Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Kassel, course: Hauptseminar "Antebellum in American Short Fiction", language: English, abstract: "A skillful literary artist has constructed a tale, ... there should be no word written, of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is not to the one pre-established design..." Edgar Allan Poe, who was praised as given the title of "one of the greatest journalistic critic of his time" by literary critics, stressed unity, totality, and prescribed design. And "The Fall of the House of Usher", is proved to be a very successful story to demonstrate Poe’s adherence of his own principle of constructiveness and his structural art. The intention of this research paper is, therefore, to examine how Poe emphasized unity of effect in theory and how it is fulfilled in practice especially in one of his best-known stories. In a close reading of "Usher", the author is above all impressed by the melancholic tone that Poe obviously intends to raise at the very beginning of this story. For this reason, how Poe implements his technique by making tone obedient to the unity of effect will be first of all examined in this paper. Obviously, tone should be identified with atmosphere. According to Poe, unity of setting is another important requirement for achieving the unity of effect in prose writing, which will be studied in the second section. If, as critics maintain, characters are skilfully adapted to the circumstances which surround them are a general device in Poe’s tales, it is in "Usher" in particular. The third section intends to show how characters are made to fit into the desolate house and dreary environment to achieve the desired effect in this tale. Finally, with the ideal arrangement of effective tone, setting, characters, Poe gains his battlefield to carry out unity of effect in plot in "Usher". In order to attain the unity of plot in literary writing, Poe stressed both "unity of time" and "unity of action", as essential parts in his theory on unity of effect. In "Usher", both of these aspects are completely fulfilled through the brief time span in which the story happens, a coherent plot line and a "mutual relationship" between incidents. Hence, Poe’s emphasis on unity of plot in theory, and how it is accomplished in "Usher" in the last section will be explored in the last section of this paper. Consistent with Poe’s theory of "unity", "totality" and "full design", four aspects, namely tone, setting, characters and plot through which Poe attempts to create a vision of "unity of effect" in this tale are examined in this paper.

This fascinating literary essay, written by the famous American writer and poet, Edgar Allan Poe, explores the mystique of artistic creation. By using his renowned poem ‘The Raven’ as an example, Poe explains how good writers write well, concluding that brevity, ‘unity of effect’ and a logical method are the most important factors. Taking the reader through the deliberate choices made when writing the poem, the author also discusses theme, setting, sound, and the importance of refrain. ‘The Philosophy of Composition’ (1846) is a perfect read for literary scholars, writers, and fans of Poe. Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) was an American writer, poet, editor and literary critic, best known for his gothic, macabre tales that include ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’, ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’, and ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’. One of America’s first short story writers, Poe is considered the inventor of detective fiction and a key figure in both horror and science fiction. His work had a profound impact on American and international literature and he was one of the first American writers to earn international recognition. His other notable works include ‘The Raven and other Poem’s’, (1845) ‘The Cask of Amontillado’, ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’, and ‘The Tell-Take Heart’. With many of his stories adapted for TV and screen, including the gothic 2014 film ‘Stonehearst Asylum’, starring Kate Beckinsale, Michael Caine, and Ben Kingsley, Poe continues to influence literature, film, and television to this day.

This Top Five Classics illustrated edition of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven includes: • All 25 illustrations by Gustave Doré for Harper & Brothers’ 1884 edition • An informative Introduction • A detailed Biography of Edgar Allan Poe • The illustrated version and text-only version of the full poem No poem has ever received the kind of immediate and overwhelming response that Poe’s “The Raven” did when it first appeared in the New York Evening Mirror on January 29, 1845. It made Poe an overnight sensation (though his great fame never brought him much wealth) and the poem, a powerfully haunting elegy to lost love, remains one of the most beloved and recognizable verses in the English language. The illustrations that accompany this Top Five Classics edition are reproductions of the renowned French artist Gustave Doré’s steel-plate engravings created for Harper & Brothers’ 1884 release of The Raven. It would be Doré’s last commission as he died shortly after completing the 25 illustrations in January 1883. His illustrations would become famous in their own right, evoking as they do the lyrical and mystical air of Poe’s masterpiece.

