellow Wallpaper and The Tell-Tale Heart

    1673 Words  | 4 Pages

    Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Tell-Tale Heart." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 1999. 33-37.

    Read More

  • A Research on the Work of Edgar Allan Poe

    1761 Words  | 4 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809. He is considered a part of the American Romanticism period. He is best known for his works of mystery and psychological terror. Poe is recognized for his gothic tales of mystery, death, terror, puzzles, and psychological problems (poets.org). He has influenced many writers including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes series. Poe was different than other authors in that he was influenced by his own current life. He had endured many deaths and dark periods. His mother died of tuberculosis and so did his foster mother later on. His wife, Virginia Clemm, also died from this terrible disease. This especially was evident in his works. She influenced him in his works of “Annabel Lee” and “The Raven” (poets.org). Poe uses the themes of terror and the mystery of the mind to show that under the circumstances anything can happen to anyone. In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, “The Purloined Letter” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Edgar Allan Poe explores horror, the mystery of psychology and puzzles in order to show the depth of the human mind and the consequences of it.

    Read More

  • The Life And Death Of Edgar Allan Poe

    1437 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe and actor David Poe, Jr. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died of tuberculosis when he was only two, so Poe was taken into the home of John Allan, a successful tobacco merchant in Richmond, Virginia. Although his middle name is often misspelled as "Allen," it is actually "Allan" after this family. After attending the Misses Duborg boarding school in London and Manor School in Stoke Newington, London, England, Poe moved back to Richmond, Virginia, with the Allans in 1820. Poe registered at the University of Virginia in 1826, but only stayed there for one year. He was estranged from his foster father at some point in this period over gambling debts Poe had acquired while trying to get more spending money, and so Poe enlisted in the United States Army as a private using the name Edgar A. Perry on May 26, 1827. That same year, he released his first book, Tamarlane and Other Poems. After serving for two years and attaining the rank of Sergeant-major, Poe was discharged. In 1829, Poe's foster mother Frances Allan died and he published his second book, Al Aaraf. As per his foster mother's deathwish, Poe reconciled with his foster father, who coordinated an appointment for him to the United States Military Academy at West Point. His time at West Point was ill-fated, however, as Poe supposedly deliberately disobeyed orders and was dismissed. After that, his foster father repudiated him until his death in March 27, 1834.

    Read More

  • The Life and Work of Edgar Allan Poe

    859 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to parents who were traveling actors. His father David Poe Jr. died probably in 1810. Elizabeth Hopkins Poe died in 1811, leaving three children. Edgar was taken into the home of a merchant from Richmond named John Allan. The remaining children were cared for by others. Poe's brother William died young and sister Rosalie later became insane. At the age of five Poe could recite passages of English poetry. Later one of his teachers in Richmond said: "While the other boys wrote mere mechanical verses, Poe wrote genuine poetry; the boy was a born poet." Poe was brought up partly in England (1815-20), where he attended Manor School at Stoke Newington. Later it became the setting for his story 'William Wilson'. Since Poe was never legally adopted, he took Allan's name for his middle name. Poe attended the University of Virginia (1826-27), but was expelled for not paying his gambling debts. His expulsion led to a quarrel with Allan, who refused to pay the debts. Allan later disowned him. In 1826 Poe became engaged to Elmira Royster, but her parents broke off the engagement. During his stay at the university, Poe wrote some stories, but not much is known of his beginning works.

    Read More

  • The Life and Writings of Edgar Allen Poe

    866 Words  | 2 Pages

    "After reading all that has been written, and after thinking all that can be thought, on the topics of God and the soul, the man who has a right to say that he thinks at all, will find himself face to face with the conclusion that, on these topics, the most profound thought is that which can be the least easily distinguished from the most superficial sentiment" (Poe). This quote shows how Edgar Allan Poe’s perspective was very different compared to other writers during that time. Poe was an American short story writer, poet, critic, and editor who was famous for his cultivation in mystery and macabre. His success in his works may or may not have been because of his emotional and mental problems. Edgar Allan Poe was a writer whose works represent his own unique style, how his emotional instability affected him, and what happened in his life.

    Read More

  • The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe

    1475 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the life of Edgar Allan Poe, he suffered many unfortunate events and endured several difficult situations. Some speculate that it was these experiences that helped to formulate the famous writing style of Edgar Allan Poe. His dark tales such as "The Masque of the Red Death" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" are horrific, and his poems such as "Alone" and "The Raven" show evidence that his life experiences influenced their dreariness. Poe's story plots and his own life are undeniably related and this relationship is intricately defined in many of his works.

    Read More

  • The Life of Edgar Allan Poe

    859 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe and Love

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edger Allan Poe is one of the most influential authors of his time. Well known for his short story's The Raven and A Tell-Tale Heart, Poe also wrote poems that reflected his struggles through out his life. Poe was born in 1809, Thomas Jefferson was president. Lots of events occurred during Poe’s life with the beginning of the war of 1812, to the writing of “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, and “The Vampyre” written by John Polidori. Slavery was banned in England in 1833 and a year later, The Spanish Inquisition ends in 1834 .During Poe’s short life of forty years; writers such as James Fenimore Cooper, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Charles Dickens published works. There was an influx of great writers during his time. Worldly influences such as wars, lack of proper health for illness such as tuberculosis and the popularity of stories with horror and monsters most certainly influence how Poe wrote. The biggest influence on Poe’s writing was his personal life; gambling, drinking, loss of love, and lack of money, greatly influenced what he wrote.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's Writing Style

    771 Words  | 2 Pages

    A virtuoso of suspense and horror, Edgar Allan Poe is known for his Gothic writing style. His style is created through his use of punctuation, sentence structure, word choice, tone, and figurative language. Punctuation-wise; dashes, exclamation marks, semicolons, and commas are a favorite of Poe. His sentences vary greatly; their structures are influenced by punctuation. Much of his word choice set the tone of his works. Figurative language colors his writings with description. Such is observed in the similarities between two of his most well-known short stories, “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”

    Read More

  • Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe´s Literature

    897 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe has a unique writing style that uses several different elements of literary structure. He uses intrigue vocabulary, repetition, and imagery to better capture the reader’s attention and place them in the story. Edgar Allan Poe’s style is dark, and his is mysterious style of writing appeals to emotion and drama. What might be Poe’s greatest fictitious stories are gothic tend to have the same recurring theme of either death, lost love, or both. His choice of word draws the reader in to engage them to understand the author’s message more clearly. Authors who have a vague short lexicon tend to not engage the reader as much.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of The Oval Portrait By Edgar Allen Poe

    2086 Words  | 5 Pages

    Edgar Allen Poe was most notably recognized as an intellectual writer. Poe’s most famous works include “The Raven” as well as “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe had quite a few other pieces of literature that may not have been as prominent as the formerly mentioned works, but their Gothic moods and dark tones were certainly on par as a collective whole. This critical analysis will focus on just one of Poe’s literary works, “The Oval Portrait” and how the messages and themes presented within this work carry over into the modern society of today.

    Read More

  • The Life and Death of Edgar Allan Poe

    3030 Words  | 7 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe had a writing style that was rather unique. He had a way of rhyming and expressing himself that no other author had at the time. He was in himself a genius in his own demented way.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis of Poe's The Tell Tale Heart

    1651 Words  | 4 Pages

    Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Tell-Tale Heart." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 1999. 33-37.

    Read More

More about The Romantic Period and Edgar Allan Poe

Open Document