Dec 27, 2009

The Fall of the House of Usher | Critical Overview

While Poe's works were not widely acclaimed during his lifetime, he did earn respect as a gifted fiction writer and poet, especially after the publication of his poem "The Raven." After his death, however, the history of his critical reception becomes one of dramatically uneven judgements and interpretations. This was, in part, the fault of Poe's one-time friend and literary executor R. W. Griswold, who, in an obituary notice bearing the byline ''Ludwig," attributed the depravity and psychological peculiarities of many of the characters in Poe's fiction to Poe himself. In retrospect,...