Edgar Allan Poe: The Misunderstood Romantic

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1809. From the very beginning, he was fascinated with the written word. One source explains, "At the age of fourteen Poe regarded poetry as instrumental, writing verses to woo girls, or miserable verse when he failed to do so" (Schmidt 441). His writing, however, was exceeded by his mental disorders as well as his alcoholism. Many biographies portraying his life mislead the reader into believing his troubles were the direct cause of his writing. The events in his life, such as his suicide attempt, may have given him a more significant outlook on life, but the subjects he used were characterized by the imaginative or emotional appeal of what is adventurous, mysterious, or idealized. Edward Davidson states: "Taken altogether, these conditions of consciousness which Poe exposed did not suggest that Poe was revealing himself or aspects of his own inner being but was actually detailing certain stages and varieties of what might be termed the 'Romantic consciousness' "(130). Edgar Allan Poe is simply a misunderstood romantic.

One theme found in his writing is dreams. His poems give the reader a feeling of being under a spell. There is an unearthliness effect, often enigmatic and adventuresome. He has written several poems with similar titles concerning this theme; "A Dream Within A Dream", "A Dream", and "Dreams" are a few examples. Poe gives the effect that life is a dream; unrealistic, hopeless, and illogical. The only difference is being able to wake up from a dream and not from life. For example, a verse from "Dreams": "Oh! that my young life were a lasting dream!; My spirit not awakening, till the beam; Of an Eternity should bring the morrow; Yes! tho' that long dream were of hopeless sorrow; 'T were better than the cold reality; Of waking life, to him whose heart must be; And hath been still, upon the lovely earth; A chaos of deep passion, from his birth."

Another theme found in his writing is love. "To My Mother" and "Annabel Lee" are both examples of poems written for women he adored. The reader must understand the emotion in these to obtain the full meaning and effectiveness of each. "Annabel Lee", whose real name is Annie Richmond, was a married woman with whom Poe had fallen in love. He uses various techniques in this poem to show the beauty and idealism of this woman and their forbidden love. "To My Mother" was written for his wife, Virginia Clemm. He was heartbroken when she died. (Never fully recovering from it, he died two years later.) A verse from "Annabel Lee" shows use of this emotion: "I was a child and she was a child; In this kingdom by the sea; But we loved with a love that was more than love-; I and my Annabel Lee; With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven; Coveted her and me."

The most common theme Poe uses is death. Michael Schmidt quotes Poe: "I asked myself-of all melancholy topics, what, according to the universal understanding of mankind, is the most melancholy? Death-was the obvious reply. And when, I said, is this most melancholy of topics most poetical?... When it most closely allies itself to Beauty: the death, then, of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world" (442). He uses death in all areas of his writing to accomplish a feeling of horror, grief, desolation, and mysteriousness. The short stories, "The Black Cat" and "The Tell Tale Heart" are the best portrayals of these feelings. In both, the use of the senses (sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste) places the reader in the heart of the story as if actually there. An excerpt of the last paragraph of "The Tell Tale Heart" leading up to the admittance of murder is as follows: "I talked more quickly-more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arosed and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations, but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observation of the men-but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! What could I do? I foamed-I raved-I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder-louder-louder!" In a book titled Readings on Edgar Allan Poe, it's stated, "In story after story, poem after poem, Poe writes to achieve a single effect, a mood, drawing the reader into an intimate world of horror, death, and gruesome resurrection" (11).

Edgar Allan Poe is a well known writer, but most of what's known is that he was a madman. Louis Untermeyer says, "Although criticism has raged about Poe's character and the final importance of his poetry, his original and intense genius cannot be questioned" (812). It's possible Poe's history will continue to overshadow his work (819). Nonetheless, his history is what helped him become a romantic writer. His themes of dream, love, and death use mystery, adventure, emotion, imagination, and idealization to achieve a romantic effect.

Works Cited:
Davidson, Edward H. "Poe's use of Horror." Readings on Edgar Allan Poe. Greenhaven Press, Inc.: San Diego, CA. 1998.
Schmidt, Michael. Lives of the Poets. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.: New York. 1998.
Untermeyer, Louis. A Treasury of Great Poems, English and American. Simon and Schuster, Inc.: New York. 1955.

All Excerpts of Poems and Short Stories were taken from:
Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. Doubleday and Company, Inc.: New York. 1966.