Poe and Romanticism

FCA 1. Defends Edgar Allan Poe as a Romantic writer and provides at least three characteristics of Romanticism- 50
FCA 2. Uses language effectively by exhibiting word choices that are engaging and appropriate- 20
FCA 3. Includes sentences of varied length and structure- 15
FCA 4. Correct use of subject/ verb agreement- 15 Edgar Allan Poe was a suspenseful writer of horror stories, as he was indeed a Romantic writer. Many Romantic characteristics are shown in Poe's short stories and poems. A significant trait of Romanticism was Poe's vivid imagination that aided him to write some of his brilliant pieces of writing. There is no doubt that Poe was a sensationalist who appeals to many readers, but he was also a Romantic writer. Romantic qualities are abundant in Poe's stories. Some of these qualities include imagination, intuition, and inner experience. As said in the Cycle of American Literature, "Poe's conception of imagination has been applied to a whole generation of French Poets." One of Poe's well-known short stories, The Cask of Amontillado, demonstrates how he wrote a tale of revenge using his creative imagination. His imagination created the perfect murder for the story. Another characteristic of Romanticism that he included was intuition. In the “Tell Tale Heart”, the old man in the bed had an intuition that something bad was going to happen to him. Eventually, he was murdered. Also, another Romantic quality Poe brought out in his writings was inner experience. In Poe’s poems and short stories, he uses his experiences and memories of the past and portrays them through his characters. In “The Raven” he has Lenore represent his wife Virginia who was dying at that time. These three qualities of Romanticism helped to show that Poe was not only a gothic writer, but also a romantic writer as well. Qualities such as imagination, intuition, and inner experience describe the side of Poe as a romantic writer. What might sometimes seem puzzling in a story by Poe, such as an unexpected ending or an unexpected event, is not puzzling if we remember that what he created was a result of his writing during the Romantic tradition. While his tales can be read as gothic stories and tales of horror, they also take on further significance as superb examples of the Romantic tradition.