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2011 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Literatur, Note: 1,6, Universität Konstanz, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most famous American authors; however, he is “the most controversial” . Not only his works fueled the debate on him, but also his almost scandalous biography, which includes alcohol, drugs, financial problems, a marriage with his only 13-year-old cousin and a strange personality, that gave him a reputation of a grumpy, even violent person. Nevertheless he had a great influence on American literature and the modern short story. The attention of this essay will be focused on Poe's means and methods of manipulating the reader with the effect of horror and fear. This shall be demonstrated on the example of “The Fall of the House of Usher”. The story was written in spring or summer of 1839 in Philadelphia. It was published in September of that year in Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine, of which Poe was assistant editor. A collection of 25 stories named “Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque”, including Usher, came out in December. Thomas Woodson describes Usher as “Succession of futile efforts to establish himself, to define a solid identity for posterity, for his contemporaries, and for himself. It is of course typical for him that he should try to construct his own literary personality by dramatizing the fall of a house and of a family.”

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald, course: North American Short Stories, language: English, abstract: Edgar Allan Poe's name is related to the American short story like none other in the history of American Literature. While Washington Irving is commonly seen as the creator of the short story, Edgar Allan Poe is regarded as the first to have realised its potential and the first to have created an aesthetical theory of the short story. This theory though, especially Poe's depiction of the skilful artist and his/her perfect way of creating art, gave rise to many heated discussions, which strongly shaped the image of Poe. Thus he is likely to be seen as the cold-blooded, emotionally unaffected author who creates art on demand, contriving compositions with an unparalleled precision and brilliancy. Many critics therefore rather based their criticism on the life and the person of Edgar Allan Poe, instead of his contributions to the development of literature. This work strictly wants to avoid to draw any populist parallels between the author Poe and the person Poe. The first part of this term paper therefore deals with Poe's literary theory as such. I will focus mainly on Poe's major concerns of effect and the genres of poetry and prose. Furthermore I will pose the question, what is the actual matter of Poe's theory, is it a profound concept or just a vague and hasty response to Emerson's "The Poet", with the mere purpose of provoking his contemporaries and thus to get attention? Since the formulation of a theory always raises the question of its applicability, especially on the part of its originator, the second part will scrutinise to what extent Edgar Allan Poe stuck to his own principles. Is there a discrepancy between theory and practice in the work of Edgar Allan Poe, and if so how can this be explained? His short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" will provide th

A comfortable, suburban family man receives a desperate call from a forgotten childhood acquaintance. Thus starts a journey into madness that takes Ed Allen to the House of Usher and its terrible secrets and temptations. This modern adaptation of the classic short story by Edgar Allen Poe transports Gothic horror into the 90s, questioning the definition of sanity in the same way Poe did. This is an exhilarating theatrical adventure with an apocalyptic ending. Actors and designers will be challenged in new ways in this unpredictable and wildly entertaining play. Use of the music is not mandatory but will enhance productions.

This collection of essays, which rediscovers Edgar Allan Poe’s not forgotten lore, comprises a two-headed scholarly body, drawing from communication and linguistics and literature, although it also includes many other academic offshoots which explore Poe’s labyrinthine and variegated imagination. The papers are classified according to two main domains, namely: (I) Edgar Allan Poe in Language, Literature and Translation Studies, and (II) Edgar Allan Poe in Communication and the Arts. In short, this book combines rigour and modernity and pays homage, with a fresh outlook, to Poe’s extra-ordinary originality and brilliant weirdness which prompted renowned authors like James Russell Lowell and Howard P. Lovecraft to claim, respectively, that “Mr. Poe has that indescribable something which men have agreed to call genius” and that “Poe’s tales possess an almost absolute perfection of artistic form which makes them veritable beacon lights in the province of the short story. Poe’s weird tales are alive in a manner that few others can ever hope to be.”