1. Shaun McMillan
A Modern Day Poe Essay
Stephen King has been called many names, one of which would be a modern day Poe.
There is always a difference in writers where they add their own touch or flavor, but many
similarities can be found in modern day authors to writers back and beyond of the founding of
America. Stephen’s works show many qualities that are found in Poe and his writing, his short
story “Graveyard Shift” is a perfect example to Poe’s gothic stories. Both writers use detail in the
surroundings, play off people’s fears, and keep the reader guessing until the very end to write
many amazing gothic stories.
One of Poe’s greatest assets as a writer was the detail he put into his work. He would
describe every feature of a person or room, even to the eerie sounds that were heard, “During the
whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung
oppressively low in the heavens” (The Fall of the House of Usher, 160). Poe went to the extreme
with putting details that drew the reader in. Stephen displays this talent as well. “Graveyard
Shift” has many instances where details cover a page, “Up ahead the flooring rose sharply, then
dipped. Hall could hear a stealthy rustling sound, a big sound. Something that perhaps no living
man had ever seen” (49). The quote shows a small degree of his detail use, but instead of simply
writing a story like most authors would, King goes into the details to provide his readers with a
complete story that can affect all the sense. Stephen’s descriptions are like a siren’s song in that
it draws the reader deeper and deeper so they don’t want to stop. You need to keep reading so
that you can find out exactly what is going to happen.
Poe believed that a man could slip into madness at any moment and do the worst act
imaginable. He would use common fears of people in his stories to display this belief, “Deep into
that darkness, peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing; Doubting, dreaming dreams no
mortal dared to dream before” (The Raven, 5). One of man’s worst fears is that of the unknown.
By combining that fear with noises and descripted scenes he earned complete control over the
reader’s mind. Poe understood fear to an extent that many in his day didn’t dare try to reach. He
went farther than anyone had dared to before him in his genre, and mastered it. King is today’s
equivalent of Poe in the use of fear. Many of King’s works are based off horror of the
unimaginable. What he writes many think that it would never be possible or happen, but horrible
acts do happen in life and people fear that aspect of the unknown. King, just like Poe, plays off
those fears to make a captivating tale, “Something black and flapping suddenly dive –bombed
them. Wisconsky screamed and put his hands over his head” (Graveyard Shift 44). King uses
fear even within his characters when he writes. These fears transfer to the reader because you can
relate to a character based on the common man. King may not have the exact same belief as Poe
about man, but he does know how to go beyond how many would dream or think and create
incredibly dark images with his words. This ability is what both men are best known for, Poe
many years later and King continues to show his talent for such today.

2. The key to writing a great horror story is to not let the reader know what to expect next.
Both authors achieve this in their works. Poe’s “The Fall of House of Usher” is a great example
to this. Throughout the story you know something is wrong, but you don’t know what exactly or
where it will lead until it jumps out at you, “but then without those doors there did stand the lofty
and enshrouded figure of the lady Madeline of Usher” (172). The story is focused on the events
of Roderick Usher, the narrator, and Madeline Usher. The entirety of the house is dim and grim
in description, and once Madeline is pronounced dead a series of events start to unfold leading
the reader to wonder why, to speculate the answer. Even in the end Poe never truly answers what
exactly happened. Some believe this story to only be a man’s decent into madness, while others
believe it to be a vampire story. It is really up to the reader to define the story behind it, for Poe
left the door opened for such speculation. King uses this technique as well, keeping the reader
guessing until the end. In “Graveyard Shift” other than the description telling you that something
is going to happen you can’t really begin to scratch at the true conclusion, “A huge and nameless
thing whose progeny might someday develop wings. It seemed to dwarf what remained of
Warwick, but that was probably just illusion. It was the shock of seeing a rat as big as a Holstein
calf” (50). Rats were included through the story, but more of a subtle fear factor, to guess that the
reason of the size growth was because of a huge breeding ground of two mutant sized rat
creatures is something very few would come up with.
Poe and King have many similarities in their writing as well as differences. But, both
authors are adept at delving into the dark places of the mind and bringing it out in writing. To be
able to manipulate fear and description to the extent that they do takes a certain mind and skill.
Of course Poe is considered the founder and genius of many aspects of fear and genres, King is a
current “terrorist of the imagination” just like Poe was in his day, using description to pull a
reader into the story, fear to keep them reading, as well as using the aspect of the unknown to
drive them through and to the end.