Poe's Aesthetic Theory

As Rachel Polonsky's essay on "Poe's Aesthetic Theory" emphasizes, the reader can learn a lot about an author's work by examining the events of the writer's life. By becoming familiar with the life of a writer, the reader ascertains how the text may reflect the circumstances of that which the author endured.

Learning about Poe's life and studying his works, Polonsky admits that "the word 'aesthetic' does not occur in Poe's literary, critical or theoretical writings." She further acknowledges that Poe achieves an aesthetic, or artistic, impression in his writings. Poe manages this by creating what he terms the "Philosophy of Composition."

Poe's "Philosophy of Composition" is basically a guideline that he created to determine what separates "art" from "fiction." According to this guideline, Poe believes the author must decide the purpose of the work, and the desired reaction from the reader. Secondly, Poe asserts the author can find ways to achieve this result by considering the theme, the plot, the setting, and the characters as well as the central conflicts within the story. According to Polonsky, the "Philosophy of Composition" is the source of Poe's "aesthetic theory."

Poe's "Philosophy of Composition" can be applied to several of his works. Following this theory, when examining a piece of literature, the reader should first consider the author's intent. Understanding Poe's history, it is easy for the reader to understand that Poe's dark, Gothic roots could have been planted early in childhood. Secondly, the reader should thoroughly examine the plot, characters, setting and theme to find ways the author accomplishes the intended goals. Careful examination of word choice, theme, setting and character conflicts will reveal the ways in which Poe attains his literary goals.

Poe's "The Black Cat" can be examined using his "Philosophy of Composition." In this story, Poe begins by clearly stating "The Black Cat" will be "the most wild yet most homely narrative" which he has written thus far (223). The narrator further states, "I neither expect nor solicit belief" (223). The opening lines of the story seem to suggest Poe's intention was to invoke terror in the reader. Not only is this story wild and scary, it is so scary beyond belief, that the narrator realizes it may be too much for the reader to believe. While the narrator claims, "Yet, mad I am not," he soon after admits he made use of "intemperate language to my wife . . . I even offered her personal violence" (223,224). He admits "my disease grew upon me-for what disease is like Alcohol!" (224). All of these words are chosen to evoke fear in the reader. Understanding the narrator's desire to claim normalcy, the reader sees through his ironic claim to the dangers he admits in this confession.

The second step of Poe's "Philosophy of Composition" is for the author to find ways to achieve the intentions in the text. Therefore, the reader must examine the text to decide how Poe achieves his intention of scaring the reader. Using his traditional Gothic style, Poe uses his setting and theme to invoke fear, as well as the character's madness and inner conflict. Planting the seed of the traditional supernatural beings in Gothic literature, the narrator comes home drunk one night and claims "the fury of a demon instantly possessed me" as he attacks Pluto (224). Later, Poe uses another supernatural image as the narrator claims "The monster, in terror, had fled the premises forever"(229). Calling the cat a monster confirms he has lost touch with reality and is swimming in madness. The narrator feels a "longing of the soul to vex itself--to offer violence for its own nature--to do wrong for wrong's sake only" (225). Again, going back to the traditional Gothic writing style, Poe shows the narrator struggling with the darker side of human nature and internal conflicts which effectively convinces the reader that the narrator is insane. Another element that Poe uses to summon fear is his description of the house after the fire. As in Gothic tradition, the narrator "visited the ruins. The walls, with one exception, had fallen in" (225). Ruins and destruction are common elements of Gothic literature which help paint the picture of a terrifying setting for the reader.

Poe's "Philosophy of Composition" helped him follow guidelines to create aesthetic fiction. Aesthetic fiction paints a picture for the reader instead of merely tells the story. Anyone can tell a story, it takes remarkable talent to aesthetically illustrate the story to the imagination of millions of readers using limited tools-- tools like plot, setting, theme, characters and conflicts. Poe aesthetically shows many readers why they should be afraid rather than merely telling them to be afraid.