edgar allen poe

            
             Edgar Allen Poe was known as a Dark Romantic because of his style of writing. A Dark Romantic was known for valuing intuition over logic and reason and thought that human events had certain signs and symbols behind them. Poe used the literary technique of symbolism very well, which Dark Romantics were known to use quite often. Dark Romantics were known to explore the dark side of a subject, but Poe was especially known for this because he had a very mad and deranged psyche. Poe used conflicts and bad experiences from his own life to help add him in his dark and creepy writings.
             Poe's, The Fall of the House of Usher examines the dark side of human life through the life of Roderick Usher and his decaying house. Right away Poe begins to describe the atmosphere around the Usher home, which is eerie and raises the reader's attentiveness. Before getting inside the house the narrator is already frightened by the appearance of the house, which looks like a face and has a crack running down the center of the structure. The house now seemed unstable to the narrator and was afraid to enter it because he was afraid it might collapse on him " made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction- (Pg 266), which foreshadowed the ending of the story. After entering the house the narrator was lead to the room that contained his dear old friend Roderick. Roderick was described to the reader as "a cadaverousness of complexion; an eye large, liquid- (Pg 267) that gives the reader the idea that Roderick is not in good health. The description that Poe used for both the house and Roderick gives the reader solid proof that his is writing in a dark romantic style. His view of the house came from the perspective of man who was deranged and offered the reader only the sense of fear. The description of Roderick gives off the same effect to the reader but to a greater extent. Roderick is given the characteristics of a cadaver, which is probably the worst characteristic a person could get.