Landscape in Masque of the Red Death, William Wilson, Tale of the Ragged Mountains and House of UsherA careful reading of Poe's tales will quickly reveal the the importance that the landscape plays in the development of each literary work. “Ragged Mountains” features a landscape that is both surreal and realistic, allowing Poe to use both the mental and physical environment to explain his story. This technique is also found in "The Fall of the House of Usher", "William Wilson" and "The Masque of the Red Death". In these tales, too, the reader may tend to focus on the ongoing action and psychological details, as that is what we tend to do with Poe's stories. However, it is also important to understand this physical landscape. As Daniel Philippon says in his article “Poe in the Ragged Mountains”: “Any search for a whole universe of suggestion must be checked by the realities of the landscape in which it takes place. » In "A Tale of the Ragged Mountains", "It's pretty obvious that the landscape is going to play an important role in the story - the setting is given to us right in the title. However, the majority of the story takes place in reality in an "orientalized" location that has been transposed into the Ragged Mountains This in itself is a great juxtaposition: the title describes what appears to be a dilapidated and uninviting landscape, while the real action takes place in a fantasy setting. .But why is the landscape so important if Poe tries to focus on the psychological aspect? It is probably because the landscape gives us clues to what is really going on in the characters' minds and hints at it? things that make the story clearer For example, Bedloe begins his narrative by describing "the thick landscape... middle of paper... as well as a physical landscape, his pieces pack a more powerful punch and always allow the reader to find. clues to what is really going on at a deeper level. Since much of Poe's "action" is psychological, the landscape is an element of the story that cannot and should not be ignored. Works Cited: Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Masque of the Red Death.” The American tradition of literature. Ed. George Perkins and Barbara Perkins. 9th ed. Flight. 1. New York: McGraw, 1998. Poe, Edgar Allan. “A Tale of the Ragged Mountains” [1843]; in Poe, ed. Harold Beaver. The Science Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe: Penguin, 1976. Poe, Edgar Allan “Selected Poetry and Prose” TO Mabbott. Modern Library, 1951. Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Fall of the House of Usher". RV Cassill, ed. The Norton Fiction New York, London., 1995.