When it comes to the pioneers of American Romanticism, Edgar Allan Poe is considered to be one of the most important authors because of his unique gothic style of writing which perfectly encompasses melancholy, horror, passion, thrill and mystery. In his beginnings as a writer, Poe was nowhere as successful as he is today. Although he published his first literary work, which was a book of poetry, in 1827 at the age of eighteen, his real and greatest success came but in 1845 with the publication of his most famous poem “The Raven”. Due to the success that this poem brought him, a short-term financial stability enabled him to settle down in a respectable neighbourhood in New York, but although many praised him, there was a lot of criticism about
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Among the central ideas in his essay, that is, the Beauty, being the core of the poem, Originality and Truth, the unity of effect is what makes Poe’s works so distinctive, shocking and appealing at the same time. The idea of the unity of effect is roughly described as an author’s attempt of making the reader completely immersed in a work of fiction by allowing him to start and complete the reading of the work in a single sitting, and allowing any literary devices, effects, moods and ideas to have the fullest possible effect on him as well as enabling the author to keep full control over what the reader experiences and perceives. In addition, Poe explains the problem as “I say to myself, in the first place of the innumerable effects, or impressions, of which the heart, the intellect, or (more generally) the soul is susceptible, what one shall I, on the present occasion, select?” (Poe, 2). By providing an interpretation of his poem in the essay, Poe foregrounds the importance of aesthetics, as well as having a clear purpose of what should literary work be about, which effect it should cause, effect which would “elevate the spirit”. Poe furthermore indicates that one must not stop there, but should instead wisely choose his tools, or aids as he calls them, which would help him in creating the desired effect. “Having chosen a novel, first, and secondly a vivid effect, I consider whether it can be best wrought by incident or tone- whether by ordinary incidents and peculiar tone, or the converse, or by peculiarity both of incident and tone- afterward looking about me (or rather within) for such combinations of event, or tone, as shall best aid me in the construction of the effect.” (Poe, 2). While discussing Poe’s aesthetic theory,
Among the central ideas in his essay, that is, the Beauty, being the core of the poem, Originality and Truth, the unity of effect is what makes Poe’s works so distinctive, shocking and appealing at the same time. The idea of the unity of effect is roughly described as an author’s attempt of making the reader completely immersed in a work of fiction by allowing him to start and complete the reading of the work in a single sitting, and allowing any literary devices, effects, moods and ideas to have the fullest possible effect on him as well as enabling the author to keep full control over what the reader experiences and perceives. In addition, Poe explains the problem as “I say to myself, in the first place of the innumerable effects, or impressions, of which the heart, the intellect, or (more generally) the soul is susceptible, what one shall I, on the present occasion, select?” (Poe, 2). By providing an interpretation of his poem in the essay, Poe foregrounds the importance of aesthetics, as well as having a clear purpose of what should literary work be about, which effect it should cause, effect which would “elevate the spirit”. Poe furthermore indicates that one must not stop there, but should instead wisely choose his tools, or aids as he calls them, which would help him in creating the desired effect. “Having chosen a novel, first, and secondly a vivid effect, I consider whether it can be best wrought by incident or tone- whether by ordinary incidents and peculiar tone, or the converse, or by peculiarity both of incident and tone- afterward looking about me (or rather within) for such combinations of event, or tone, as shall best aid me in the construction of the effect.” (Poe, 2). While discussing Poe’s aesthetic theory,