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Reading
to create dreadful moods. ?쏷he Raven??is perhaps the most famous
poem written by Poe and follows a narrator who laments the death of 14 champion ??to
support
his one true love, Lenore. A raven visits the bereaved man, who believes
15 epic poem ??a
the bird was sent from the underworld. The man then asks the raven a long poem that
narrates a hero?셲
25 number of questions regarding his lost love. Despite the man?셲 anguish, life or deeds
the raven repeatedly answers with only the word ?쏯evermore.??This 37 vault ??an
underground
repetition only increases the narrator?셲 anguish, yet the poem does room, usually with
an arched ceiling
not seek to reconcile the situation in order to provide a moral lesson.
In accordance with Poe?셲 literary theory, the poem conveys a feeling
30 of hopelessness, coupled with an eerie mood, which became Poe?셲
defining literary style.
Similarly, Poe?셲 short stories combine spooky, dark elements with
a sense of despair. These themes are frequently connected to a feeling
of loss and a fear of one?셲 inevitable demise. For instance, Poe?셲 short
35 story ?쏷he Fall of the House of Usher??follows a narrator as he visits
an old friend. He learns that his friend?셲 sister has died and is currently
entombed in a vault in the house. The narrator and his friend bury her,
only to find that they are inexplicably agitated for the next week. His host
begins to hallucinate. Eventually, the deceased sister reappears in the
40 house and falls on her brother, violently killing him. The narrator then flees
the estate and turns to see the house sink into the bog surrounding it.
The work includes many elements typical of the gothic genre
in general. Such elements are descriptions of the decaying mansion
accompanied by other eerie elements throughout the story. For Poe,
45 ?쏷he Fall of the House of Usher??explored the depths of human fear,
as the two men become more frightened after burying the woman. The
story focuses on psychological paranoia, much more so than other
horror tales of the time. Several other stories by Poe explore similar
themes but never become overtly violent or bloody.
50 Poe?셲 writing was poorly received in America due to his public
image as a drunkard and
gambler. However, Poe?셲
writing was translated into
other languages and became
55 influential in a number of
countries, including France
and Russia. He has received
more critical attention in
recent years and is now
60 considered one of the great
American writers of his time. ??The Museum of Edgar Allan Poe in Richmond, Virginia
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