Why was there a lack of poe's works during his carrer

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what were the critics basic thoughts about poe's works? how did the public first react to them?

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2003

Answers

There was a break in Poe's work following the death of his wife "Virgina" on January 30, 1847 - which sent Poe into a deep depression for many months in 1848. Not much work was produced during this time while he was sick and invalid.

-- Anonymous, November 28, 2003

A good question. Unfortunately when Poecentral.com went defunct a lot of tselections of Poe's contemporary critics went with it. Maybe you can find some at www.eapoe.org. You have people crtiquing Poe by the standards of his day, not all that different from Poe's own though with some misunderstanding and disfavor. After all, P{oe spared no one else in his own articles.

How does a contemporary mainstreamer, usually inferior or jaundiced, criticize anything? Lookk at how they operate today. They found fault with t"The Raven" until its popularity overwhelmed the comments (some stylistically justified). Others were enthralled by the beauty of Poe's poetry- and once established hype was and is the standard of the critics working within the publishing system. When the steam cleared many people often missed the point and some of the complex structures, though in Poe's day they were more tolerant of ideas and dark beauties in the mainstream. The horror and the story often overwhelmed people with an effect they were blind to analyze, thinking it just better or different than the common fare. From today's perspective few people even know Poe's great contemporaries and genres much less the full marketplace as it existed or the cultural mindset.

Well, you have to read some, enemies, friends or pundits both scholarly and popular to see the range. Read Poe's own critiques- sometimes pseudonomously on his own works, a "reviewer reviewed". Poe knew all sides of achievement and popular success.

-- Anonymous, December 01, 2003


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