A Review of the Hellenic Allusions in "To Helen"

Poe's "To Helen" has drawn scholars' attention in diachronic fashion. Even though the poem is merely a few lines long, the Bostonian writer skillfully manages to incorporate an abundance of allusions in his quest for the Ideal Beauty. Seminal studies such as those of Kenneth Silverman (1992) and Scott Peeples (1998) have not omited to stress Poe's indebtedness to foreign literatures. Yet, Poe here appears to search for the Ideal which he personifies by remembering Helen of Troy; another fine sample of Poe's poetry that hints philhellenism. My recent publication in Littera Aperta (University of Cordoba) is an attempt to delve into this poem from a Hellenic point of view. Of course, any attempt to fully comprehend Poe's allusions in a few pages is futile, and I need to mention that this study is a prolegomenon to a more systematic review. For further insight, please visit my published essay here. 

                                        

Works Cited 

• Peeples, Scott. Edgar Allan Poe Revisited. New York: Twayne, 1998. Print.
• Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe. A Biography. Mournful and Never- Ending Remembrance. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1992. Print.
• Tsokanos, Dimitrios. "'To the glory that was Greece': Hellenic Patterns in Poe's Poetry." Littera Aperta 3.1 (2015): 23-36.

Poe's Life in Drawings

Who was Poe? Learn more about his life through a very intriguing and straightforward video Here

Poe and the Visual Arts

I just got my hands on Dr. Barbara Cantalupo's Poe and the Visual Arts. I have to admit that I was already inclined to be fond of her study after reading relevant reviews. To be fair, Cantalupo is a Quinn Award recipient, an award that is never given unless we have to do with a worthy study; that shows a lot about the book's quality. 

The book consists of five chapters, and it principally delves into Poe's interest in the visual arts. To that end, we are brought back to Poe's exposure to art in Philadephia, the writer's homely interiors, and his visual tricks. Cantalupo also explores Poe's art criticism in an elegant way. There have been several studies on Poe's artistic principles, and a number of critical reviews (Cantalupo drawn on Pollin's and Deas', for instance); yet this field of Poe studies has definitely been unexplored as a whole. 

Poe and the Visual Arts wonderfully describes Poe's world of art, his artistic companions, and the art he was exposed to during his final years; all these explorations are escorted by a large number of wonderful images which I am sure took quite a lot of time and effort to get a hold of. Undoubtedly, the book has a lot to offer, and it should be in every Poe scholar's collection, as it offers a further insight to Poe's knowledge of the visual arts.  

Works Cited

Cantalupo, Barbara. Poe and the Visual Arts. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Penn State University Press, 2014. 

Poe's Fondness of Greece

Edgar Allan Poe's knowledge of Greek and Latin is incontestable. Readers can observe that through a number of works of his in which he frequently attempts to write in these two languages (unsuccessfully so in many instances). Poe's Hellenic education seems to have commenced ever since his teenage years. His University education also demonstrate an inclination to Greek studies. In their seminal Poe Log, Dwight Thomas and David Jackson transport us to Poe's youth. According to them, when the Bostonian writer was 17 years old he began his studies at the University of Virginia. More specifically, they remind us the following:

[1826] 14 FEBRUARY. CHARLOTTESVILLE. Poe is one of five students who matriculate at the University of Virginia on this day. He is 136th on the list of 177 who attend this year. Of the 177, six withdraw, three are suspended, three are dismissed, and three are expelled during the year (Kent, pp. 10-11). Poe pays his fees ($60) for attendance on two professors, George Long, School of Ancient Languages (Greek and Latin), and George Blaettermann, School of Modern Languages (French, German, Italian, and Spanish). (Thomas and Jackson, 1987: 67-8)

Later on in his life, Poe demonstrated his philhellenism by lying about having travelled to Greece in order to fight against the Turks who oppresed them. The Poe Log also accounts for Timothy P. Jones' claims of Poe's exaggerating tendencies (Jones was a member of the army who served his country alongside Poe):

On the morning of the 6th [19th] of March [February], when Poe was ready to leave West Point, we were in our room together, and he told me I was one of the few true friends he had ever known, and as we talked the tears rolled down his cheeks . . . . He told me much of his past life, one part of which he said he had confided to no other living soul. This was that while it was generally believed that he had gone to Greece in 1827 to offer his services to assist in putting down the Turkish oppressors, he had done no such thing... (1897: 114) 

Works Cited

Dwight R. Thomas, and David K. Jackson. The Poe Log. A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe 1809-1849. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1987. Print.

