One way in which Poe's works can be related to society today is his description of the characters. An example of this can be found in Poe's short story "The Black Cat."(2) In this story, the narrator starts out remembering a time when he was considered a "normal" person. Gradually, due to his alcoholism, he becomes less concerned with those around him, more irritable, more moody. Just as he described so many years ago, people today, like the narrator in the story, drink alcohol and become irrational in thoughts and actions. Eventually when the narrator tries to kill his cat, his wife stops him and he buries an axe in her head. Fortunately, one doesn't hear about this kind of murder all that often. But people often do stupid things due to alcoholism, like drunk driving (although not all drunk driving is caused by alcoholism). This is one of the ways that Poe's works relate to society.
Another way that Poe's work compares to the society of today by the characterization is found in the poem, "The Raven."(3) In this poem, the narrator hears a sound which he thinks at first is coming from the door. When people are frightened, they tend to try to come up with rational explanations for what is going on around them. This is exactly what the narrator was trying to do. Also, having convinced himself that the sound was coming from the door, he tries to rationalize his reason for not answering it when the knocking first started. These kinds of behavior can be found in people of any time period, not just the one that Poe wrote about. And there's more. Take a look in the next paragraph.
Yet another way in which Poe's writings compares to society today is again the people that he writes about, and the way he paints the picture of their characters. In "The Cask of Amontillado," Montresor, the main character, turns out to be a cold-hearted killer who feels no remorse after walling his friend up deep in the basement (1). Although most killers today probably wouldn't dispose of the body in the same way (namely, within their basement wall before killing the soon-to-be victim), many persons with homicidal tendencies feel no remorse for what they do. In this way, Poe's work seems very much like society today. However, not all people have homicidal tendencies, which is a good thing. So that could be a way in which Ed's writing contrasts with society today. But that belongs in another paragraph.
And it's a funny thing, because this, right here, is another paragraph, and here a way in which Poe's writing contrasts with society can and will be discussed. As mentioned in the above paragraph, not all people have homicidal tendencies. Well, not all the people in Poe's stories do either. But in a good deal of his stories, the main character or another character kills someone. Like in the already mentioned "The Cask of Amontillado" (1). The main character kills a friend of his. In today's society, not a lot of people kill their friends, or they probably wouldn't have many. Or any. The point is that people today don't go around killing people like the characters in Poe's works.
Another way in which the writing style of Edgar Allan Poe contrasts with society is his use of imagery. Granted, this cannot be directly contrasted with society, but indirectly it can. Poe uses his imagery in such a way that the reader can actually feel that they are present as the story takes place. Usually, most people take their surroundings for granted, not realizing all of the details. Poe's stories, however, describe things in greater detail than most people would notice under normal circumstances. In this way, Poe's writing contrasts with society; people don't notice all of the details he tells about.
Another way that Poe's work contrasts with society is in the settings of some of his works. And not just in the obvious point that his stories take place in a very different time. That point will not be discussed. However, another way that the setting is different can be found in "The Fall of the House of Usher." (4) This story takes places in and around the House of Usher, a castle, moldy and decaying from age. The action of the story almost always takes place as darkness is about to fall, there is never a lot of light. The land around the castle is bleak and barren, the place is isolated somewhat by a moat. This setting creates an eerie feeling and mood. By contrast, there are few castles today, and even those that do exist are either uninhabited or they have been renovated to make the place more "livable." No longer do people live in dark castles with wind whistling through cracks in the walls and around the windows. The point is that the setting of some of Ed's works differ from the times and places most people today are familiar with.
Considering all things one now knows, one can see that there are many similarities and dissimilarities between Edgar Allan Poe's style of writing and the society of the world today. That is a pretty vague way of stating things, but it is true. One major similarity is the fact that the people that Poe writes about do actually exist, though they aren't especially numerous, depending on how you look at it. A dissimilarity is the setting. The world isn't as gloomy as Poe makes it seem. However, whether Poe's works are more like or unlike society today isn't something that can be told to a person. One must decide this for one's self.