The dawn of the Romantic era saw a move away from the structural confines of neoclassicism. Instead, emotionality, love of freedom and imagination prevailed in all literature and art. One of the first works of this period was The Nightmare, an oil painting by Henry Fuseli. In this work, Fuseli portrays a woman lying sleeping on her bed, haunted by a nightmare and a ghost-like horse with glowing eyes. The Raven, by Edgar Allen Poe, is instead from the end of the romantic era. This narrative poem recounts a scene in which a raven visits a grieving and distraught lover, who serves as the narrator. Both of these works display dramatic presentation, symbolism, and a great sense of emotional power to create a frightening scene. Poe and Fuseli each infuse their works with dramatic energy. In The Nightmare, Fuseli uses expressive coloring, contrasting the dark shadows and the woman's bright, flowing garments. It also creates a dynamic scene through the asymmetrical structure and diagonal lines. The nightmare posing on the woman's belly is off-center, and instead its shadow on the intense red curtain acts as the perspective center of the work. The woman's body writhes dramatically and her arm hangs limply from the bed. Poe, in The Raven, creates a similar sense of dynamic drama. He uses consonance, writing "the silky, sad, uncertain rustle of each purple curtain," and the repeated sounds reflect the ssshing sound made by the curtains. This consonance creates the disturbing atmosphere that disturbs the narrator. Through internal rhyme and polysyndeton, Poe creates the impression of intensifying and escalating action. For example, he writes, "but the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no sign / And the only work there is... in the middle of the paper... a single word: 'never again.'" his descriptions emotionally powerful scenes end with this word. It resonates and persists like a ringing death knell, capturing the narrator's desperation and ending each paragraph with another pang. Both Poe and Fuseli demonstrate in their works the emotional strength common in the Romantic period .Fuseli's Nightmare and Poe's The Raven both show terrifying scenes in the dead of night. Through their different mediums, both use dramatic energy and symbolism, and both emotionally engage the reader and viewer. They demonstrate rebellion against the idyllic and orderly neoclassical style and shows the new expressive passion of the Romantic era Works CitedPoe, Edgar Allen "The Poetry Foundation", 2014. Web. 26 February 2014. .