Description: Edgar Allan Poe - his poetry transports all those who read it, but why? What is it exactly that pulls us in and refuses to let go?

When we read a piece of writing from Edgar Allan Poe, we are immediately transported into a completely different universe then the one around us. We are forced to see things in a different light, a sometimes darker and more enticing light than the one we are accustomed to. His writing can be described as many things: weird, fantastic, and amazing. But these words cannot sum up the mind-blowing experience it is when examining his writing. In every one of his pieces there is a prevailing and creative theme that makes the reader have goose bumps. The themes that are shown in this writings vary from mysterious to fearful to serene. But one must ask, what exactly about his writing touches us the way it does? Making us feel in place of the characters, making us cringe with excitement or fear.

Edgar Allan Poe uses something called a passion, a passion that literary drips off every word. He, himself, once said, “poetry has been not a purpose but a passion” (Hoffman). Through his writing it becomes clear that he was as a symbolist writer, but not simply that. His writing is clearly different than other symbolist writers, “he belonged to no school or tradition, nor did he devise for himself a theory and method of literary symbolism” (Quinn). In poetry he wants to portray beauty, while in stories he wants to portray truth. He shows these things through a type of symbolism that cannot be determined by just one sentence. In order to gain the full extent of his words and meaning then every piece must be read as a whole. It is then, as a whole, which the symbolic and appeal of his mentally shines through the words.

The passion that Edgar exhibits can be most seen in the way his characters are written: from the way they think to the things they do. The reader is able to connect with the characters because they so imperfect. These characters have an obsessive emotional need and want for whatever it is their doing. In his stories, everything seems to have an allegorically meaning and every character seems to have a powerful want/need. When reading his writing, it becomes clear that Poe tends to, “…work the physical setting often [and] reflects the inner personality or emotion of the central character” (Gioia). It is because of this creative style that the reader gets wrapped into the character as if one with the story. Also this, often called strange, showcase of the characters emotions is what touches readers so such a deep and passionate manner.

In his writing, the characters carry with the them what I believe is the darker side of human beings. The parts of us that we tend to hide from others, the part of us that we deny we have. In his writing, the characters seem to have a consciousness that is full of guilt, despair, solitude, and/or sorrow. But these emotions aren’t just dark; they have a light side to them as well. There is a beauty in the revelations that the characters have about themselves. His characters have this ability to perceive, with their senses, the truth in their own souls. It is because these characters have those abilities that it becomes strange to the reader, almost scary. Poe wants to put his readers, “…into a hypnogogic state in which one’s pores, even unwillingly at times, absorb the magic spell” (Claudel). It is how it is being described takes the reader and puts them under this enchantment; making them believe they are the character themselves.

Another characteristic of his writing is the night setting, which is apparent in almost all of his poetry and stories. With the exception of about a handful of works, his writing revolves the night. Why? Some critics have gone, as far as to say that it is because of his inner fear of the night, but I don’t believe this is so. Using the night setting is another one of his symbolic allegories. The night setting serves a very specific purpose, “it is only at night, when the veil is thrown over the senses, and is lifted from the soul, that beauty becomes most elevating and melancholy most intense” (Allen). People are most vulnerable at night; their true selves come out from hiding. The beauty of it is the mystery of it all, the fact that anything can happen. This along with, “…the gloom, the chill, the mystery, the dread, the disturbing strangeness, the unexplored recesses of sorrow, that constitute another group of his poetic attributes” (Allen).

Using the night setting ties into another symbolic movement he does, using emotions. Like mentioned before, his characters are so likeable because they are so emotional, but it isn’t just the characters who carry these emotions. Everything that surrounds these characters has some type of symbolic meaning behind it. For example, in his most famous poem The Raven, what he purposely uses “…is a bird of ill-omen, whose croaking signals the imminence of mourning in popular belief” (Zayed). But again, the true intentions of his poem aren’t as simple as that. The characters emotions don’t just linger on death in of its self, but instead thinks about the aftermath and a way to struggle against it. Ultimately, the poem ends up revealing “something more profound and more agonizing which constitutes its modernism: the anguish of the poet in the face of possible loss of identity, an unbearable thought against which all of his being rebels” (Zayed).

To answer the question of exactly wraps the reader into Edgar Allan Poe’s poetry is simple; it’s the symbolism he put behind every word. There is not one single poem in which Poe didn’t “confer upon them a high spirituality, for the symbol surpasses the exterior aspect of things and transcends them; it reveals their inner significance, and thereby unveils something of the mystery and the meaning of the universe” (Zayed). Each poem transports reader to another dimension in which the reader can reexamine things such as death, love, and fear. Of course, his use of verse and rhythm also contribute to his success, but it is ultimately the influence behind the words that have capture audiences all these years.

Works Citied

• Claudel, Alice Moser. “Poe as Voyager in ‘To Helen.’” In New Approaches to Poe: A Symposium, edited by Richard P. Benton, pp. 33-37. Hartford: Transcendental Books, 1970.
• Gioia, Dana. “Overview of The Raven.” Poetry for Students, Gale, 1997.
• Hoffman, Daniel. “Edgar Allan Poe: Overview.” Literature Resource Center. 3 Aug. 2007.
• Allen, James Lane. “Night Shadows in Poe’s Poetry.” The Continent 5, no. 4 (23 January 1884): 102-04.
• Quinn, Patrick F. “Four Views of Edgar Poe,” in Jahrbuch Fur Amerikastudien, Vol. 5, 1960, pp. 128-46.
• Zayed, Georges. “The Symbolism of the Poems.” In The Genius of Edgar Allan Poe, pp. 127-36. Cambridge, Mass.: Schenkman Publishing, 1985.