How Does Edgar Allan Poe's Impact On American Literature

Two writers that had a great impact on the way short fictional stories are written and also the way literature as a whole is written today are none other than Edgar Allan Poe and Nathanial Hawthorne. They both had the nerve to dig into feelings that could be felt by anyone, and that is what made their work so timeless. Poe focused on writing a story that evoked some type of emotion from the reader, while Hawthorne used specific tactics to show the reader exactly how the author was feeling. These creative and innovative ways of speech had an impeccable impact on what people enjoy in writing. Poe and Hawthorne are important in the history of American literature because of the ways that they used setting, symbolism and overall style to inflict what they intended the purpose to be in their works, but we could also see certain differences in the manner that these tactics are used to create completely different emotions for the stories they wanted to tell.

In Hawthorne’s works, he likes to use imagery in the form of light and dark. There is a dark symbol in The Ministers Black Veil, where the black veil that is worn symbolizes sin. Poe also uses light and dark as symbols. In The Masque of the Red Death, the light patterns of the fires lighting up the rooms, and the dark clock that was in the black room that was symbolizing how much time the revelers had to live. The light represented life and the dark obviously represented death. The ways that they used symbolism spread past their time and people associate light and dark to contrast two sides like life and death, good and bad, and much more. This is included in many novels and short stories to show deeper insight, and it is found in natural surroundings or it could be mixed into the development of characters. This formula of writing are the bread and butter to Poe and Hawthorne’s writing