There was one tour where I thought, "If I can't get this feeling back of being excited to be on the stage, then I will quit. " Because I have friends who have dialed it in and I watch their concerts and shake my head. I'm sure the audience can tell, too.
We should not allow ourselves to believe that writers like Poe have more imagination than those who are content with describing things as they really are. It is surely easier to invent striking situations in this way than to tread the beaten track which intelligent minds have followed throughout the centuries.