Contes

Poems and Tales

1897 · 24 — <i>This book is over 122 years old. <br />"The Raven"</i> in particular—Poe investigates the loss of ideal beauty and the difficulty in regaining it. These pieces are usually narrated by a young man who laments the untimely death of his beloved. <i>"To Helen"</i> is a three stanza lyric that has been called one of the most beautiful love poems in the English language. The subject of the work is a woman who becomes in the eyes of the narrator a personification of the classical beauty of ancient Greece and Rome. <i>"Lenore"</i> presents ways in which the dead are best remembered either by mourning or celebrating life beyond earthly boundaries. In <i>"The Raven"</i> Poe successfully unites his philosophical and aesthetic ideals. In this psychological piece a young scholar is emotionally tormented by a raven's ominous repetition of "Nevermore" in answer to his question about the probability of an afterlife with his deceased lover. Charles Baudelaire noted in his introduction to the French edition of <i>"The Raven"</i>: "It is indeed the poem of the sleeplessness of despair; it lacks nothing: neither the fever of ideas nor the violence of colors nor sickly reasoning nor drivelling terror nor even the bizarre gaiety of suffering which makes it more terrible." Poe also wrote poems that were intended to be read aloud. Experimenting with combinations of sound and rhythm he employed such technical devices as repetition parallelism internal rhyme alliteration and assonance to produce works that are unique in American poetry for their haunting musical quality. In <i>"The Bells"</i> for example the repetition of the word "bells" in various structures accentuates the unique tonality of the different types of bells described in the poem.Poe's stature as a major figure in world literature is primarily based on his ingenious and profound short stories poems and critical theories which established a highly influential rationale for the short form in both poetry and fiction. Regarded in literary histories and handbooks as the architect of the modern short story Poe was also the principal forerunner of the "art for art's sake" movement in nineteenth-century European literature. Whereas earlier critics predominantly concerned themselves with moral or ideological generalities Poe focused his criticism on the specifics of style and construction that contributed to a work's effectiveness or failure. In his own work he demonstrated a brilliant command of language and technique as well as an inspired and original imagination. Poe's poetry and short stories greatly influenced the French Symbolists of the late nineteenth century who in turn altered the direction of modern literature. It is this philosophical and artistic transaction that accounts for much of Poe's importance in literary history.<br /><br />This book contains the first collection of Poems Poems and Tales. See Pictures Houghton Mifflin Company hardcover