Washington Irving was a successful and well – known American author in both America and Europe during the Romantic Era. His writing had shaped American identity. He created short stories as a new genre such as Rip Van Winkle, which made him famous. Irving had a great sense of humor, and that was expressed in his writings. Washington Irving wrote about the places and people that he experienced, but his works were extraordinarily literary. The way he thought was very different from other author at the time “He believed that critics should judge literature according to established canons of taste and teach authors to correct their faults.” (Pancost). Irving stood with artists against critics, and he encouraged the readers show trust their own …show more content…
He grabbed all the reader’s attentions by his very dark and scary form of writing. Edgar Allan Poe faced a lot of hardships throughout his entire life such as the loss of his family and financial difficulty. As a result, his difficulties inspired him to compose to express his feelings. In his works, he showed the readers the connection between him and other people in his life through the characters in his poems and stories (Eckert). For instance, the symbolism in his poem Annabel Lee was seen as Poe’s lover – Virginia; it represented for the pain he felt after his wife passed away. And the symbol of the sea reflected his loneliness and emptiness. His themes of writing included love, nature and the human imagination. Moreover, death was one of his major themes of writing. “The Tell–Tale Heart” was one of his famous horror short story about a madman who works as a butler. According to Vellela, Poe’s focus on darkness might not have a connection to religion but darkness is an obvious trait of his writing. His characters had certainly experienced guilt that is represented by the beating of a hideous heart exposing the murder in the story