Without Edgar Allan Poe The World Would Not Be The Same

Just mention his name to virtually anyone and they’ll know who he his.

Edgar Allan Poe. Poet. Short Story writer. Master of macabre and mystery.

But, the vast scope of his influence may not fully be known!

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1. The Short Story

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While Nathaniel Hawthorne was the first to officially published the short story with his Twice-Told Tales in 1837, Poe was the first to perfect it.

In an article from British magazine, Prospect, “he made the first real analysis of the difference between the short story and the novel, defining a short story quite simply as a narrative that ‘can be read at one sitting’.”

Going beyond just a simple definition,

What Poe was trying to put his finger on was the short story’s curious…effect, something that he felt very strongly came from its all-in-one-go consumption. Poe continues: “In the whole composition there should be no word written, of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is not to the one pre-established design. And by such means, with such care and skill, a picture is at length painted which leaves in the mind of him who contemplates it with a kindred art, a sense of the fullest satisfaction.”

Basically what he’s saying is, “The short story can seem larger, more resonant and memorable than the shortness of the form would appear capable of delivering.”

With this knowledge, he wrote dozens of short stories that have stuck in people’s minds forever.

Many historians consider him as the “architect of the modern short story”.

“Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or silly action for no other reason than because he knows he should not? Have we not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgement, to violate that which is Law, merely because we understand it to be such?”
― Edgar Allan Poe, The Black Cat

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2. The Aesthetic Movement, A.K.A. The “Art for Art’s Sake” Movement (19th Century)

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Back before Poe’s time, writing, and art overall, had to have purpose, either for morality or ideals.

“The Aesthetic Movement” is defined in The New World Encyclopedia as “art needs no justification, that it need serve no purpose, and that the beauty of the fine arts is reason enough for pursuing them.”

Poe was one of the writer’s to adopt and theorize this movement. He even wrote an essay all about it called The Poetic Principle.

We have taken it into our heads that to write a poem simply for the poem’s sake [ … ] and to acknowledge such to have been our design, would be to confess ourselves radically wanting in the true poetic dignity and force:—but the simple fact is that would we but permit ourselves to look into our own souls we should immediately there discover that under the sun there neither exists nor can exist any work more thoroughly dignified, more supremely noble, than this very poem, this poem per se, this poem which is a poem and nothing more, this poem written solely for the poem’s sake

-Edgar Allan Poe, 1850

3. Symbolism and Surrealism

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Defined as “[the] attempt to bridge together reality and the imagination”, Surrealism really took off in 1920s France, but Edgar Allan Poe was already writing beyond the limitations of reality back in the 1800s.

“His heart is a suspended lute; As soon as you touch it, it resonates.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher

4. Science Fiction

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The 19th century had many advances in technology, which in turn, fostered the vast possibilities of what man could do!

Many writers jumped on these new and exciting ideas, and Poe is no exception.

The National Park Service wrote an article all about Poe’s pioneering of the Sci-Fi genre.

…ever attentive to the temper of his times, capitalized on readers’ fascination, and at times gullibility, with grand tales of fantastic balloon voyages and feats of mesmerism…Poe’s experimentation with the themes of space and time travel, scientific discoveries, and man’s relationship to the universe clearly established him as one of the earliest science fiction writers. Later, famous science fiction writers such as Jules Verne, Arthur C. Clarke, and Isaac Asimov would explore these same themes.

All of Poe’s Science Fiction tales can be found in the book The Science Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe.

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5. Psychological Horror

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More so well-known for his horror writing, Poe excelled at really terrifying his audience on a psychological level.

Not only are his horror tales unforgettable, he is also influential to the genre for introducing it to the US. According to the blog Books Tell You Why, one blog post states “Edgar Allan Poe would bring the Gothic tradition to America; his first story, “MS Found in a Bottle,” appeared in the Baltimore Saturday Visitor in 1833.”

“At times we gasped for breath at an elevation beyond the albatross—at times became dizzy with the velocity of our descent into some watery hell, where the air grew stagnant, and no sound disturbed the slumbers of the kraken.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, Ms. Found In A Bottle

6. Sherlock Holmes and the Detective Story

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Believe it or not, Edgar Allan Poe also wrote detective tales, which were a huge influence to author Conan Doyle, who wrote the Sherlock Holmes novels.

Doyle has said that he feels Poe’s stories were “a model for all time.” Stories like “The Gold Bug” and Poe’s three stories about his detective, Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin, and the template Poe laid out in these stories acted as the inspiration for Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. When directly comparing the layout and the language of the two writers it is very clear that Doyle saw Edgar Allan Poe as an inspiration.

The Unparalleled Adventure of Hans Pfaall are Poe’s detective tales.

So Edgar Allan Poe had a huge influence on many authors, historical movements, and at the end of the day popular culture as well! Without him the world would not be the same.

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