Emerson and Poe on Poetic Truth

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that poetry is too complicated to relay truth so it focuses on beauty, and truth must be sought within the beauty of the poem. The author points out that Ralph Waldo Emerson was able to understand empirical experience through the auspices of transcendental thought with his insight into the divine presence in nature. The paper relates that Poe's poetic principle states that the truth of the poem is contained within the words and the use of language.

From the Paper:

"In Poe's poem, "The Raven", he is lamenting the death of a loved one. The Raven represents the memory of the person and reflects the knowledge that she will never be in attendance in real life again. The narrator personifies the Raven by imploring him to "Tell me what thy lordly name is on the night's Plutonian shore?" to which the Raven replies, "Nevermore!" The Raven also encompasses the freedom associated with the symbol of birds in general as well as the freedom from the restrictions of life. The bird becomes a symbol and a metaphor for death. Poe was able to take an event from his own life and, through the use of metaphor, include it into a poem that allows the reader insight into his personal ordeal."

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