Edgar Allan Poe wrote tales of the mysterious and the morbid. His life was shrouded in mystery and often misunderstood. He lived through many alternating achievements and failures, but was never appreciated as writer and died the same way he lived, dejected and penniless. The literary merits of Poe's writings have been disputed since his death, but his works have remained popular. Edgar Allan Poe's literary talents and works have been debated because of the melancholic and dreary content, literary construction, and the prose of his writing.
The melancholic and often lackluster content of Poe's work contributed greatly to its original detest. The words were soft driven, slow, and mad like some new language. His tales were diverse and completely original because of their bizarre inventiveness. A Story such as "The Fall of the House of Usher," is a great example of his imagination. It is a tale about a visit to the decaying House of Usher, a house haunted by the resident's evil past. Their history of deceit and sin ultimately becomes too great for the house to hold, causing the house to finally fall. With Poe's writing skills the gloomy atmosphere plays as much a role in the story as the warped characters. Poe's work, although bleak and often dark, flowed with an ingenious style unique to him. The gothic content of his writing failed to surpass the popular romantic fiction of the time, so consequently Poe was disliked immensely.
The literary construction of Edgar Allan Poe's writing did not match the realities of the 19th century. Poe wrote stories purely for economic reasons, by choice he was a poet. Most of his poems are known for their flawless literary construction and their haunting messages. "The Raven" is a poem that in an essence seems to be Poe himself, a man is mourning for his lost Lenore and reading of forgotten lore. There is only a raven saying "nevermore" to remind the man of his lost love and his infinite torment.