Poe's Alien Poetics (original) (raw)

Review of Esplin, Emron & Vale de Gato, Margarida. (Eds.). 2014. Translated Poe. Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press. 471 pages. ISBN 978–1–61146–171–8.

The bicentenary of Edgar Allan Poe’s birth in 2009 generated a renewed enthusiasm in the American writer and his work. International conferences and monographic studies reexamined the importance of Poe and his influence on twenty-first-century national literatures. Among the most recent studies, Cantalupo’s Poe and the Visual Arts (2014) puts in context Poe’s oeuvre and the artwork to which he was exposed in the 1830s and 1840s. In the same vein, Emron Esplin and Margarida Vale de Gato’s edited volume Translated Poe deals with translations and translators of Poe in an attempt to demonstrate “how Poe’s translations constitute multiple contextual interpretations, testifying to how this prolific author continues to help us read ourselves and the world(s) we live in” (2014: xix). Echoes of Lois Davis Vines’ Poe Abroad (1999), a landmark in Poe studies published to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the writer’s death, abound in this compilation of articles. In this regard, Esplin and Vale de Gato, who acknowledge having been inspired by Vines’ work, commissioned an outstanding group of Poe experts and translators to assess the specific vehicle that delivers Poe to the world: translation. “One can understand Poe”, contends Cagliero in his review of Poe Abroad, “by understanding those who read his texts and how they understood him” (2000: 45). And this statement may also be fitting for Translated Poe....

Review of Time-Transcending Poetry of E. A. Poe

Slawomir Studniarz. The Time-Transcending Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe: An Explanation of the Mechanics of His Poetic Speech. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2016. 323 pp. $219.95 cloth. Reviewed by Wesley Scott McMasters, Carson-Newman University

Gloominess and Sadness in Edgar Allan Poe's Selected Poems: Textual and Analytical Approaches

2024

Edgar Allan Poe's life was plagued by melancholy and disaster, which is evident in all of his writings. Among the many other poets of his generation, his solitude and individuality set him apart from the rest. He gave the Gothic genre a completely new meaning, making it both dark and significant at the same time. First, as an overview is given, of the 19th century, Edgar Allan Poe, and the tragedies that influenced his poetry. This study employs a comprehensive methodology focusing on the close reading of three of Poe's wellknown poems: "The Raven," "A Dream within a Dream," and "Alone." By analyzing how sadness and sorrow are portrayed in these poems, the paper investigates the extent to which these emotions impacted Poe's writing. The analytical approach involves delving into the thematic and stylistic nuances of the selected poems, shedding light on the intricate ways in which Poe articulates his emotions. The purpose of this study is to tackle the sense of gloominess and sadness by employing textual and analytical approaches. The significance of the feelings of loss and sorrow in Poe's writings is addressed, drawing connections to Poe's life story. The findings demonstrate that Poe's writings occasionally converge with personal catastrophes, tragedies from his own life, and stories about death sadness, and grief come together on multiple occasions over the course of his demanding career. Concluding that sadness, sorrow, and everything that comes with it were indeed lurking in every one of his statements, this paper contributes to the existing literature by portraying the semi-autobiographical image of the author within the realm of his poetry. The textual and analytical approaches used in this study provide a nuanced understanding of how personal experiences influenced Poe's poetic expression, enriching our comprehension of the intricate relationship between his life and art.