Gothic writing has been around for almost a century, originating from Europe. Gothic writing contains many basic elements including: Mentally insane character, decrepit background, and hidden passageways. There are a handful of famous gothic writers, but two of them stand out from the rest. One is Edgar Allan Poe, probably the most inflectional in bring about gothic writing. The second is Herman Melville, yet another famous author know for his novel called Moby Dick. Edgar Allan Poe and Herman Melville are two gothic writers with some similarities and some differences.

Poe (1809-1849) and Melville (1819-1891) lived almost in the era, even though Melville lived twice as long. Both writers could have indeed influenced each other by their writings. Both suffered loss early on in life with Poe's parent's dying early and Melville's father went insane and died before Melville was twelve. Poverty played a key role in both...