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"The Poetic Principle" is an essay by Edgar Allan Poe, written near the end of his life and published posthumously in 1850, the year after his death. It is a work of literary criticism, in which Poe presents his literary theory. It is based on a series of lectures Poe had given late in his lifetime.


Synopsis

The essay argues that a poem should be written " for a poem's sake" and that the ultimate goal of art is
aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...
. He also argues against the concept of a long poem, saying that an epic, if it is to be worth anything, must instead be structured as a collection of shorter pieces, each of which is not too long to be read in a single sitting. The essay critiques, sometimes rather sharply, the works of other poets of his time. His most common complaint is against didacticism, which he calls a " heresy". Though Poe is referring to poetry here, it is believed that Poe's philosophy against didacticism extends to fiction.


Origins

The essay was based on a lecture that Poe gave in Providence, Rhode Island at the
Franklin Lyceum The Franklin Lyceum (est. 1831) of Providence, Rhode Island was a membership organization dedicated to autodidacticism in the 19th century. Its members engaged in debates and maintained "a library, and a cabinet of minerals, shells, chemical apparat ...
. The lecture reportedly drew an audience of 2,000 people. Some Poe scholars have suggested that "The Poetic Principle" was inspired in part by the critical failure of his two early poems " Al Aaraaf" and "
Tamerlane Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...
", after which he never wrote another long poem. From this experience, Poe surmised that long poems are unable to sustain a proper mood or maintain a high-quality poetic form and are, therefore, inherently flawed. Critics have suggested that this theory was written so that Poe could justify why "Al Aaraaf" and "Tamerlane" were unpopular.Sova, Dawn B. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z''. New York City: Checkmark Books, 2001: 196.


Publication history

"The Poetic Principle" was published in the ''Home Journal'', in the series for 1850, no. 36, August 31, 1850, with an introductory note by Nathaniel Parker Willis.


See also

*"
The Philosophy of Composition "The Philosophy of Composition" is an 1846 essay written by American writer Edgar Allan Poe that elucidates a theory about how good writers write when they write well. He concludes that length, "unity of effect" and a logical method are importa ...
" * 1850 in poetry


References


External links


"The Poetic Principle" - Full text from the first printing, the ''Home Journal'', 1850
Essays about poetry Essays by Edgar Allan Poe Essays in literary theory 1850 essays {{poetry-essay-stub