Comparison the Raven and the Fall of the House of Usher Essay Example

basement. He cannot sleep due to anxiety caused by the ghostly appearance of Madeline that makes him horrified.

“The Raven” likewise begins by a quite creepy illusion in a wearisome night. Seated alone while reading a book, he hopes of forgetting Lenore, his lover. In a mysterious and suspicious atmosphere, a knock on the door draws his attention. When he goes to open, there is nothing at all. He consoles himself that perhaps it was just the wind hitting the window (6). Suddenly, the raven, which appears perched at the bust of Pallas, shocks him.

Both works exhibit Romanticism traits where Poe establishes literary realism through creativity, exploration and imagery. The poem as well as the story depicts the human mind characteristics in relation to the historical periods when such traits were culturally dominant. The Raven unravels a painful condition of the mind where the persona was trying hard to find comfort by forgetting his lost love. As he occasionally fixes his mind to Lenore, he is overcome with grief in a way that makes the reader pity his state of mind. Again, the raven bird causes imagination where the man imagines that it is Godsend (14) to relieve him of the anguish his going through. In “The Fall of The House of Usher”, it appears as though Roderick has gone insane for having kept indoors for what is seemingly eternity. He, alongside his friend, has obtained the traits of a house, which makes him unsure of his state of mind. Not only does the house change their appearance but also makes him run mad. The description of the house also raises the reader’s attentiveness where the

narrator states that the house looked as if it had a face and crack that he was even afraid of entering (Poe, par 5).

Love and death are some of the two themes intertwined to bring meaning in both of the two works. In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, the affection that existed between Roderick and his dearly beloved sister is doomed by death. They are twins and therefore with similar character traits. Roderick is horrified by the impending death that would befall his sister and he implicitly speeds it up. As though he knew death was a family curse, he foresees their death and facilitates its occurrence.

The narrator has an explicit devotion and friendship with Roderick but he has nothing he can do to avert the tragic death and thus complies with death by going ahead to bury Madeline. In “The Raven”, Poe expresses the concept of love and death through the anguish the persona is undergoing over his lost lover, Lenore. The narrator talks of the sorrow for the lost Lenore and thinks that the knocking on the door is Lenore (5). It is unfortunate that it is the raven knocking the door. This is an unfortunate circumstance since the raven is coming with the sad news that he would never see his lost love again. As an expression of the serious love he had with his lover, he finally resigns to the raven’s message and states that his soul will no more be lifted (13).

In both the two works, Poe makes good use of imagery symbolism and allegory as the fundamental literary devices to enhance his themes. A strange mingling between

fiction and reality exists in “The Fall of the House of Usher” where the artistic creation definitely connects to the happenings in the House of Usher. After painting the underground tomb, Madeline is buried underground, after singing about the fall of a house, Usher’s house declines. Most significantly, the title of the story has a symbolic meaning where it implies to the fall of the Usher bloodline. It is thus a metaphorical fall such that only Roderick and Madeline, his sister, were the last generation of the Usher family. When they died, the whole family died. In “The Raven”, Poe likewise attaches the symbolic meaning of the poem to its title.

When the raven enters the room, it takes dominance over the whole room. Its darkness symbolizes death where death becomes an overbearing intruder. In a wider perspective, the poem recounts a person’s inability to overcome an ultimate fate. When the raven says “nevermore”, the narrator first thinks it is just an amusing nonsense, but after a constant repletion, it turns the narrator from sadness to nervousness after realizing it was such a terrifying prophecy. The Bust of Pallas has a symbolic meaning of wisdom, which adds credit to the utterances of the narrator.

Poe makes use of the similar settings to describe his themes. In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Poe uses usher’s house to create a horrifying mood. The windows, the dungeon and bricks surrounding the house create a dismal atmosphere of anguish. The narrator describes the house as having no affinity with the air from heaven (Poe, par 4). He again uses the setting to foreshadow the series of events in the

story. Usher’s mansion lacks a perceptible fissure and has a small crack to foreshadow how the house will be into ruin. The individual stones of the house are in a crumbling condition to symbolize the gradual demise of people in Usher family. In “The Raven”, the setting is used to reflect despair and sadness. The poem takes place during a stormy period and the narrator describes the house as “horror haunted” and “the tempest swayed fitly” (Poe, par 25). The spooky light from the lanterns make everything even more exciting. ring a stormy period and the house is hountedng condition to symbolize the gradual demise of people in Usher family.

Despite the numerous similarities existing between the two literary works, some slight differences also exist. The most basic difference comes with the narration. In “The Raven”, the narrator serves as the main character obsessed with love and his point of focus becomes the visiting bird. The narrator takes the readers through a melodrama and so is the poem. He sounds unreliable as he has done too much of drinking, he has seen a raven and has heard bells. The narrator in “The Fall of the House of Usher” does not serve as the main character. He sounds as an observer taking part in the events and provides no meaningful information about himself. He is reliable as he helps Roderick in his various activities upon falling sick. Other than the narrator, the two artistic works are structurally different. While “The Ravel” takes a poetic form, “The Fall of the House of Usher” is a mixture of prose and poem. The notable difference is that while the former

is made up of stanzas, lines and repetition, the latter is made up of paragraphs, sentences and explanations for the most parts.

In conclusion, it is clear that Poe’s literary works on “The Raven” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” are similar. In both works, the author has employed the first person narration style, there is a clear incorporation of the Gothic elements and romanticism and the titles have a horrific symbolic meaning. The author has considered the significance of his settings add meaning to his themes especially the theme of love versus death that is evident in both works. Notably, the two works have contrasting characteristics in terms of the narrator and the structural differences in artwork.

Works Cited

1. "The Raven" Poetryfoundation.org N.p., 2016. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
2. "Edgar Allan Poe Society Of Baltimore - Works - Tales - The Fall Of The House Of Usher (Reprint)". Eapoe.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.