美国文学回答问题.docxVIP

What are the characteristics of Edgar Allen Poe s writing? Poe and the Short Story: Poe bore two relations to the short story . He gave the first definition of the short story, and in the second place, he wrote memorable examples of this type of literature. In his definition he emphasized brevity and unity of impression. The latter is the all-important element, and by unity Poe meant totality or oneness of impression. Poe stresses brevity because he thought, quite rightly , that unity of impression would be blurred and lost in the mass of details inevitable in a long story or novel. He insisted that the writer must first determine the effect that he wished to produce and then deliberately choose incidents to assist in the creation of such an effect. Poe?s principles for the short story are best illustrated in his review of Hawthorne?s Twice - Told Tales. The very first sentence ought to help to bring out the “ single effect th”e sotfory . A tale should reveal some logical truth with “ thefullest satisfaction, an”d should end with the last sentence, leaving a sense of finality with the reader. The poem, he says, should be short, readable at one sitting. Its chief aim is beauty, namely , to produce a feeling of beauty in the reader. Melancholy is the most legitimate of all the poetic tones. Poe stresses rhythm, defines true poetry as “the rhythmical creation of beauty , ”and declares that “ music is the perfection of the soul, or idea, of poetr.y” As a short -story writer, Poe was a fasc in at ing man of imag in ati on i n terested in deduct ion and induction. Indeed, Poe places the subconscious condition of the mind under investigation and probes beneath the surface of normal existence. As a result of all these, Poe?s fictional characters are mostly neurotics. He was the fi rst author in American literature to make the neurotic the heroic figure, the protagonist, in his stories. Poe?s position in the world literature is secure. His influence is world -wide in modern