The Poetic Principle
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" The Poetic Principle " is an essay by Edgar Allan Poe , written near the end of his life and published posthumously in 1850, the year after his death. It is a work of literary criticism , in which Poe presents his literary theory . It is based on a series of lectures Poe had given late in his lifetime.
Synopsis
The essay argues that a poem should be written " for a poem's sake " and that the ultimate goal of art is aesthetic . He also argues against the concept of a long poem , saying that an epic , if it is to be worth anything, must instead be structured as a collection of shorter pieces, each of which is not too long to be read in a single sitting.
The essay critiques, sometimes rather sharply, the works of other poets of his time. His most common complaint is against didacticism , which he calls a " heresy ", and allegory . He specifically targeted Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for his didacticism, something he would go on to call "the heresy of the didactic". [ citation needed ] According to Poe, Longfellow's poetry was preachy, derivative, and thematically plagiarized. This would later give birth to what was known as "The Longfellow War". [ citation needed ] Although Poe is referring to poetry here, it is believed that Poe's philosophy against didacticism extends to fiction. [1]
Origins
The essay was based on a lecture that Poe gave in Providence, Rhode Island at the Franklin Lyceum . The lecture reportedly drew an audience of 2,000 people. [2]
Some Poe scholars have suggested that "The Poetic Principle" was inspired in part by the critical failure of his two early poems " Al Aaraaf " and " Tamerlane ", after which he never wrote another long poem. From this experience, Poe surmised that long poems are unable to sustain a proper mood or maintain a high-quality poetic form and are, therefore, inherently flawed. [3] Critics have suggested that this theory was written so that Poe could justify why "Al Aaraaf" and "Tamerlane" were unpopular. [4]
Publication history
"The Poetic Principle" was published in the Home Journal , in the series for 1850, no. 36, August 31, 1850, with an introductory note by Nathaniel Parker Willis .
See also
References
- ↑ Kagle, Steven E. "The Corpse Within Us" as collected in Poe and His Times: The Artist and His Milieu , edited by Benjamin Franklin Fisher IV. Baltimore: The Edgar Allan Poe Society, Inc., 1990: 104. ISBN 0-9616449-2-3
- ↑ Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance . New York: Harper Perennial, 1992: 384. ISBN 0-06-092331-8
- ↑ Poe, Harry Lee. Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories . New York: Metro Books, 2008: 41. ISBN 978-1-4351-0469-3
- ↑ Sova, Dawn B. Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z . New York City: Checkmark Books, 2001: 196. ISBN 0-8160-4161-X
External links
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