Aspects of Edgar Allen Poe′s Cosmology and his Theory of the
Short Story in "The Fall of the House of Usher"

by: Francesca Cangeri

1. Introduction 2

2. Edgar Allan Poe’s Philosophical Writings 3

2.1 Poe’s Cosmology 3
2.2 The Theory of the Short Story 4

3. Aspects of Poe’s Theories in The Fall of the House of Usher 5

3.1 The House of Usher as a Limited Universe 5
3.2 Creating a Unity of Effect 6

3.2.1 Striking Parallels between the House and its Master 6
3.2.2 The Sentience of All Things 7
3.2.3 The Symbolic Content of Roderick’s Works of Art 8
3.2.4 Roderick and Madeline 10

4. Conclusion 11

5. Works Cited 12

1. Introduction

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most famous but at the same time most controversial au¬thors of the American Renaissance. He is well-known for his short stories that often leave the reader confused, because he combines nightmare-like visions with a peculiar sense of aesthetics. Fewer people, however, know that Poe developed extensive phi¬losophical theories on various subjects and thus presented new aspects of his literary works. In the first part of my paper I will focus on Poe’s theory of Cosmology and his the¬ory of the short story. I will give a brief outline of both theories stressing the correspon¬dences between both philosophical works. Poe’s main emphasis lies on the effect of unity that governs the universe as well as every short story that ideally represents a smaller version of our macrocosm.

The second part of my papers shows how Poe’s theories can be applied to his short story “The Fall of the House of Usher”. I will argue that Poe constructed the plot systematically to create a unity of all elements. Furthermore I shall illustrate the multiple relationships and references among the details of the story. My thesis is mainly supported by E. Arthur Robinson’s essay “Order and Sen¬tience in <The Fall of the House of Usher>” and Beebe Maurice’s discourse on “The Universe of Roderick Usher” which proves to be of essential help. Poe’s Philosophy of Composition is the basis for my outline of his theory of the short story.

2. Edgar Allan Poe’s Philosophical Writings

2.1 Poe’s Cosmology

Edgar Allan Poe had his very own theory of how our universe came into existence, by which forces it is driven and how it will come to an end one day. In Eureka: A Prose Poem Poe explains his view on the material and spiritual universe. He shows that all animate and inanimate matter is governed by the same energy as the macrocosm and that all things are in fact mere reflections of it. According to Poe, the universe is created by a godlike artist. Its initial point is a very small particle which constitutes a perfect unity. Form this original unit a great but limited number of atoms are spread in all directions. This diffusion is driven by radiation. It causes a growing heterogeneity among those small particles. Simultaneously, gravi¬tation causes the particles to return to their initial unity. The atoms are caught in a con¬tinual struggle between attraction and repulsion. But the radiating force grows weaker and weaker as the particles follow their desire to return to their original state of perfect oneness. The collapse of the universe, the state of complete attraction is compared to a “beautiful last moment of primal nothingness” (Frank, 121): Poes states: “In the Original Unity of the First Thing lies the Secondary Cause of All Things with the Germ of the In¬evitable Annihilation” (qtd in Frank,121)

Another pillar of Poe’s philosophy is his belief in the sentience of all things. He makes no distinction between biological life and inanimate matter. Matter is nothing but attraction and repulsion. He says: “The former is the Body; the latter the Soul: the one is the material; the other the spiritual, principles of the Universe. No other principles exist” (qtd in Beebe, 126). The degree of consciousness of the individual units of matter is linear to the growing heterogeneity. This leads Poe to believe that all things – animate or inanimate- “have, in a greater or less degree, a capacity for pleasure and for pain […] These creatures are all too, more or less conscious Intelligences” (127)

2.2 The Theory of the Short Story

Poe’s theoretical comments on writing correspond with his views on the nature of our universe. He compares artistic imagination with the power that diffuses the elements of the universe and reassembles them into new unities. Analogous to the universe the details of a story must be constructed in a line of diffusion form the central core. Every¬thing has to be related to this central core and nothing should be irrelevant. In Eureka Poe says:

In the construction of a plot […] we should aim at so arranging the
Incidents that we shall not be able to determine, of any one of them,
whether it depend form any one other or uphold it. In this sense, of course,
perfection of plot is really, or practically, unattainable – but only because it
is a finite intelligence that constructs. The plots of God are perfect. The
Universe is a plot of God. (qtd in Beebe,122)

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