HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

"Al Aaraaf" is an early poem by American writer
Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...
, first published in 1829. It tells of the
afterlife The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their ...
in a place called Al Aaraaf, inspired by A'raf as described in the
Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
. At 422 lines, it is Poe's longest poem. "Al Aaraaf", which Poe said he wrote before he was 15, was first published as the major poem in Poe's 1829 collection ''Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems''. The book and "Al Aaraaf" in particular received mostly negative reviews for its complexity, obscure references, and odd structure. Some, however, noted the potential in the young poet, including author and critic
John Neal John Neal (August 25, 1793 – June 20, 1876) was an American writer, critic, editor, lecturer, and activist. Considered both eccentric and influential, he delivered speeches and published essays, novels, poems, and short stories between the 1 ...
, to whom Poe had shown "Al Aaraaf" prior to publication. Poe later referred to Neal's response as the first words of encouragement he had received. Nevertheless, the negative response to "Al Aaraaf" may have inspired Poe's later poetic theory that poems should be kept short. Years later, in 1845, Poe used "Al Aaraaf" to
hoax A hoax (plural: hoaxes) is a widely publicised falsehood created to deceive its audience with false and often astonishing information, with the either malicious or humorous intent of causing shock and interest in as many people as possible. S ...
members of the
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
literary circle during a reading. Poe said the poem was a new one and his audience was perplexed by it. He later said a Boston crowd did not deserve a new poem. He held a strong dislike for New England poets and the New England–based Transcendental movement and hoped by presenting a poem he had written in his youth would prove Bostonians did not know good literature.


Overview

"Al Aaraaf" is the longest poem Poe wroteSova, Dawn B. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z''. New York City: Checkmark Books, 2001: 5. and was inspired by
Tycho Brahe Tycho Brahe ( ; ; born Tyge Ottesen Brahe, ; 14 December 154624 October 1601), generally called Tycho for short, was a Danish astronomer of the Renaissance, known for his comprehensive and unprecedentedly accurate astronomical observations. He ...
's identification of a supernova in 1572 which was visible for about seventeen months. Poe identified the supernova with Al Aaraaf, a star that was the place between paradise and hell. Al Aaraaf (
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
, alternatively transliterated ) was a place where people who have been neither markedly good nor markedly bad had to stay until forgiven by
God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
and let into
Paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...
,Poe, Harry Lee. ''Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories''. New York: Metro Books, 2008: 39. as discussed in Sura 7 of the Qur'an.Quinn, Arthur Hobson. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography''. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998: 158. As Poe explained to a potential publisher: In the opening section of the poem, God commands Nesace, a name for Beauty's spirit, to convey a message to "other worlds". Nesace rouses the angel Ligeia and tells her to awaken the other thousand
seraph A seraph ( ; pl.: ) is a celestial or heavenly being originating in Ancient Judaism. The term plays a role in subsequent Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Tradition places seraphim in the highest rank in Christian angelology and in the fif ...
s to perform God's work. Two souls, however, fail to respond: the "maiden-angel" Ianthe and her "seraph-lover" Angelo (Michelangelo), who describes his death on earth and the flight of his spirit to Al Aaraaf. Ianthe and Angelo are lovers, and their failure to do as Nesace commanded results in God not allowing them into heaven.


Analysis

"Al Aaraaf" is thick with allusions and, because of this, is often avoided by scholars because, as writer Arthur Hobson Quinn notes, it can be "unintelligible". Nevertheless, Quinn says it possesses qualities which are important to understand the development of Poe's skills as a poet.Quinn, Arthur Hobson. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography''. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998: 156. "Al Aaraaf" mixes historical facts, religious mythology and elements of Poe's imagination. The poem primarily focuses on the afterlife, ideal love, and ideal beauty in relation to passion.Campbell, Killis. "The Origins of Poe", ''The Mind of Poe and Other Studies''. New York: Russell & Russell, Inc., 1962: 152. The majority of the poem focuses on this reaching for ideal beauty and aesthetics. Characters in the poem serve as representative symbols of personified emotions. The goddess Nesace is beauty, Ligeia represents the music in nature, Ianthe and Angelo are creatures of passion. The poem draws from Sura 7 (Arabic الأعراف) in the
Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
; Poe also drew upon the Quran in other works, including " The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade". In "Al Aaraaf", Poe was probably less interested in the Quran itself and more interested in an atmosphere of the exotic or otherworldliness. The true setting of the poem is a sort of dreamscape or alternative world. As critic Floyd Stovall wrote, the theme of the poem is "one of disillusionment with the world and escape into some more congenial realm of dream or of the imagination". The star which prompted Poe to write "Al Aaraaf" was believed to foretell disaster or that humanity would be punished for breaking God's laws. Poe may have gotten the idea to base a poem on Brahe's astronomical discovery from poet John Keats's use of the 1781 discovery of the planet
Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It is a gaseous cyan-coloured ice giant. Most of the planet is made of water, ammonia, and methane in a Supercritical fluid, supercritical phase of matter, which astronomy calls "ice" or Volatile ( ...
in a poem called " On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" (1816). The name of the star has been changed from "Al Orf" to "Al Aaraaf" to become similar to the word ''arafa'', which means distinguishing between things. Additionally, Poe was indebted to Irish poet
Thomas Moore Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852), was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist who was widely regarded as Ireland's "National poet, national bard" during the late Georgian era. The acclaim rested primarily on the popularity of his ''I ...
, whose poem '' Lalla-Rookh'' inspired, among other parts of "Al Aaraaf", the catalogue of flowers near the beginning. Another work by Moore, ''The Loves of the Angels'', inspired Poe's idea of uniting mortal and immortal love.Quinn, Arthur Hobson. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography''. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998: 160. Structurally, the 422-line "Al Aaraaf"Hoffman, Daniel. ''Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe''. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1972: 39. has no discernible or consistent poetic rhythm, though the meter resembles a section of Lord Byron's '' Manfred''. Instead of formal structure, the poem focuses on the flow of sound. Poet Daniel Hoffman analyzed the fluctuating meter and determined that Part I begins as
octosyllabic The octosyllable or octosyllabic verse is a line of verse with eight syllables. It is equivalent to tetrameter verse in trochees in languages with a stress accent. Its first occurrence is in a 10th-century Old French saint's legend, the '' Vie d ...
couplets then shifts to
pentameter Pentameter (, 'measuring five ( feet)') is a term describing the meter of a poem. A poem is said to be written in a particular pentameter when the lines of the poem have the length of five metrical feet. A metrical foot is, in classical poetry, ...
couplets with occasional interludes of alternately rhymed
trimeter In poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addi ...
- dimeters. Part II generally uses pentameter couplets with an interlude of anapestic dimeters.


