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?