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

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 mate rial 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, gravitation causes the particles to return to their initial unity. The atoms are caught in a continual 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 Inevitable 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)

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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. Everything has to be related to this central core and nothing should be irrelevant. In Eureka Poe says:

In his Philosophy of Composition (Maine) Poe demonstrates the development of a plot on the basis of his poem The Raven. He points out that all works of art should begin at the end. The “dénouement” (Maine,503) must be constantly in view while elaborating the details. This is the condition for the plot to be consequent and to display causality. Poe believes that all works of art require the “precision and rigid consequence of a mathematical problem” (5049. He especially emphasizes the unity of effect. All incidents must relate to a single effect, the final effect. This important artistic element must be chosen carefully. He suggests that beauty is the effect most worthy to determine a work of art, calling it “the sole legitimate province of the poem” and “the excitement, or pleasurable elevation, of the soul” (5069. As a next step Poe considers ways of manifesting beauty in a work of art trough the choice of the appropriate poetical tones. He concludes that melancholy is the most legitimate of all poetical tones. Only melancholy or sadness has the power to reveal beauty adequately. The most melancholic topic is, in his opinion, the death of a beautiful woman. In fact, many of Poe’s works deal with the death of a beautiful woman such as Ligeia or The Raven.

Another important factor in creating a unity of effect is the choice of setting. The setting, if described adequately, has the force to frame a picture and to unite all single incidents in this picture. Poe’s cosmology as well as his theories about writing, stress the importance of the unity or totality of all things. As the tiny particles of the universe seek the state of perfect oneness, the ideal short story relates all details to the central core of the story, creating a unity of effect.

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

3.1 The House of Usher as a Limited Universe

Against the background of Poe’s philosophical writings his short story The Fall of the House of Usher opens up to an interpretation that is closely linked to his cosmology. The reader cannot help but notice correlations between Poe’s concept of the universe and the way the story is set up.

In his theory Poe emphasizes the limitation of the universe. It is made up of a finite number of particles just as the The Fall of the House of Usher shows clearly defined limits regarding its content and its setting. The action takes place in the family mansion of Roderick Usher. The house as well as the immediate surrounding is described in detail by the narrator who enters and leave the setting without referring to anything beyond it. He never mentions any links between Roderick or his house and the outside world. This creates the impression of an isolated microcosm.

The story begins with the description of the landscape and the house. It especially focuses on the black tarn that dominates the scene. The narrator is caught in an atmosphere of “insufferable gloom” that causes an “iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart”(Poe, 138). From the tarn a “pestilent and mystic vapour, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued” (140) is radiating and envelopes the house. This suggests that the tarn is the central core of the story. Maurice Beebe regards the tarn as the starting point of diffusion that goes on to the house, to Roderick and eventually to Madeline. He calls the tarn the “oneness or nothingness from which all has emerged and to which all must return” (125). The reflection of the house in the tarn already hints at the end when it collapses and sinks into the water burying Roderick and Madeline. The black water is in fact the initial point of the story and its end. Everything derives from and returns to the tarn. Thus, the tarn constitutes the frame of the story and defines its limit. Here Poe realizes what he demands in his Philosophy of Composition. The setting should be like a framed picture that unites all details of a story.

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