Professor Richard Dooner
August 4th, 2014
Edgar Allan Poe’ Secrets
Edgar Allan Poe’ Secret Considered as part of the American Romantic Movement, Edgar Allan Poe was an American poet, author, and literary critic in the 1800’s. In the textbook “Anthology of American Literature,” George McMichael and James Leonard included a literary criticism from Edgar Poe in “Twice-Told Tales” written by Hawthorne. In his review, Edgar Allan Poe set the rules of short stories. Also, the authors included Poe’ theory of poetry in “The Poetic Principle" and "The Philosophy of Composition" which contained the unified core and basis of Poe's critical theories and these two essays alone suffice to give one a full understanding of Poe's critical views. Edgar Allan Poe is considered to be America's first significant literary critic or, at least, the first major writer in America to write seriously about criticism, about the theory of composition, and about the principles of creative art. He was also the first to set down consistent set of principles about what he thought was acceptable in art and what should be essentially rejected in art. Poe's major theories can be found in the many reviews he wrote analyzing the writings of other authors; in this genre, his most famous review is entitled "Twice-Told Tales," a review of Nathaniel Hawthorne's short stories. Among Poe's greatnesses was his ability as an editor to recognize great literature and to dismiss insignificant works. Poe was the first major, or influential, writer to recognize the genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne. In his review of Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales, Poe says that "Mr. Hawthorne is scarcely recognized by the press or by the public . . . yet . . . he evinces extraordinary genius, having no rival either in America or elsewhere." This critical recognition of Hawthorne, therefore, attests to Poe's keen critical