As Unusual As Their Names...Fern and Poe

    Fanny Fern and Edgar Allen Poe have completely different writing styles and were entertaining in their own way. While Poe wrote using vivid imagery that paints a scary story quite effectively, Fern was relatively straightforward which was refreshing. Rather than being hung up on the wording, her phrasing is exactly what makes it enjoyable. She writes with such energy and insight. She says: “Whether ladies can write novels or not, is a question I do not intend to discuss; but that some of them have no difficulty in finding either publishers or readers, is a matter of history; and that gentlemen often write over feminine signatures would seem also to argue that feminine literature is, after all, in good odor with the reading public.” I love that she uses fact to support her claims and the fact of the matter was that women’s work sold. Period. I also enjoyed her work, A Law More Nice Than Just, which described the inconveniences of women’s society enforced apparel. The fictional character of Mrs. Fanny Fern says, “But oh, the delicious freedom of that walk, after we were well started! No skirts to hold up, or to draggle their wet folds against my ankles; no stifling vail flapping in my face, and blinding my eyes; no umbrella to turn inside out, but instead, the cool rain driving slap into my face, and the resurrectionized blood coursing through my veins, and tingling in my cheeks.”  I can imagine that many women both enjoyed and were shocked to read about a lady who was determined to live her life the way she wanted, making the best of inconveniences that they themselves had to endure.
    Poe’s work has gathered quite a fan base over time. There were not many from his time that wrote with such intensity and suspenseful descriptions that made you feel as if you are right along side the character. He writes in The Fall of the House of Usher: “While I gazed, this fissure rapidly widened-- there came a fierce breath of the whirlwind-- the entire orb of the satellite burst at once upon my sight-- my brain reeled as I saw the mighty walls rushing asunder-- there was a long tumultuous shouting sound like the voice of a thousand waters-- and the deep and dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the “House of Usher.” That last sentence is arguably one of the most gripping descriptions I’ve read. Over all, I felt as though Poe and Fern were unusual authors and I liked them all the more because of it.