Poe's influence on Gothic Fiction?

[Aquilinus]

Hello there,

anybody still active in here?

I'm from Germany and kind of a Fan of Edgar Allan Poe. ('The Raven' just fascinates me as well as 'Usher' and the 'Tell-Tale Heart')

Now that I've read some works of Poe and also spend some time in this Network, I have a question:

What was Poe's influence on Gothic Fiction? He is seen as the Father of modern horror stories and maybe a role model for e.g. Stephen King. But what was the difference between Poe's style and the style of the authors before him (like Mary Shelly)? What made him so important for this genre?

I'm curious about you're answers...

[JCamilo]

Poe is more like a cleaver writer, using all that came before him. By such, he defined some unsaid rules for short stories and they kind off are exemplary in any genre.

Poe main difference from the previous gothic writers is his rationalism. Poe (this is is like Shelley's) mixed the metaphycis with science, his tales are rationalists, the horror a psychological show. In Poe there is little room for the optmism of early romantic writers also.

He abhored long narratives and excessive sentimentalism. You can say also with Poe, the gothic themes are more urban.

The importance of Poe also goes the fact that he has 4,5 of the most likely best short stories ever writen.