English 241
American Literature to
1860
Discussion Question
In ‘Philosophy of
Composition,’ Poe writes a theory of poetry that advocates a balance between
textual complexity and suggestive signification. “Two things are invariably required – first, some amount of
complexity, or more properly, adaptation; and, secondly, some amount of
suggestiveness – some undercurrent, however indefinite, of meaning. It is this latter, in especial, which
imparts to a work of art so much of that richness…which we are too fond
of confounding with the ideal.
It is the excess of the suggested meaning…which turns into prose
(and that of the very flattest kind) the so called poetry of the so called
transcendentalists.” (HA 2456)
Note how Poe, ever the
Southern outsider in the North, uses this theory to draw a distinction between
his own work and that of northern Transcendentalist (i.e. American Romantic)
writers. How might this suggest an
aesthetic competitiveness between an advocate of Southern culture and an
intellectual class of the commercial North?
This point is for consideration for Friday discussion; it is not the
assignment.
Choose one Poe poem -- ‘The Sleeper,’ ‘Ulalume,’
or ‘Annabel Lee’ – and write 200-250 thoughtful words on the gender culture
underlying that poem and the above quote.
The escape hatch alternate question: what is the relationship of ‘The City in the Sea’ to a major theme of your choice in American literature?