Poe's Theme

      
           If we think of Edgar Allan Poe' works, we think of dramatic short stories and horrors. Though Edgar wrote more than just that, we remember his most important works such as "The Masque of the Red Death," "The Cask of Amontillado," and "The Fall of the House of Usher."   But what are the themes of his most favorite works?

           We can look at the themes for this stories and poems as a view of life, especially Edgar Poe's life. Poe's life is filled with sudden death and tragedy. Many of his family, including his wife, died of illness. Reflecting off of this, Poe used this life experience to most (if not) all of his stories. The stories and poems he created follow a simple theme, the narrator or main character suffers from the death of a love one, such as "Annabelle Lee" and "The Raven". However, some of his other known works, such as "A Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado" are known as murder stories, where the narrator kills off another one. This follows a more sinister theme that Poe had created, but also follows the common theme of life. Though the murders in both stories are completely different, the theme of both can be the sense of guilt or being able to continue everyday life, even though you may have done am illegal activity such as murder.

           In "The Fall of the House of Usher", Poe creates a story in which a man visits his dying friend in his crumbling estate. Many critics have dissected this story into different meanings. Some view it politically as the old hierarchy (the Usher's and their house) is 'falling' and is a dying way of life. However, it can be viewed in a simpler theme. Everything comes to an end. Since the Ushers were an old family loom, it was destined to die off, such as the condition of the house. This also follows the common theme that Poe uses in his other stories and poems. Life eventually comes to an end, and there is no way to stop or shape it.