Edgar Allan Poe’s Romantic and Gothic

Yiyang+Yu

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the first American authors of the 19th century， remained the most influential and widely read American writer of his time and considered as a “mad genius” who lived a hard life and died mysteriously. He is one of my favorite writers and his magnum opus The Raven is the first poetry Ive ever read earnestly and deeply impressed. There is beauty and pageantry in his literature that not only shock the readers spirit， but also cause fear in their heart. As he said in The Philosophy of Composition， “Beauty of whatever kind in its supreme development invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears” （Poe， par 14）， and he definitely brought this to his readers. He is a Gothic authors as well as a central figure of Romanticism. The feature of these genres shines in many of his pieces.

As for Romanticism， unlike other contemporary writers， Poe had a distinct expression on Romanticism. He had an infatuation for the withering of beautiful things. He said in The philosophy of composition， “the death then of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world” （Poe， par 20）. Human mortality is the theme involve in most of his creation both poetry and novels. In his poem The Raven， Poe didnt describe death directly； but the death of “Lenore”， the characters beautiful lover， was the subject throughout the poem. The character was distressing for his loss and there was a grif in every word： “sorrow for the lost Lenore-For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore- Nameless here for evermore” （Poe 10-12）. Also， he was struggling about if he could see her again， “Tell this soul with sorrow laden if. within the distant Aidenn. It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore?” （Poe 93-94）. But the only answer he got was “Quoth the raven， ‘Nevermore” （Poe 95）. The melancholy and desperate death is an important feature in Romanticism.

In addition， in The Masque of the Red Death， the main character Prince Prospero has “eccentric yet august taste” （Poe， par 2）. He was described as： “He had a fine eye for colours and effects. He disregarded the decora of mere fashion. His plans were bold and fiery， and his conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre. There are some who would have thought him mad. His followers felt that he was not. It was necessary to hear and see and touch him to be sure that he was not” （Poe， par 7）. All of these characters have a distinctive character image.

The Masque of the Red Death had a darker and much more dangerous setting than The Raven. It has the tradition of the Eighteenth Centurys European Gothic style novels： castle with decline and sealing atmosphere， abandoned villages of depression and weird and freakish people； and Poe added psychological thriller factors like “a gigantic clock of ebony” （Poe， par 5）. Despite the environment was “an imperial suite” （Poe， par 4）， it was surrounding by depressing and deranged ambience： “there came yet another chiming of the clock， and then were the same disconcert and tremulousness and meditation as before” （Poe， par 5）. People there were “were much of the beautiful， much of the wanton， much of the bizarre， something of the terrible， and not a little of that which might have excited disgust” （Poe， par 7）. Not to mention the soul touching and horrifying languages in the opening paragraph： “The ‘Red Death had long devastated the country... And the whole seizure， progress and termination of the disease， were the incidents of half an hour” （Poe， par 1）. Poe used superlative and repetitive words like “so fatal， or so hideous” （Poe， par 1）， visual depict “the redness and the horror of blood” （Poe， par 1） and a chilling time concept “incidents of half an hour” （Poe， par 1） to start this magnificent performance.

In conclusion， by comparing two of his pieces， I showed that Poes work always have voluminous Romanticism characteristic. Yet I also contrast the literature with powerful Gothic feature to another. As a great Romanticism author， Edgar Allan Poe built a more brutal and thrilling word than reality using his sensitive mind， rich imagination， profound and unique insights of death and truthful languages. He created a new era of Gothic novels. To some extent， his Gothic pieces， for example， The Masque of the Red Death， achieved a deep-seated terror than the Romanticism pieces. They are both full of imaginary， overstated emotion and profound beauty， but the objective describe and the desolate picture of the setting in the Gothic piece brought a heart-shaking and dreadful terror to its reader， penetrating our blood and soul and last for a long time.