Poe and His Literary Standards

An Examination of Poes Literary Standards In Comparison with His Own Writings Edgar Allan Poe, in addition to macrocosm a poet and master of the in short theme, proved to be positively successful as a literary critic during the early nineteenth century. Possessing the innate efficacy to distinguish truly remarkable writing from the ordinary and unimpressive, Poe definitively asserted his views regarding the splendour of certain verbal expressions of the short story and poetry in some(prenominal) of his literary followups, specific twainy his review of Nathanial Hawthornes text in two ways Told Tales as head as his essay The Philosophy of Composition. Poe especially stressed the importance of star of publication, originality, as well as the revelation of truth in the short story and beauty in poetry. However despite his assertions regarding the importance of these prognosiss in literature it can be seen that Poe did not always adhere to his make critical standards. Poe asserted several things in his review of Hawthornes Twice Told Tales the number one of which claimed the short story to be one of the greatest hammer of prose in that the fib, as he referred to the short story, affordeding the trounce prose opport hotshot for expose of the highest talent (Review).He believed that all good literature should be short plentiful to be read in one sitting but appease maintain enough length to have lasting impact. He disliked the novel, and asserted that because of its immense length it did not have the ability to deep affect the reader on an emotional level, instead preferring poetry and tales. In his opinion these forms of literature possessed the ability to evoke an instinctual reaction of the baser instincts, which should be the objective of fictional literature.In this same review Poe asserted the importance of unison of effect in writing. He praised Hawthorne citing his writing as purity itself and that his specter was is singularly effe ctive- wild, plaintive, thoughtful, and in full accordance with his themes (Review). In this aspect Poe himself is as well as very successful. In tales much(prenominal)(prenominal) as The Fall of the bear of guidebook Poe ingeniously enthralls the audience through the use of evocative imagery depicting the extravagantly gothic landscape which complements the morose story.The opening line of this story immediately establishes the gloomy setting as well as the irresistibly oppressive feeling of the tale. Poe subsequently reinforces this throughout the story, utilizing dark imagery and manner of speaking such as with an utter depression of soul, an iciness, a sinking, a repelling of the he fine art an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the vision could torture into aught (738). The negative connotations of the phrases only add to the shadowy, mysterious, and miserable intellection expressed by Poe in The Fall of the House of take. However, the unity of eff ect that Poe stressed to be so important in his review of Nathanial Hawthornes Twice Told Tales is imperfect. Scenes such as when the narrator recounts the story of the Mad Trist of Sir Launcelot Canning detracts from the unity of effect. This almost humorous scene disrupts the whole tone of the story and is an extreme contrast to the events detailed immediately prior and after the story. Poe alike believed that all prose should be original, however, he, himself failed to be entirely original in several of his knowledge works.Poe recycled important themes and pivotal plots. Themes focusing upon questions relating to death appear several propagation in Poes tales, as well as the issue of ill-timed entombment can be seen in The Fall of the House of Usher, The gun barrel of Amontillado, and The wrong Burial. All three of these stories focus the death of a grammatical case by way of premature burial. In The Fall of the House of Usher it is evident that it is Madeline Usher whos e death is the focal point of the story.Her companion Roderick, continually expresses his fear that his babe is close to her falling victim to her long emaciated out illness leaving him as the last of the ancient ply of Usher, and it is she that eventually dies but not it is not the for the expected curtilage of her illness (742). Instead Madeline ultimately meets her demise at the hands of her brother who effectively buries her alive while she is unconscious. Similarly the character Fortunato in The barrelful of Amontillado is the victim of an untimely interment at the hands of his supposed relay station Montresor.In the third story focusing upon death and being bury alive, The Premature Burial the narrator who is also the main character of the story is command with his own death and has an irrational fear of being buried alive, and describes in great detail several instances in which this happened as well as all of the precautionary measures he himself has taken to preven t this from happening. Poe also reused themes such as mental instability and murder. In both The Fall of the House of Usher and The Cask of Amontillado insanity is prevalent in the main characters.In the first tale it is displayed by Roderick Usher and in the second it is Montresor who displays an unsoundness of mind. In both of these stories Poe also features scenes in which secondary characters ar intentionally buried alive as a result of the aforementioned insanity. Usher buries his sister alive and Montresor bricks his supposed friend Fortunato into a wall. In both instances these deaths be instances of murder, which is another prevalent theme in Poes body of work.This is oddly obvious in The Cask of Amontillado when Montresor asserts that he had borne the thousand injuries of Fortunato as best I could but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge (763). Murder also makes appearances in The Tell-Tall Heart as well as in any(prenominal) of Poes detective stories. While i t is true that Poe did pen works highly original, such as The Man of the Crowd however even this tale, which meets several of Poes requirements, does not fully comply.This story demonstrates no true rudimentary point, such as a clear emotional impact, establishment of an wry situation, or submitment about the nature of humanity, which Poe stressed as being important. He disliked didacticism and allegory, asserting these forms of literature to no longer be art as they contain an obvious point. Yet he demonstrate it important that art must have meaning, and preferred that the point of the serviceman be subtly instilled to the audience, as asserted in his literary review of Nathanial Hawthornes Twice Told Tales.Poes essay The Philosophy of Composition what is more asserts the belief that short stories may deal strictly with some aspect of truth, such as an emotional truth, as perceived within the confines of the fiction genre, while poetry should focus upon beauty. In this essay Poe extensively analyzes his own poem The Raven, asserting the many ways that it adheres to this belief. However Poes poem A Sonnet to Science contradicts this by failing to cover beauty. In no way does this poem deal with any aspect of the beauty of science as the title ironically implies.Instead this poem is in fact about the truth of science and the perceived negative implications for art and society. An example of a similar contradiction would be The Purloined Letter. While this tale explicitly deals with truth it there is no true emotion conveyed in the piece, no true unity of effect that will leave a lasting impression, which as mentioned earlier, Poe prized highly. Despite being extremely talented both as a master of the short story and a reviewer, Edgar Allan Poe was in several instances unable to adhere to the high standards he imposed on the authors whose many works he critiqued.Read also Edgar Allan Poe DrugsHis reuse of themes, placements of scenes such as the Mad Tri st in The Fall of the House of Usher, and ironic statements regarding the state of society in poems such as the Sonnet to Science are all a part of what made Poe so talented as a writer and popular, particularly posthumously. However all of these things and more are examples of instances when Poe did not follow his own literary advice and adhere to the standards he himself sketch in essays such as The Philosophy of Composition and his review of Nathanial Hawthornes Twice Told Tales.