Edgar-Allan-Poe’s-Romantic-and-Gothic

EdgarAllanPoe’sRomanticandGothicEdgarAllanPoeisoneofthefirstAmericanauthorsofthe19thcentury，remainedthemostinfluentialandwidelyreadAmericanwriterofhistimeandconsideredasa“madgenius”wholivedahardlifeanddiedmysteriously.HeisoneofmyfavoritewritersandhismagnumopusTheRavenisthefirstpoetryI’veeverreadearnestlyanddeeplyimpressed.Thereisbeautyandpageantryinhisliteraturethatnotonlyshockthereader’sspirit，butalsocausefearintheirheart.AshesaidinThePhilosophyofComposition，“Beautyofwhateverkindinitssupremedevelopmentinvariablyexcitesthesensitivesoultotears”（Poe，par14），andhedefinitelybroughtthistohisreaders.HeisaGothicauthorsaswellasacentralfigureofRomanticism.Thefeatureofthesegenresshinesinmanyofhispieces.AsforRomanticism，unlikeothercontemporarywriters，PoehadadistinctexpressiononRomanticism.Hehadaninfatuationforthewitheringofbeautifulthings.HesaidinThephilosophyofcomposition，“thedeaththenofabeautifulwomanisunquestionablythemostpoeticaltopicintheworld”（Poe，par20）.Humanmortalityisthethemeinvolveinmostofhiscreationbothpoetryandnovels.InhispoemTheRaven，Poedidn’tdescribedeathdirectly；butthedeathof“Lenore”，thecharacter’sbeautifullover，wasthesubjectthroughoutthepoem.Thecharacterwasdistressingforhislossandtherewasagrifineveryword：“sorrowforthelostLenore-FortherareandradiantmaidenwhomtheangelsnameLenore-Namelesshereforevermore”（Poe10-12）.Also，hewasstrugglingaboutifhecouldseeheragain，“Tellthissoulwithsorrowladenif.withinthedistantAidenn.ItshallclaspasaintedmaidenwhomtheangelsnameLenore?”（Poe93-94）.Buttheonlyanswerhegotwas“Quoththeraven，‘Nevermore’”（Poe95）.ThemelancholyanddesperatedeathisanimportantfeatureinRomanticism.Inaddition，inTheMasqueoftheRedDeath，themaincharacterPrinceProsperohas“eccentricyetaugusttaste”（Poe，par2）.Hewasdescribedas：“Hehadafineeyeforcoloursandeffects.Hedisregardedthedecoraofmerefashion.Hisplanswereboldandfiery，andhisconceptionsglowedwithbarbariclustre.Therearesomewhowouldhavethoughthimmad.Hisfollowersfeltthathewasnot.Itwasnecessarytohearandseeandtouchhimtobesurethathewasnot”（Poe，par7）.Allofthesecharactershaveadistinctivecharacterimage.TheMasqueoftheRedDeathhadadarkerandmuchmoredangeroussettingthanTheRaven.IthasthetraditionoftheEighteenthCentury’sEuropeanGothicstylenovels：castlewithdeclineandsealingatmosphere，abandonedvillagesofdepressionandweirdandfreakishpeople；andPoeaddedpsychologicalthrillerfactorslike“agiganticclockofebony”（Poe，par5）.Despitetheenvironmentwas“animperialsuite”（Poe，par4），itwassurroundingbydepressingandderangedambience：“therecameyetanotherchimingoftheclock，andthenwerethesamedisconcertandtremulousnessandmeditationasbefore”（Poe，par5）.Peopletherewere“weremuchofthebeautiful，muchofthewanton，muchofthebizarre，somethingoftheterrible，andnotalittleofthatwhichmighthaveexciteddisgust”（Poe，par7）.Nottomentionthesoultouchingandhorrifyinglanguagesintheopeningparagraph：“The‘RedDeath’hadlongdevastatedthecountry...Andthewholeseizure，progressandterminationofthedisease，weretheincidentsofhalfanhour”（Poe，par1）.Poeusedsuperlativeandrepetitivewordslike“sofatal，orsohideous”（Poe，par1），visualdepict“therednessandthehorrorofblood”（Poe，par1）andachillingtimeconcept“incidentsofhalfanhour”（Poe，par1）tostartthismagnificentperformance.Inconclusion，bycomparingtwoofhispieces，IshowedthatPoe’sworkalwayshavevoluminousRomanticismcharacteristic.YetIalsocontrasttheliteraturewithpowerfulGothicfeaturetoanother.AsagreatRomanticismauthor，EdgarAllanPoebuiltamorebrutalandthrillingwordthanrealityusinghissensitivemind，richimagination，profoundanduniqueinsightsofdeathandtruthfullanguages.HecreatedaneweraofGothicnovels.Tosomeextent，hisGothicpieces，forexample，TheMasqueoftheRedDeath，achievedadeep-seatedterrorthantheRomanticismpieces.Theyarebothfullofimaginary，overstatedemotionandprofoundbeauty，buttheobjectivedescribeandthedesolatepictureofthesettingintheGothicpiecebroughtaheart-shakinganddreadfulterrortoitsreader，penetratingourbloodandsoulandlastforalongtime.