Essay Database

Poe as a Gothic Writer Horror literature has emerged from a blend of the rejection of the Enlightenment, the emergence of Romanticism, and most importantly, the early Gothic tradition. Horror authors of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were greatly inspired by neo-Gothic interests. Edgar Allan Poe was an American horror author during this era whose collection of extraordinary short stories can be related to these interests. Through the mood, settings, architecture, irrationality, helplessness and supernatural …

…on ruin and decay, pain, torture, the supernatural, the abnormal and helplessness all contribute to Poe being characterized as a Gothic writer. During an era that publicly believed in progress, objectivity and conformity, Poe’s tales that reversed common norms and suggested illogical occurrences were a great source of fear to readers. Consequently, Poe’s Gothic-inspired tales have become classic horror stories in our day, and continue to serve as the groundwork of horror literature.