Poe on Poetry and Fiction

Poetry:

“Poetry should appeal only to the sense of beauty, not truth” – NAAL Intro.

“Informational poetry, poetry of ideas, or any sort of didactic poetry was illegitimate” [as poetry but might be legitimate in fiction] – NAAL Intro.

“True poetic emotion was a vague sensory state” – NAAL Intro.

“Beauty is the sole legitimate province of the poem” – Phil. of Comp. Notes #8

“Beauty is an effect, ‘that intense and pure elevation of the soul” – Phil. of Comp. Notes #9

“The most poetical topic in the world” is “the death . . . of a beautiful woman” – Phil. of Comp. Notes #11

Discussion Question: Examine the poetry of Bryant, Longfellow, and Poe in light of Poe’s ideas about poetry.  Do their poems appeal to the sense of beauty, or would you consider them more to be “informational poetry, poetry of ideas, or any sort of didactic poetry”?

Fiction:

(Therefore, fiction should appeal to the sense of truth) – NAAL Intro.

“He set himself against realistic details in poetry, although the prose tale, with truth as one object, could profit from the discrete use of specifics” – NAAL Intro.

(Therefore, fiction is an effect, ‘that intense and pure elevation . . . of intellect, or of heart”) – Phil. of Comp. Notes #9

“Now the object, Truth, or the satisfaction of the intellect, and the object, Passion, or the excitement of the heart, are, although attainable, to a certain extent, in poetry, far more attainable in prose” – Phil. of Comp. Notes #10

Discussion Question: Examine the short fiction of Irving, Sedgwick, Hawthorne, and Poe in light of Poe’s ideas about fiction.  How do these stories appeal to “the sense of truth”?  How do they elevate the intellect and/or the heart?

Discussion Question: Examine the short fiction of Irving, Sedgwick, and Hawthorne, and compare their stories to the stories we read by Poe.  Which stories best illustrate the use of “gothic” elements?

Discussion Question: What "effect" is created in each of the stories we've read, and how is that effect created?