Nineteenth- CenturyLiterature Criticism

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Edgar Allan Poe1809-1849

Author Index

Plumly, Stanley (Ross) 1939- CLC 33See also CA 108; 110; DLB 5

Plumpe, Friedrich Wilhelm1888-1931

See also C A 112TCLC 53

if Poe, Edgar Allan~" 1809-1849 . NCLC 1,H6-DA; DAB;

PC IjSSC 1; WLCSee also AAYA 14; CDALB 1640-1865;

DLB 3, 59, 73, 74; SATA 23

Poet of Titchfield Street, TheSee Pound, Ezra (Weston Loomis)

Pohl, Frederik 1919- ............. CLC 18See also CA 61-64; CAAS 1; CANR 11, 37;

DLB 8; MTCW; SATA 24

American short story writer, poet, critic, editor, novelist, andessayist.

The following entry presents criticism on Poe's short stories.For additional information on Poe's career and his short stories,see NCLC, Vol. 1.

Poe's stature as a major figure in world literature is based inlarge part on his short stories and on his critical theories, whichestablished a highly influential model for the short form infiction. Regarded by literary historians as the architect of themodern short story, Poe is credited with the invention of severalpopular story genres: the modern horror tale, the science fictiontale, and the detective story. Both his short stories and hiscritical writings are also considered important for their pro-found impact on generations of later writers. Twentieth-centuryscholars have discerned in such well-known short stories byPoe as "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Black Cat,"and "The Cask of Amontillado" a seminal contribution to thedevelopment of various modern literary themes, including thealienation of the self and the nature of the subconscious. Al-though during the nineteenth century critics failed to recognizethe true nature of Poe's achievement, he is now acclaimed asone of literature's most original and influential practitioners ofthe short story form.

Poe's father and mother were professional actors who diedbefore he was three years old, and he was raised in the homeof John Allan, a prosperous exporter in Richmond, Virginia.Poe attended the best schools in Richmond and began writingpoetry as an adolescent. In 1826 he was sent to the Universityof Virginia. There Poe distinguished himself academically but,as a result of gambling debts and inadequate financial supportfrom Allan, left after less than a year. His relationship withAllan disintegrated further upon his return to Richmond in1827, and soon afterward he left for Boston, where he enlistedin the army and published his first poetry collection, Tamer-lane, and Other Poems. The book went unnoticed by readersand reviewers, and a second collection received only slightlymore attention when it appeared in 1829. That same year Poewas honorably discharged from the army and, with Allan'sconsent, he entered West Point. However, because Allan wouldneither provide him with sufficient funds to maintain himselfnor allow him to resign from the Academy, Poe deliberatelygained a dismissal by ignoring his duties and violating regu-lations. He subsequently went to New York, where his Poems

azines Poe would direct over the next ten years and throughwhich he rose to prominence as one of the leading literarycritics in America. Nonetheless, while Poe's writings began togain attention in the late 1830s and 1840s, the profits from hisjournalism remained meager, and he was forced to move sev-eral times in pursuit of a better income, editing Burton's Gen-tleman's Magazine and Graham's Magazine in Philadelphiaand the Broadway Journal in New York. The money he re-ceived from the publication of his two collections of shortstories, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque and Tales byEdgar A. Poe, as well as from his other works, was alsominimal. After his wife's death in 1847, Poe was involved ina number of romances and became engaged to his boyhood

TITLE INDEX

"The Cascade of Melsingah" (Bryant) 6:180"A Case That Was Dropped" (Leskov)

See "Pogassee delo""Casey's Tabble Dote" (Field) 3:209"Casey's Table d'Hote" (Field) 3:205"Cashel of Munster" (Ferguson) 33:294"Casino des trepasses" (Corbiere) 43:32"The Cask of Amontillado" (Poe) 1:500, 506;

16:303, 309(329)332"Cassandra Southwick" (Whittier) 8:489,

505, 509-11, 513, 515, 527, 530Cassiodor (Eminescu) 33:266The Cassique of Accabee (Simms) 3:504The Cassique of Kiawah (Simms) 3:503, 508,

