ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Edgar Allan Poe’s best-known works include the poems “To Helen” (1831), “The Raven” (1845), and “Annabel Lee” (1849); the short stories of wickedness and crime “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843) and “The Cask of Amontillado” (1846); and the supernatural horror story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839).

Detailed explanation-2: -Edgar Allan Poe: A nineteenth-century writer and poet, Edgar Allan Poe used his writing to explore Gothic themes and the macabre.

Detailed explanation-3: -Initially, Poe wrote burlesques of the Gothic story, but soon began to write seriously in the Gothic vein. Gothic tales often involve circumstances of mystery and horror, a general atmosphere of gloom and doom, and elements like dungeons, ghosts, and decaying castles with secret passageways.

Detailed explanation-4: -Poe incorporates Gothic aspects such as the house being a gothic being, the role of decay, suspense, living in isolation, the decline of the characters, madness and the supernatural in which the element of fear is produced in its fullest form. The dark imagery establishes the tone for the plot and what is to come.

Detailed explanation-5: -"The Fall of the House of Usher” shows Poe’s ability to create an emotional tone in his work, specifically emphasizing feelings of fear, impending doom, and guilt. These emotions center on Roderick Usher, who, like many Poe characters, suffers from an unnamed disease.