"The Poetic Principle" is an essay by Edgar Allan Poe, written near the end of his life and published posthumously in 1850 (Poe died in 1849). It is a work of literary criticism, and one of the most complete (but still far from being truly complete) discussions of Poe's literary theory. It is based on a series of lectures Poe had given on literary theory late in his life.
The essay argues that a poem should be written "for a poem's sake" and that...
more
"The Poetic Principle" is an essay by Edgar Allan Poe, written near the end of his life and published posthumously in 1850 (Poe died in 1849). It is a work of literary criticism, and one of the most complete (but still far from being truly complete) discussions of Poe's literary theory. It is based on a series of lectures Poe had given on literary theory late in his life.
The essay argues that a poem should be written "for a poem's sake" and that the ultimate goal of art is aesthetic. 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.
The...
less
