Summary:
Edgar Allan Poe symbolizes the birth of romanticism in the United States. Romanticism brought new ideas and the perception that intuition, imagination, and emotion were equally important to scientific and factual thought.
Romanticism
American literature would not be the same without Romanticism, Transcendentalism, Dark Romanticism, and the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Because of their input American literature has become what it is today. In the late eighteenth century, writers were beginning to turn away from reason and straight facts as a means of discovering truth.
With the birth of Romanticism in the United States came the birth of new ideals. Romanticism brought the idea that intuition, imagination, and emotion were worth more than any scientific or reasonable thought. The ideal that the truth was found in beauty and especially in nature. By definition, Romanticism is "a revolt against Rationalism that affected literature and the other arts, beginning in the late eighteenth century and remaining strong throughout most of the nineteenth century."("Elements of Literature," Page 1179) Romanticism had done just this. The Romantics captured the essence of nature in their stories and poems. Romantics wrote of fictional heroes. Heroes that were young, innocent, had a love of nature, a distrust of town life, uneasiness toward women, and the need to think more of nature rather than reason. Characters like Rip Van Winkle and Natty Bumppo were created. With Romanticism evolved other groups, Transcendentalists and Dark Romantics.
Transcendentalists believed in three basic things: individualism, love of liberty, and that truth should be based on reason. Transcendentalism moved Americans to begin to move away from European beliefs and to develop their own literature and culture. Ralph Waldo Emerson, who stressed self-reliance, and David Henry Thoreau, who spoke of civil disobedience, were among the first Transcendentalists. Many other Transcendentalists were Longfellow, Whitter, Lowell, Holmes, and Louisa May Alcott. These writers' strengthen the rise in American literature. Transcendentalists "held that every individual can reach ultimate truths through spiritual intuition, which transcends reasons and sensory experience."( "Elements of Literature," Page 183) Transcendentalists sought the permanent spiritual reality that lay behind physical appearances. A basic view of a Transcendentalists mind would show that they believed in a more optimistic view that the world was filled with good and evil was not present.
Another group that further influenced American literature were the dark romantics. These writers used the emotions of good, as well as evil. These poets looked into the mysterious, darker, and even unknown sides of the human mind, body, and soul. The three major poets from the dark romantics were Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Their ideas developed from both the mystical and the melancholy aspects of puritan thought. Though they were considered "anti-Transcendentalists" "Theirs was an imaginative vision that was essentially Romantic, in that it stressed intuition, the powers of nature, and individual emotion."( "Elements of Literature" Page 186)Each author was a bit different in their own outlook. Hawthorne was concerned with the psychological effects of sin. Melville emphasized the conflict between good and evil. Poe sought the mystical realm in the derangement of the senses. Another aspect that clearly was shown in the writings' of the Dark Romantics was symbolism. Symbolism played a big part in the writings' of these men. Their characters not only lived as real people, but also represented something larger in the big picture.
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1809. Poe was orphaned in his early childhood and was raised by John Allan, a successful businessman of Richmond, Virginia. He disapproved of him which contributed to his moodiness. He was withdrawn from college by his foster father when he received a huge gambling debt. All of these causes probably added a little to the tormented, yet excited ways of his writing.
Most of Edgar Allan Poe's literary works are written in the same style. He wrote "Tamerlane" which was a small volume of poems inspired by his ruined romance with Elmira Royster. This work did not attract much attention thus Poe joined the army. "El Aaraaf" was the second volume of poems Poe received recognition as a writer. He then went to West Point Academy. Poe was the editor of a magazine called the "Southern Literary Messenger." The Narrative of Arthur Gordon pym was Poe's only full-length novel. "The Raven" brought fame to Poe. Poe has written many other works and has brought out the many issues brought up by the Dark Romantics.
In 1836 Poe married his young cousin. In 1847 Virginia died and Poe himself became ill. He drank which may have contributed to his death. "Lenore" and "Annabel Lee" are poems that have to do with the death of a beautiful young woman. In "The Raven" the narrator is overwhelmed by melancholy and omens of death. Poe's wonderful use of rhythm and sound is evident in "The Bells." Such stories as "The Fall of the House of Usher," in which the gloominess of the atmosphere makes the story; "The Pit and the Pendulum," a hair-raising tale of cruelty and torture; "The Tell-Tale Heart," in which a murderer is subconsciously haunted into confessing his guilt; and "The Cask of Amontillado," an eerie tale of revenge are some of Poe's greatest works.
Poe's writing styles are unique. They have brought many ideas to modern literature and many parody's have been made from his works'. I think I enjoy Poe's writing styles the most because they are dark. They show a side of mysterious, gothic writing. They show not only the what a person is feeling, but also what they are thinking. Romanticism was a time period of many changes and had lasting affects on American literature.
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