Edgar Allan Poe: Poems and Poetics (American Poets Project) [Hardcover]

EDGAR ALLAN POE (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 9, 2003 | Series: American Poets Project (Book 5)

One of America's most admired living poets revisits an American original. Richard Wilbur explores the philosophical depth of verse more widely noted for its macabre and gothic surfaces and uniquely matches the whole canon of Poe's mature poetry with a judicious selection of essays and stories that illuminate his poetic goals.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Poe is so frequently reprinted that another selection can't possibly seem fresh. Reading him with the guidance of Wilbur, however, helps one think about him again. Wilbur has championed Poe before, and one of the best earlier Poe selections-with-comment was Wilbur's in the 1960s paperback Laurel poets series. Wilbur wants Poe to be appreciated as a transcendental cosmic theorist and "the most difficult of the symbolist writers of his century," and he appends selections from Poe's writings about poetics to help understanding of his cosmology and discusses some of Poe's most intense stories to exemplify his symbolism. The poems, presented chronologically, show again what a young prodigy Poe was, formulating his poetic thought while still in his teens, and what a sonorous Romantic musician he became. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Richard Wilbur is a former poet laureate of the United States and has twice won the Pulitzer Prize. His most recent volume of poems is Mayflies (2000).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 179 pages
• Publisher: Library of America (October 9, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931082510
• ISBN-13: 978-1931082518
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,393,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing introduction, the best part (final third) of Eureka, October 5, 2009

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Patrick Moore LMT BA (Tucson, Arizona) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Edgar Allan Poe: Poems and Poetics (American Poets Project) (Hardcover)

The introduction gives an interesting perspective of Poe I had not read in other critiques; that Poe's writings about loss and death were intended to serve readers on a spiritual level. The reader is engaged by some kind of attachment, and then that attachment is ripped away by death or loss. What are you left with? The spirit, which goes on. It is an interesting theory and gives a completely different view of Poe's intentions and the depth of his compassion for humanity.

On that, the way the slim book ends is perfectly compiled. Rather than wading through the entire Eureka, we are given only the last third, enough to get excited about the main points about the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. Poe was a visionary of E=M though he didn't have the constant C2 yet, and a visionary of intelligent design reconciled with string theory's Anthropic Principle (currently being rediscovered by Leonard Susskind). We see the end of this universe, and we feel the loss of all we had been attached to, while seeing the higher purpose as the universe returns to unity. Eureka is then followed by the perfect conclusion statement, the short and fun dialogue, "The Power of Words," in which two angels look back on the Earth after it's destroyed, and chat about knowledge, happiness, creation, creatures, and creativity.

The Intro and the last two poems are worth double the price of the book!