Poe's "The Raven": A Dramatic Reading

A wonderful reading of Poe's "The Raven" by Christopher Lee

Poe's Critique on Contemporary Society

Edgar Allan Poe constantly attempted to criticize contemporary society through a number of his works. His satire is unmistakable in various tales, and readers can infer that Poe may have considered destruction and annihilation as the only way for absolution. In this concept, the American author goes back to Hellenic and Latin antiquity and he skillfully incoporates allusions in order to mask his criticism. For a reading of Poe's "Mellonta Tauta", "The Colloquy of Monos and Una" and "The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion" in this context see my recent article here.

Transatlantic Poe

Poe's works have indubitably affected Literature at a global scale. One cannot overlook similarities in terms of form, structure and amusing elements in works that have been written in Europe, Russia and Asia during the 20th century. The presence of Edgar Allan Poe outside the United States was thoroughly covered in a volume edited by Lois D. Vines, Poe Abroad (1999). This meticulous study examines the influence of the American author in Europe (Britain, Spain, France, Estonia, Russia, Italy, Romania, Hungary, among others), South America (Brazil, Spanish America), Asia (Japan, China or India). Quite surprisingly, one can find no indication regarding Poe’s presence in Greece in this work.

Scott Fitzerald was indeed among the most renowned authors that was influenced by Poe. Kopley and Hayes (2002) remind us of Fitzerald's The Side of Paradise which seems to imitate "Ulalume", and their arguments are convincing in my view. Yet, Fitzerald was not the sole author that Poe inspired: Kopley and Hayes barely scratch the surface of Poe's transatlantic impact by pointing out that the Spanish poem of Francisco Villaespesa, Antonio Machado, and Ruben Dario “embody their enthusiasm for ‘Ulalume’". In Russia, the works of Konstantin Balmont and Valery Bryusov also seem to bear similar characteristics to Poe's ouevre (2002: 197). For an interesting reading of another imitation of Poe's "The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether" in Spain see Dr. Jose R. Ibanez Ibanez's 2009 essay here. 

Works Cited

1. Ibáñez, José R. “Poe’s Maison de Santé Revisited. A Spanish Imitation of ‘The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether’”. The Edgar Allan Poe Review. Volume X, no. 2 (Fall 2009): 63-69.
2. Kopley, Richard and Kevin J. Hayes. "Two verse masterworks: 'The Raven' and 'Ulalume'", collected in The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Kevin J. Hayes. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002: 197–198.
3. Vines, Lois D., ed. Poe Abroad: Influence, Reputation, Affinities. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1999. Print.

Who was Poe? A Mini BIO

Who was Edgar Allan Poe?
A wonderful mini biography by Mini Bio released on 9/24/12
(Season 1, episode 1)

Poe in Greece

Edgar Allan Poe has always been among the most criticized authors and poets in English-speaking countries. His works have over the years been judged as 'strange', or even as 'juvenile' in several occasions. In fact, Rufus Griswold took this criticism one step further by arguing that Poe was paranoid and dangerous. All Poe scholars and readers of his works outside the US should perhaps thank Charles Baudelaire for discovering him, translating him, even though he also plagiarized and borrowed ideas from the Bostonian's tales and poems in many instances. He did, however, make Poe renowned in France. It was this 'French love' for Poe that made the American author famous in Europe as well. Ever since, Poe influenced many, including Jules Verne, Oscar Wilde, Vladimir Nabokov and Robert Louis Stevenson.

Greece could not escape Poe's growing recognition. Emmanuel Rhoides was the first who translated his works based on Baudelaire's edition, and this Greek writer and journalist never concealed his affection for Poe's tales and poems. Rhoides' example was then followed by many: Pericles Yannopoulos, Apostolos Melahrinos, Napoleon Lapathiotes, Mitsos Papanikolaou et al. Even today, Poe is among the most translated authors in Greece. Nonetheless, despite the tremendous interest in his storytelling, there are merely a few Greek scholars who noticed that a Hellenic influence is indeed present in the majority of Poe's works. In fact, a systematic research that delves into these Hellenic motifs has never been undertaken, to my knowledge. It seems surprising, especially if one considers that Poe regularly lied about having travelled to the land of the Hellenes.