Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe were both writers who exemplified the writing style of the Romantic era. Both writers used their great talents to take the reader into the story. For example, Irving, in "Rip Van Winkle", starts the story by saying, "Whoever has made a courage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill Mountains." He also involves the reader in the story by taking us into the everyday lives of the Van Winkles and goes into some detail describing Rip's "business". Poe also demonstrates his ability to pull the reader into the story. In "The Fall of the House Usher" he uses extensive descriptions of the settings to give the reader the feeling of being there while the story is developing around them. The writers are also similar in the use of tone in their works. Irving's use of tone in his stories is typically lighthearted, ye

The differences of Irving and Poe are much greater than the similarities of the two. Irving used humor in his writings while Poe used horror. An example of Irving using humor is his description of Rip falling asleep from the alcohol for twenty years after meeting the Dutchmen. Poe, on the other hand, took a more morbid approach to his writings. He exploited the fear that is in each of us. An instance of this is "But, as I placed my hand upon his shoulder, there came a string shudder over his whole person; a sickly smile quivered about his lips; and I saw that he spoke in a low, hurried, and gibbering murmur, as if unconscious of my presence. Bending closely over him. I at length drank in the hideous import of his words. Not hear it? -yes, I hear it, and have heard it. Long-long-long-many minutes, many hours, many days, have I heard-yet I dared not-oh, pity, me, miserable wretch that I am!-I dared not-I dared not speak! We have put her living in the tomb! And now tell you that I heard her first feeble movements in the hollow coffin. I heard them-many, many days ago-yet I dared now-I dared not speak!

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 746
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)