In one sense, Edgar Allan Poe and Ralph Waldo Emerson are both Romantics because both privilege the individual and the individual's unique emotions and experiences. Emerson directly advocates for the individual's reliance on him or herself, and on one's own intuition, rather than on the views and opinions of others and, especially, society at large. He encourages each of us to take the time to go out into nature, to really see the sun (literally and figuratively), and to allow the individual to return to his or her reason and faith, the guiding forces that will push each of us to live our best lives. Poe, as a writer of fiction, focuses on individuals with unique perspectives and feelings; his texts often inspire horror in his readers, and many Romantics believed that inspiring audiences to experience intense emotions would also work to restore them to some more fundamental version of themselves.

Poe and Emerson, however, do differ greatly. Emerson mostly wrote nonfiction essays and poetry, while Poe wrote short fiction and poetry (and one novel). Emerson preferred to focus on the goodness he believed was inherent in the individual while Poe preferred to focus on the darkness within each of us. Emerson believed that we could perfect ourselves; Poe seems more interested in what tempts us, what might compel us to be our flawed, human, far-from-perfect selves.