514

JAMES W. GARGANO (essay date 1963)

[Gargano contends that the often turgid and overwritten prose ofPoe's narrators is deliberately intended to reflect their disturbedstates of mind and should not be confused with Poe's own prosestyle. For additional commentary by Gargano on Poe's shortstories, see excerpt dated I960.}

Part of the widespread critical condescension toward EdgarAllan Poe's short stories undoubtedly stems from impatiencewith what is taken to be his "cheap" or embarrassing Gothicstyle. Finding turgidity, hysteria, and crudely poetic overem-phasis in Poe's works, many critics refuse to accept him as areally serious writer, (p. 177)

It goes without saying that Poe, like other creative men, issometimes at the mercy of his own worst qualities. Yet thecontention that he is fundamentally a bad or tawdry stylistappears to me to be rather facile and sophistical. It is based,ultimately, on the untenable and often unanalyzed assumption

•9

*meaning of his existence resides in the tomb in which he has,symbolically, buried himself. In other words, Poe leaves littledoubt that the narrator has violated his own mind and humanity,that the external act has had its destructive inner consequences.

The same artistic integrity and seriousness of purpose evidentin "The Cask of Amontillado" can be discovered in "TheBlack Cat." No matter what covert meanings one may find inthis much-discussed story, it can hardly be denied that thenameless narrator does not speak for Poe. Whereas the narrator,at the beginning of his "confession," admits that he cannotexplain the events which overwhelmed him, Poe's organizationof his episodes provides an unmistakable clue to his protago-nist's psychic deterioration. The tale has two distinct, almostparallel parts: in the first, the narrator's inner moral collapseis presented in largely symbolic narrative; in the second part,the consequences of his self-violation precipitate an act of mur-der, punishable by society. Each section of the story deals withan ominous cat, an atrocity, and an expose of a "crime." Inthe first section, the narrator's house is consumed by fire afterhe has mutilated and subsequently hanged Pluto, his pet cat.Blindly, he refuses to grant any connection between his vio-lence and the fire; yet the image of a hanged cat on the oneremaining wall indicates that he will be haunted and hag-riddenby his deed. The sinister figure of Pluto, seen by a crowd ofneighbors, is symbolically both an accusation and a portent,an enigma to the spectators but an infallible sign to the reader.

NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE CRITICISM,(Vol. 16)

blunts his powers of self-analysis; he is guided by his delusionsto the climax of damnation. Clearly, Poe does n Jt espouse hisprotagonist's theory any more than he approves of the speciousrationalizations of his other narrators. Just as the narrator'swell constructed house has a fatal flaw, so the theory of per-verseness is flawed because it really explains nothing. More-over, even the most cursory reader must be struck by the factthat the narrator is most "possessed and maddened" when hemost proudly boasts of his self-control. If the narrator obviouslycannot be believed at the end of the tale, what argument isthere for assuming that he must be telling the truth when heearlier tries to evade responsibility for his "sin" by slipperyrationalizations?

A close analysis of "The Black Cat" must certainly exoneratePoe of the charge of merely sensational writing. The finalfrenzy of the narrator, with its accumulation of superlatives,cannot be ridiculed as an example of Poe's style. The break-down of the shrieking criminal does not reflect a similar break-down in the author. Poe, I maintain, is a serious artist whoexplores the neuroses of his characters with probing intelli-gence. He permits his narrator to revel and flounder into tor-ment, but he sees beyond the torment to its causes.