Publication history

Poe claimed he wrote "Al Aaraaf" before he was 15 years old,Silverman, Kenneth. ''Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance''. New York City: Harper Perennial, 1991: 55. though he would later adapt his claim. A few passages from the poem were first published in the May 19, 1829, issue of the '' Baltimore Gazette'' signed "Marlow". Poe first offered the complete poem to publishers Carey, Lea & Carey in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
around May 1829. He wrote to them, "If the poem is published, succeed or not, I am 'irrecoverably a poet.' But to your opinion I leave it". He met with Isaac Lea, who was willing to publish it so long as they were protected against any loss. Poe asked his foster-father John Allan to subsidize the printing but, not supportive of Poe's literary pursuits, he refused. By July 28, Poe wrote to the publishers asking for the return of his manuscript because, as he said, he had "made a better disposition of my poems than I had any right to expect". "Al Aaraaf" finally saw print for the first time in the collection ''Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems''. 250 copies of the 71-page work was issued by Hatch and Dunning of
Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...
in December 1829. Though Poe had already self-published '' Tamerlane and Other Poems'', he considered ''Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems'' his first book. Though this was not entirely true, it was the first work published with his name, signed "Edgar A. Poe". Poe addressed the obscurity in "Al Aaraaf" by including multiple footnotes, many of which were left untranslated from French, Latin, and Spanish. "Al Aaraaf" was published in its entirety only once in Poe's lifetime, though some critics believe Poe never actually completed the poemQuinn, Arthur Hobson. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography''. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998: 161. because Poe implied it was originally intended to have four partsMeyers, Jeffrey. ''Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy''. New York: Cooper Square Press, 1992: 42. or 400 lines.


Critical response

Upon publication, "Al Aaraaf" and the other poems in Poe's collection drew harsh criticism because of how difficult it was to understand. Among the early reviewers was John Hill Hewitt, who wrote of Poe that "no man has been more shamefully overestimated". In trying to explain the title poem, he wrote, "all our brain-cudgeling could not compel us to understand it line by line or the sum total".Bloomfield, Shelly Costa. ''The Everything Guide to Edgar Allan Poe: The Life, Times, and Work of a Tormented Genius''. New York: Adams Media, 2008: 192. A reviewer for the ''Baltimore Minerva and Emerald'' asked, "Has the poet been struck dumb with palsy?"Peeples, Scott. ''Edgar Allan Poe Revisited''. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1998: 17. Before publication, Poe had sought the advice of William Wirt, who had earned a reputation as a distinguished man of letters in Baltimore. On "Al Aaraaf", Wirt wrote that he was not the best judge of poetry but believed that it might be accepted by modern-thinking readers. As he wrote, "but to deal candidly... (as I am bound to do) I should doubt whether the poem will take with old-fashioned readers like myself". Sarah Josepha Hale of '' Godey's Lady's Book'' noted that "Al Aaraaf" must have been written by a young author because it was "boyish, feeble, and altogether deficient in the common characteristics of poetry". Nevertheless, she still called the author a genius.Poe, Harry Lee. ''Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories''. New York: Metro Books, 2008: 41. A reviewer for the ''American Ladies' Magazine'' also commented on the poet's age: " heauthor who appears to be very young, is evidently a fine genius, but he wants judgment, experience, tact". Poe boasted that these early poems were superior to most other examples in American poetry. Critic
John Neal John Neal (August 25, 1793 – June 20, 1876) was an American writer, critic, editor, lecturer, and activist. Considered both eccentric and influential, he delivered speeches and published essays, novels, poems, and short stories between the 1 ...
, who was a friend of Poe's cousin George Poe, responded to Poe's claim in his review of "Al Aaraaf" for '' The Yankee and Boston Literary Gazette''. He said Poe's boast was "rather exquisite nonsense" but that the young author showed promise and predicted that some day Poe might "make a beautiful and perhaps a magnificent poem" to prove his claim. He believed that if future poems by Poe were as good as some of his best lines in "Al Aaraaf": Neal's encouragement, which came prior to publication, led Poe to include a dedication to Neal in the collection ''Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems''. Poe's cousin Neilson Poe was impressed by Neal's endorsement and wrote, "''Our'' name will be a great one ''yet''." Edgar Poe would refer to Neal's comments as "the very first words of encouragement I remember to have heard." Poe himself admitted that "Al Aaraaf" had some "good poetry" in it as well as "much extravagance, which I have not had time to throw away". In the 20th century, poet Daniel Hoffman referred to "Al Aaraaf" as "Poe's most ambitious failure", suggesting it is a "fractured" attempt at an epic poem that "ran out of gas". Biographer Jeffrey Meyers called it Poe's "most turgid and opaque poem".Meyers, Jeffrey. ''Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy''. New York: Cooper Square Press, 1992: 181.


