Anti Transcendentalism in the Literary Works of Edgar Allan Poe 1
Anjali Patel
Professor Quigley
English Composition II
28 April 2015
Anti-Transcendentalism in the Work of Edgar Allan Poe Life and death are concepts that are widely known by men and women of all cultures. Many pieces of literature are written about these topics since they are well known but not everyone understands the meaning of living and dying. Death seems to be the tougher of these two concepts to be discussed. This is most likely due to the fact that once a person dies they are gone forever. While many individuals can say that they have experienced life to the fullest, not many, or any at all, can say that they have experienced death and lived to talk about that experience. As a result, literary authors use metaphors and personification to bring their readers closer to understanding death and life. Transcendentalism became a philosophical movement in the 1820s and 1830s that suggested a belief that spirituality was greater than a basic human experience, such as living life without the need for materialistic items, therefore experiencing the full form of what life has to offer. While many authors and poets grasped this philosophy, such as Henry David Thoreau, other literary figures disliked the transcendental movement and wrote their work against its viewpoint. Edgar Allan Poe is well known for horrifying the topic of death in most of his literary works. Poe had a history of using the fear of death and relating it to the effect it had on the human soul. He used the experiences in his life as a precursor to his short stories and poems. Edgar Allen Poe’s experience with illness and death, expressed in his literary work, contributed to his stance as an anti-transcendentalist. Edgar Allan Poe was born to two stage actors, David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Poe, on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. Even in his early life, Poe faced a difficult life. After his father abandoned him, and his mother dying shortly after, a rich merchant by the name of
Professor Quigley
English Composition II
28 April 2015
Anti-Transcendentalism in the Work of Edgar Allan Poe Life and death are concepts that are widely known by men and women of all cultures. Many pieces of literature are written about these topics since they are well known but not everyone understands the meaning of living and dying. Death seems to be the tougher of these two concepts to be discussed. This is most likely due to the fact that once a person dies they are gone forever. While many individuals can say that they have experienced life to the fullest, not many, or any at all, can say that they have experienced death and lived to talk about that experience. As a result, literary authors use metaphors and personification to bring their readers closer to understanding death and life. Transcendentalism became a philosophical movement in the 1820s and 1830s that suggested a belief that spirituality was greater than a basic human experience, such as living life without the need for materialistic items, therefore experiencing the full form of what life has to offer. While many authors and poets grasped this philosophy, such as Henry David Thoreau, other literary figures disliked the transcendental movement and wrote their work against its viewpoint. Edgar Allan Poe is well known for horrifying the topic of death in most of his literary works. Poe had a history of using the fear of death and relating it to the effect it had on the human soul. He used the experiences in his life as a precursor to his short stories and poems. Edgar Allen Poe’s experience with illness and death, expressed in his literary work, contributed to his stance as an anti-transcendentalist. Edgar Allan Poe was born to two stage actors, David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Poe, on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. Even in his early life, Poe faced a difficult life. After his father abandoned him, and his mother dying shortly after, a rich merchant by the name of
Cited: "American Transcendentalism, An Introduction to." Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Janet Mullane and Robert Thomas Wilson. Vol. 24. Detroit: Gale, 1989. 19th Century Literature Criticism Online. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. "Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-1849), An Introduction to." Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Kathy D. Darrow. Vol. 211. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 19th Century Literature Criticism Online. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. "POE 'S PHILOSOPHY Of COMPOSITION." The New York Times [New York] 1 Aug. 1880: n. pag. The New York Times. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. Magistrale, Tony. Student Companion To Edgar Allan Poe. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2001. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 20 Apr. 2015. Manzari, Alireza. "Contextual American Transcendentalism." Theory and Practice in Language Studies 2.9 (2012): 1792-801. ProQuest Literature Online. Web. 15 Apr. 2015. Poe, Edgar A. Never Bet the Devil Your Head. N.p.: n.p., n.d. About.com. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. Poe, Edgar A. "Poems For Further Study." The Norton Introduction to Literature. By Kelly J. Mays. 11th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2014. 601-04. Print. "Poe As Poet." Scholastic Scope 50.5 (2001): 13. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 May 2015.