Hauntings

     "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar allen Poe is a psychological tale of loss and acceptance. Roderick is the last of a dying line which reminded me of a Solomon Kane story called "the moon of skulls." In the story Kane goes searching for a kidnapped girl in Africa and ends up in the lost Atlantean colony of Negari. While exploring the city Solomon comes across the last member of the Atlantean line. He listens to the lament of the last of a dying race. That's the tone of "the fall of the house of usher." The last of the Usher line is slowly wasting away along with his house just like everything eventually succumbs to the forces of entropy. Roderick is kept alive only because of his sister whom he refuses to accept the death of. Once Roderick finally accepts the death of his sister everything finally comes to an end and the house crumbles into dust along with the last of the Ushers. Besides the psychological aspects of the story their are also creepy descriptive elements. The house looks like it has eyes, there's a crack running through it, and the trees around the house are described to have a consciousness about them. Internally the house is dark and enclosed. The description of the inside calls to mind images of cobwebs and flickering lamps. The observer in the story represents all of us. We all had that one friend when we were kids that was a little weird and had us convinced that he lived in a haunted house or something.
     "Afterward" is a different take on the haunted house idea. The house doesn't have ghosts initially, the ghosts are brought to the house by mary's husband. The couple leave America so that Ned can run away from his guilty conscience and live in England far away from the buisiness dealings of America. Elwell however does not want him to get away with what he did so easily and takes Ned away. The story showcases the things wrong with the United States at the time. These things include shady buisness and exploitation of labor. This story is less about the evil that exists within a delapidated building and more about the evil that exists within the human heart.

Edgar Allen Poe

     I think everyone can agree that Edgar Allen Poe is one of the greatest writers of the 19th century if not of all time. His poems and short fiction are timeless and still have a great impact on readers today. His poem "The Raven" is so famous that a sports team is named after it. "The Raven" is possibly the most well written poem ever. The feelings of dread flow from "The Raven." The concept of the finality of death is the scariest aspect of the poem. People today don't seem to understand why the poem is considered scary mainly I think because people today have become so exclusively literal. The Raven says "nevermore" because Lenore is dead and there is nothing he can do to bring her back. She is dead and the narrator will never see her again. The narrator isn't named because the narrator could be any one of us. All of us will lose people we love and none of us will be able to bring them back and they will be lost forever. We'll sit like the narrator by the fire trying not to think of the ones we've lost. Sitting, reading a volume of forgotten lore or watching the television, biting our nails nervously while we focus on the rustle of the curtains or the creek of a door. Trying to focus on anything that will keep us from realizing that it is over for the ones we loved and soon it will be over for us. Scary, huh? At least Orpheus was given a chance, am I right?
     "Annabel Lee" has the same basic premise as the raven which is the sadness that comes after loss but "Annabel Lee" tells the story of how that love came to be. The Love of these two is so strong that even the angels feel envious of them. Of course it all has to end with the loss of  Annabel because it wouldn't be Poe if it didn't. Poe lived this kind of loss so it wasn't a chore for him to write so powerfully and convincingly. Like the Gettysburg Adress, if you lived it it's always more genuine when you write it down.