Literary Theory and Criticism

by Edgar Allan Poe, Leonard Cassuto (Editor)

Overview

This essential anthology of Poe's critical works features items from the Southern Literary Messenger, Graham's Magazine, and other periodicals, reviewing works by Dickens, Hawthorne, Cooper, and many others. The Theory of Poetry — consisting of "The Philosophy of Composition," "The Rationale of Verse," and "The Poetic Principle" — appears as well. Introduction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780486144672
Publisher:	Dover Publications
Publication date:	04/06/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	953 KB

About the Author

Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) was orphaned at the age of three and adopted by a wealthy Virginia family with whom he had a troubled relationship. He excelled in his studies of language and literature at school, and self-published his first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems, in 1827. In 1830, Poe embarked on a career as a writer and began contributing reviews and essays to popular periodicals. He also wrote sketches and short fiction, and in 1833 published his only completed novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Over the next five years he established himself as a master of the short story form through the publication of "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Masque of the Red Death," "The Tell-Tale Heart," and other well–known works. In 1841, he wrote "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," generally considered the first modern detective story. The publication of The Raven and Other Poems in 1845 brought him additional fame as a poet.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS Beyond Originality: Edgar Allan Poe the Critic
REVIEW Theodore S. Fay, Norman Leslie
REVIEW Joseph Rodman Drake, The Culprit Fay, and other Poems Fitz-Greene Halleck, Alnwick Castle, with other Poems
REVIEW James K. Paulding, Slavery in the United States William Drayton, The South Vindicated from the Treason and Fanaticism of the Northern Abolitionists
REVIEW Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop, and other Tales and Master Humphrey's Clock
REVIEW Lambert A. Wilmer, The Quacks ofHelicon: A Satire
Exordium to Critical Notices
REVIEW Nathaniel Hawthorne, Twice-Told Tales
REVIEW Rufus W. Griswold, The Poets and Poetry ofAmerica
Prospectus of The Stylus
REVIEW James Fenimore Cooper, Wyandotte
EXCERPT ''The Little Longfellow War"
The Philosophy of Composition EXCERPTS FROM "THE LITERATI OF NEW YORK CITY Some Honest Opinions Thomas Dunn English Sarah Margaret Fuller Lydia M. Child
The Rationale ofVerse REVIEW James Russell Lowell, A Fable for the Critics
Marginalia
The Poetic Principle