In conclusion, then, the five tales I have commented on displayPoe's deliberate craftsmanship and penetrating sense of irony.If my thesis is correct, Poe's narrators should not be construedas his mouthpieces; instead they should be regarded as ex-pressing, in "charged" language indicative of their internaldisturbances, their own peculiarly nightmarish visions. Poe, Icontend, is conscious of the abnormalities of his narrators anddoes not condone the intellectual ruses through which theystrive, only too earnestly, to justify themselves. In short, thoughhis narrators are often febrile or demented, Poe is conspicu-ously "sane." They may be "decidedly primitive" or "wildlyincoherent," but Poe, in his stories at least, is mature andlucid, (pp. 177-81)

j //James W. Gargano, "The Question of Poe's Nar-\\ in College English, Vol. 25, No. 3, Decem-)/

her, 1963, pp. 177-81. SV(\\^ h

KENNETH GRAHAM (essay date 1967)

[In the following excerpt from his introduction to a collection ofPoe's tales, Graham surveys several of their unifying character-istics, including their symbolism and emphasis on metaphysicalconcerns.]

Poe's narrations are all, like the one found in a bottle ["MS.Found in a Bottle"], manuscripts sent back from the edge ofnothingness. With unique single-mindedness and intensity theyprobe into a spirit world, at times dark, at times beautiful, thatunderlies and destroys all the material phenomena of life, aworld of the whirlpool, of the pit and the grave, of conscious-ness-after-death, of mystically alluring eyes, of torture, of thedesire to kill, of guilt, madness, and, in the end, utter silence.They may be narrowly obsessive and joyless, but their contin-uing power is founded on one recognizable and even familiarvision of life: that an awareness of death is the starting-pointof knowledge, and that reality is not solid and reasonable buta flux, a maelstrom like the Norwegian fisherman's that con-tains within it some destructive promise of eternity. Yet Poeis at the same time incorrigibly reasonable. Again like thefisherman lost in the maelstrom, his mind acts like a scientist'seven as he perceives the inadequacy of science to attain Truth.A part of his creating imagination always clings to the solid

Nineteenth- CenturyLiterature, Criticism

NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE CRITICISM,(V POE

ADDITIONAL^IBLIOGRAPHY^

Abel, Darrel. "A Key to the House of Usher." University of TorontoQuarterly XVIII , No. 2 (January 1949): 176-85.

Argues that "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a "consummatepsychological allegory" that anticipates the methods of FranzKafka.

Aldiss, Brian W. "'A Clear-Sighted, Sickly Literature': Edgar AllanPoe." In his Billion Year Spree: The True History of Science Fiction,pp. 40-56. New York: Schocken Books, 1974.

Discusses Poe's contribution to the science fiction genre.

Basler, Roy P. "The Interpretation of 'Ligeia'." College English 5,No. 7 (April 1944): 363-72.

Suggests that "Ligeia" is primarily a study of madness and ob-session rather than a horror story.

Beaver, Harold. Introduction to The Science Fiction of Edgar AllanPoe, by Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Harold Beaver, pp. vii-xxi. Har-mondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1976.

A general discussion of Poe's contribution to science fiction.

Bloom, Harold, ed. Edgar Allan Poe. Modern Critical Views. NewYork: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985, 155 p.

A collection of highly regarded twentieth-century essays on Poe,including a number of influential studies of his tales.

Buranelli, Vincent. "Fiction Themes." In his Edgar Allan Poe, pp.64-86. Twayne's United States Authors Series, edited by Sylvia E.Bowman, no. 4. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1961.

A general introduction to Poe's short stories.

Carlson, Eric W., ed. The Recognition of Edgar Allan Poe: SelectedCriticism since 1829. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1966,316 p.

Reprints important criticism on Poe's works by various nineteenth-and twentieth-century commentators.

Dameron, J. Lasley, and Cauthen, Irby B., Jr. Edgar Allan Poe: ABibliography of Criticism, 1827-1967. A John Cook Wyllie MemorialPublication. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1974, 386 p.

An annotated guide to critical and biographical writings on Poepublished prior to 1968.

Daniel, Robert. "Poe's Detective God." Furioso VI, No. 3 (Summer1951): 45-54.

A study of Poe's fictional detective, C. Auguste Dupin.

Eddings, Dennis W. The Naiad Voice: Essays on Poe's Satiric Hoax-ing. National University Publications. Port Washington, N.Y.: As-sociated Faculty Press, 1983, 175 p.

