SOURCE: Lerner, Arthur. “Edgar Allan Poe.” In Psychoanalytically Oriented Criticism of Three American Poets: Poe, Whitman, and Aiken, pp. 43-62. Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1970.

In the following essay, Lerner examines psychoanalytical criticism of Poe's poetry, suggesting that the scope of such criticism should be broadened to cover not just the tragic elements of the poet's life but also to include his personal philosophy of poetry.

Attempts to Study Poe Psychoanalytically

Edgar Allan Poe's life (1809-1849) was so psychologically complicated that psychoanalytically oriented writers can easily find in it gold mines of information for their theories. Poe's writing includes, among other topics, such themes as love, horror, anxiety, fantasy, and strange conditions of the mind. His material, therefore, is also a “natural” for psychological theories that are concerned with personality aberrations.¹ His life is extremely enticing in this direction and has led critic Vincent Buranelli to make the...