Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe is a man constantly searching for beauty to depart from the mental and moral ugliness in his life. This reflects in his the poetry and short stories. Poe sees evil as a major threat to himself and to man due to the fact that he lives in its presence. It is easy to establish this fact when looking at the tragedies in his own life relating to the deaths of his young mother, wife, and others he loved. It is no wonder that he sees the absence of beauty as evil, because he felt the terror and tragedy of the loss of his own life. In Poe's literature it seems that beauty, or the absence of beauty, determines the true value of life. Did Poe actually experience true beauty and feel the pain of its death, or was it something he never truly found? Never the less, it is obviously a major cause of his pain, and his literature is a reflection of this absence. Edgar Allan Poe was perhaps one of the most widely read and controversial writers in America's narrative history. He was born in Boston in 1809 to a family of traveling actors. His name at birth was simply Edgar Poe, but after the early death of both of his parents, he was taken in by the Allans. Thus he obtained the adopted name of Allan wh
Poe's sorrow caused by the absence of beauty is especially evident the short story "Ligeia." He describes a lover he once had by the name of Ligeia: from Poe to Mailer: An Introduction. Ed. George T. Wright. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1973. The parallel between the loss of beauty and the loss of life is even more evident in his most famous poem "The Raven." The death of his "rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore" (Poe 11) has left him "weak and weary" (Poe 1). The narrator hears the knocking on his door and through desperation for his beautiful Lenore wishes for it to be her. With the very small and disillusioned notion that it could be his beautiful Lenore, his "soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer" (Poe 19). After asking if he will ever see the beauty of Lenore on earth or in heaven and getting the response "Nevermore," the narrator becomes miserable and weary once again. Whether the end is a literal death or a symbolic death, it is death in that it denotes the total loss of beauty from his life. This idea is highly reflected in his the poetry and short stories. Poe sees lack of beauty as evil, and evil is a major threat to himself and to man due to the fact that his life was full of moral and spiritual ugliness. In Poe's literature it seems that beauty, or the absence of beauty, determines the true value of life. Did Poe ever experience the true beauty that he speaks of in his literature and then lose it, or was it merely an idea drove by self-torture to make him mad? Never the less, Poe's life seemed to be dramatically dependent on the idea of beauty. Winters, Yvor. The Recognition of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. Eric Or, perhaps, I cannot now bring these pints to mind, because, in truth, the character of my beloved, her rare learning, her singular yet placid cast of beauty, and the thrilling and enthralling eloquence of her low musical language, made their way into my heart by paces so steadily and stealthily progressive that they have been unnoticed and unknown (Poe 1450).
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Approximate Word count = 1880
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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