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Examples Of Dark Romanticism In Edgar Allan Poe

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Edgar Allan Poe was a typical representative of the 19th century literary movement - Dark Romanticism. This essay will look at one of his short stories – The Fall of the House of Usher – in its broad cultural and literary context, its place among other Poe’s works, the story’s stylistic features, and the main themes and characters.
Speaking of the cultural context of the work, I would like to refer to Kerry Vermillion and Quinn McCumber, who considered the works of Edgar Allan Poe to be influenced by two opposite ideas popular in his time: Empiricism and Transcendentalism. While the former claimed that people could acquire knowledge about reality and truth by perceiving the physical world through the senses, the latter argued that reality dwells …show more content…

His artistic preferences were probably influenced by his biography to some extent. Poe had to face tragic circumstances from an early age. His father left the family soon after Edgar’s birth, and when Poe was only three years old, his mother died from tuberculosis. The child was adopted by the friends of the family. However, Poe’s stepmother was also sick and his relationship with his stepfather, wealthy but strict, was quite tempestuous. At the age of 26 Poe married Virginia Clemm, his cousin, but she soon died, which affected him significantly. The deaths of his mother and wife found reflection in Poe’s stories, with many plots dealing with female characters suffering from sickness (e.g. “Ligeia” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”). Edgar Allan Poe failed to finish the university and is said to have had addiction to alcohol throughout his life, but he still managed to become a literary critic, poet and writer. His dark-romantic poem “Raven” was a great success, and he was actually one of the first to introduce the genre of short story to American …show more content…

The main features of the story are an exotic isolated setting, unnerving atmosphere, a decaying family and the recurrent theme of madness that breaks the border between the physical and the spiritual world. In terms of symbolism and composition, “doubling” is notable, as it shows the connection of the family to the house and the dependence of the twins on each other. All in all, the above mentioned features make the story essentially

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