The Poet and The Fall of the House of Usher
December 7, 2007
Two of America’s greatest writers are considered to be Ralph Waldo Emerson and Edgar Allan Poe. This is because they were able to express different emotions into their writings. Each writer, born and raised in different backgrounds, lived lives that would not mirror each other.
Emerson lived the more religious life, whether it was as a preacher, or leading the movement of transcendentalism; while Poe lived a life of depression haunted by the deaths of his loved ones. Poe lived a very wealthy life, inheriting money from the death of his wife. To understand their views in each other writings, "The Poet" and "The Fall of the House of Usher," it helps to see the perspectives from which each viewed life. Emerson’s idealized Poet and Poe’s Roderick Usher are on opposite sides of the spectrum, but do share some similarities. Emerson’s "The Poet" is a very optimistic view of life and poetry, while Poe’s "The Fall of the House of Usher" is more pessimistic and gloomy. The Poet and Roderick Usher share an appreciation of the arts and their thoughts of whom they represent, yet differ in the Poet’s optimistic views that feed his ego and Usher’s pessimistic look on life.
Roderick Usher suffers from an illness that leaves him extremely weak, yet when his friend visits him, still has enough time to paint and play the guitar. Even with all that surrounds him such as his illness, his sister’s body, and his dilapidated mansion, Usher was still able to enjoy an artistic side. The Poet, as Emerson writes, discusses that creativity needs to be an essential part of a poet’s life. Emerson writes, "Those who are esteemed umpires of taste, are often persons who have acquired some knowledge of admired pictures or sculptures, and have an inclination for whatever is elegant; but if you inquire whether they are beautiful souls, and whether their own acts are like fair pictures, you learn that they are selfish and sensual". In this quote Emerson is pointing out that although these people may have taste, they have no substance. This creativity helps boost the already optimistic Poet that Emerson describes, and seems to be the only light that shines through Roderick Usher’s dark and gloomy life. Poe writes, "We painted and read together –or I listened, as if in a dream, to the wild improvisations of his speaking guitar".
The house of Usher becomes a character of its own as its shabby look takes on the appearance of its master, Roderick Usher. Poe describes Usher as having large, luminous eyes, a molded chin, thin lips and a delicate nose. Usher is weak from his illness, and lives in the mansion that his family has lived in for generations. Since Usher hasn’t left the house in sometime, the mansion begins to rot. Usher’s state of mind makes him think that he is a representative of the house, as it slowly begins to crumble and die. Usher says in describing the house, ". . . an influence which some peculiarities in the mere form and substance of his family mansion, had, by dint of long sufferance, he said, obtained over his spirit – an effect which physique of the gray walls and turrets, and of the dim tarn into which they all looked down, had, at length, brought about upon the morale of his existence". The Poet, as well as Usher, believes that he is representing something – this time, man. Emerson writes, "The breadth of the problem is great, for the poet is representative. He stands among partial men for the complete man, and apprises us not of his wealth, but of the commonwealth". The Poet believes he represents man, and he feels he is what man should be. While the Poet and Usher represent two completely different ideas, they are bonded by that feeling of representing something.
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s "The Poet" expresses a great deal of optimistic behavior to everything life hands him. The Poet believes that the love for truth, good, and beauty are equal and essential to live his life. This optimistic view of life by the Poet is only feeding his ever growing ego. The Poet thinks of himself as a teacher, or in Emerson’s words, a doctor. The Poet may not be a doctor or teacher, and deep down, he has to know that, but to refer to himself as that, is only inflating his self-image. Another ego booster for the Poet is that he says he is able to connect with nature and every artificial thing and bring them together, something that God cannot do. While the Poet is extremely optimistic and has quite the ego, Roderick Usher is very different. Poe writes, "And thus, as a closer and still closer intimacy admitted me more unreservedly into the recesses of his spirit, the more bitterly did I perceive the futility of all attempt at cheering a mind from which darkness, as if an inherent positive quality, poured forth upon all objects of the moral and physical universe, in one unceasing radiation of gloom".
The Poet and Roderick Usher share some similarities and differences but there is no doubt that these two are heading in two directions. The Poet is about the true poet and not about men of poetic talents or of industry and skill meter. Roderick Usher was a defeated man, but he was able to still enjoy a few artistic things. While they could be considered poets on the rise, Emerson’s "The Poet" and Poe’s "The Fall of the House of Usher" showcase some similarities and differences.
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