A collection of essays devoted to understanding the satirical intentof Poe's comic tales.

Feidelson, Charles, Jr. "Poe." In his Symbolism and American Lit-erature, pp. 35-42. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953.

Explores Poe's use of symbols in his tales within the context ofthe tradition of symbolism in American literature.

Fletcher, Richard M. The Stylistic Development of Edgar Allan Poe.De Pro Prietatibus Litterarum, Series Practica 55, edited by C. H. vanSchooneveld. The Hague: Mouton, 1973, 192 p.

Explores the evolution of Poe's style in both his poetry and fiction,focusing on such topics as his vocabulary, major themes, and useof symbols.

Griffith, Clark. "Poe's 'Ligeia' and the English Romantics." Uni-versity of Toronto Quarterly XXIV, No. 1 (October 1954): 8-25.

Maintains that "Ligeia" is primarily a satire of Gothic fiction.

Hoffman, Daniel. Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe. 1972. Reprint. NewYork: Random House, Vintage Books, 1985, 335 p.

A highly regarded study of Poe's works that offers a thematicapproach to understanding various groups of his short stories.

Howarth, William L., ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Poe'sTales: A Collection of Critical Essays. Twentieth Century Interpre-tations, edited by Maynard Mack. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Spectrum Books, 1971, 116 p.

Reprints selected twentieth-century criticism on Poe's tales.

Hyneman, Esther F. Edgar Allan Poe: An Annotated Bibliography ofBooks and Articles in English, 1827-1973. Research Bibliographies inAmerican Literature, no. 2. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1974, 375 p.

An annotated survey of writings about Poe and his works publishedbetween 1827 and 1973.

Kesterson, David B., ed. Critics on Poe. Readings in Literary Criti-cism, no. 22. Coral Gables, Fla.: University of Miami Press, 1973,128 p.

A collection of seminal essays on Poe and his writings by variousnineteenth- and twentieth-century critics.

Ketterer, David. The Rationale of Deception in Poe. Baton Rouge:Louisiana State University Press, 1979, 285 p.

A study of "deception as theme and technique" in Poe's works.

Knapp, BettinaL. "The Tales." In her Edgar Allan Poe, pp. 101-204.Literature and Life Series. New York: Frederick Ungar PublishingCo., 1984.

A four-part study of major thematic elements in Poe' s short stories,focusing on what Knapp describes as "The Descent," "The An-ima," "The Shadow," and "The Mystical Quest."

Lauber, John. " 'Ligeia' and Its Critics: A Plea for Literalism. "Studiesin Short Fiction IV, No. 1 (Fall 1966): 28-32.

Argues in favor of a literal interpretation of the plot of "Ligeia."

Levine, Stuart. Edgar Poe: Seer and Craftsman. Deland, Fla.: Everett/Edwards, 1972, 282 p.

Probes the mythic elements underlying Poe's horror tales, focusingon "The Cask of Amontillado."

Levine, Stuart, and Levine, Susan, eds. The Short Fiction of EdgarAllan Poe: An Annotated Edition, by Edgar Allan Poe. Indianapolis:Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1976, 633 p.

An annotated edition of the tales that includes pictures, maps, anddiagrams, as well as explanatory notes for each story.

Liebman, Sheldon W. "Poe's Tales and His Theory of the PoeticExperience." Studies in Short Fiction VII, No. 4 (Fall 1970): 582-96.

Investigates the relationship between Poe's short stories and hisideas concerning poetry.

Mooney, Stephen L. "Comic Intent in Poe's Tales: Five Criteria."Modern Language Notes LXXVI, No. 5 (May 1961): 432-34.

Outlines five common indications of humorous purpose in Poe'sshort stories.

. "The Comic in Poe's Fiction." American Literature 33, No.4 (January 1962): 433-41.

Examines the humorous and satirical aspects of Poe's comic tales.

Pollin, Burton R. Dictionary of Names and Titles in Poe's CollectedWorks. New York: Da Capo Press, 1968, 212 p.