Poe vs. Cooper

As Professor Oerlemans posted before, there is something about Poe’s short stories that make them more fun to read than Cooper’s “The Last of the Mohicans”. This lies in the content of the work as well as the writing style.

There are certain aspects of Poe’s work that makes it easier to read such as the length of the stories, the way in which he sticks closely to his point, and writing in an exciting and sensationalized way. In “The Philosophy of Composition”, Poe emphasizes the importance of “a distinct limit, as regards length” and of finding an “effect” of the story and sticking closely to it (721, 720). But what I find to be the biggest difference between Cooper and Poe is the way in which they play upon fear. In “The Last of the Mohicans”, Cooper is writing about being captured by Native Americans, which is a fear that is only relevant to that time and was also not much of a mystery at the time. Poe writes about murder, the supernatural, and mental illness. All of these ideas are hard to grasp or understand but are frightening for that very reason.

Another important difference is that within “The Last of the Mohicans”, something bad would happen then there’d be a lull, then something else that’s bad would happen, then another lull and so on. Within Poe’s stories, you’re always kept on your toes, waiting for the climax to come right at the end. Overall Poe’s stories are exciting, whereas Cooper’s writing isn’t keeping me the edge of my seat.