Similarities Between Emerson And Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe and Ralph Waldo Emerson, the two giants of early American professional writing and poetry, while considered bitter rivals and often opposed in mindsets, still held some common beliefs about what poetry and creativity were. Despite Poe’s dark motifs and desire to unearth the deep and hidden emotions of man clashing with Emerson’s desire to speak for all and to make mankind see what it meant to be part of the Whole, the two men were still both poets, and this mix of difference yet similarity persists in their theories on writing and poetry. Their theories on poetry are both different and similar at once.

Emerson makes no secret his thoughts on poetry. His essay “The Poet” clearly and eloquently explains what he believes the meaning of poetry

In his essay “The Poetic Principle,” Poe begins by clarifying the poetry’s purpose is to excite, saying, “I need scarcely observe that a poem deserves its title only inasmuch as it excites, by elevating the soul. The value of the poem is in the ratio of this elevating excitement” (Poe). He goes on to specify that for a poem to fulfil its purpose, it must not be too long. “But all excitements are, through a psychal necessity, transient. That degree of excitement which would entitle a poem to be so called at all, cannot be sustained throughout a composition of any great length” (Poe). Also, according to Poe, a poem must not bee too short, either. “On the other hand, it is clear that a poem may be improperly brief. Undue brevity degenerates into mere epigrammatism. A very short poem, while now and then producing a brilliant or vivid, never produces a profound or enduring effect” (Poe). Poe’s overall belief was that is was the job of poetry to stir up the thoughts and emotions in people that were not so often stirred. A poem to Poe is a piece of writing which allows an audience to feel something unique, an agent of