Please help a desperate student. I need a critique of Poe's An Enigma. I need this as fast as possible. thankyou.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

Answers

this poem seems to be one of his worst works. i have to wonder whether or not he was high when he worte this because it makes no sense, and does not fit his usual M.O.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

Rob,

Written in late 1847, this work first appeared in March 1848 titled as Sonnet in the Union Magazine of Literature and Art. Probably written as a gift, there is a womans name hidden in the poem that can be found in a similar fashion in the poem Valentine. It appears Poe and the lady must have shared a dislike for sonnets because there is a sense of scorn in respect to using sonnets to convey a poetic idea or thought and that sonnets are merely intangible, transparent bubbles and puff. The woman was a minor poetess and friend of Edgar and Virginia that pestered Poe regularly for literary recognition. She was called Stella by Poe but is not her real name.

According to a note on the Edgar A Poe Society of Baltimore web site at URL address: http://www.eapoe.org/works/poems/enigmalb.htm , The term tuckermanities refers to Henry Theodore Tuckerman (1813-1871) who wrote light sonnets for the Democratic Review in 1845.

The ladys real name can be determined by taking one letter from each of the 14 lines, the first letter of the first line, then the second letter of the second line, then the third from the third and so on. Good luck...

Regards,

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000