Legacy

"Al Aaraaf" includes names Poe would later reuse: Ligeia and Zante. Some of the themes in the poem also foreshadow a future poem, " The City in the Sea" (1831). The critical failure of both "Al Aaraaf" and "
Tamerlane Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol tradition, Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timuri ...
" convinced Poe that long poems are inherently flawed because they cannot sustain a proper mood or a high quality poetic form. Because of this, he never again experimented with long poetry. He would later write of his theory on short poetry in " The Poetic Principle" in 1848. In that essay, he wrote "A long poem does not exist. I maintain that the phrase, 'a long poem,' is simply a flat contradiction in terms." Instead, he says,
epic poetry In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard t ...
and other long poems are actually a series of short poems strung together. Critics have suggested that this theory was written so that Poe could justify why "Al Aaraaf" was unpopular. After the publication of "
The Raven "The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a distraught lover who is paid a visit ...
" in 1845, Poe became a household name and, having reached the height of his poetic fame, he was often asked to lecture or recite poetry at public events. One such invitation came from the Boston Lyceum in October 1845, arranged with help from
James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets to r ...
. Poe had a strong dislike for the Boston literary scene and the city itself, despite having been born there. Nevertheless, he accepted the $50 fee and the challenge of writing a brand new poem for his appearance. Fresh off his public feud with
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp ...
and his dislike of the Massachusetts-based Transcendentalism movement, Poe instead decided to play a trick on his Boston audience. The program, held October 16 at Boston's Odeon Theater, was a grand event and featured a speech by Massachusetts statesman Caleb Cushing which was two and a half hours long. Poe read "Al Aaraaf", renamed "The Messenger Star" for the event, and tried to convince his Boston audience that the poem he wrote as a young man was new. The audience was confused by the obscure poem and many left during its recitation. Poe ended with "The Raven", as the theater manager noted, "thus enabling us to make some show of front after a most lamentable defeat." Poe considered the hoax an opportunity to prove that Bostonians did not know good literature. Based on critical reaction, he believed he was right. The editor of the '' Boston Courier'' reviewed "The Messenger Star" as "an elegant and classic production, based on the right principles, containing the essence of ''true'' poetry, mingled with a gorgeous imagination". When Poe claimed that he wrote the poem before he had turned 12, Cornelia Wells Walter of the '' Boston Evening Transcript'' wrote of her shock: "A poem delivered before a literary association of adults, as written by ''a boy!'' Only think of it!" It is unclear how old Poe was at the time he wrote the poem because, in part, he frequently changed his claim. Lewis Gaylord Clark said Poe's age at writing the poem was irrelevant and, though he admitted the audience did not know the author's age, "they only knew it was sad stuff". Modern biographer Daniel Stashower compared Poe's stunt with the story " The Imp of the Perverse", in which Poe wrote about "an earnest desire to tantalize a listener... The speaker is aware that he displeases."Stashower, Daniel. ''The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder''. New York: Dutton, 2006: 274. Upon his return to New York, Poe wrote in the ''
Broadway Journal The ''Broadway Journal'' was a short-lived New York City-based newspaper founded by Charles Frederick Briggs and John Bisco in 1844 and was published from January 1845 to January 1846. In its first year, the publication was bought by Edgar Allan ...
'' his view of the event. After noting that he refused to offer a
didactic Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasises instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is a conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to explain. ...
poem, he wrote: "Al Aaraaf" was used between 1928 and 1952 as a pen name by Glasgow artist Hannah Frank.


References


External links

*
Publication history
at th
Edgar Allan Poe Society
* {{Edgar Allan Poe 1829 poems 1820s in Baltimore Poetry by Edgar Allan Poe Fiction about the afterlife Works based on the Quran Angels in popular culture