Symbol and Sense in Poe's "Ulalume"

Abstract

A LTHOUGH ROUNDLY ATACKED by Aldous Huxley as the height of vulgarity in literature,1 by Yvor Winters as a prime example of of Poe's deliberate obscurantism,2 and by Brooks and Warren as a flagrant example of cheap mystification,3 Ulalume is invariably anthologized as one of Poe's best poems-one of his two or three finest. A recent selection of American poetry, Twelve American Poets, ed. Stephen Whicher and Lars Ahnebrink (New York, i96i), includes Ulalume as one of three poems to represent Poe.4 Are the anthologists wrong in attaching such importance to this poem? And how should the teacher approach or discuss Ulalume? Should he a) regard it as an example of Poe at his second-rate or worst, or b) discreetly dismiss it as one of Poe's better poems, or c) teach it as a significant example of Poe's mature artistry and psychological insight? Should one dismiss the poem as second-rate because of its allegedly gross defects of trite diction, heavy meter, overuse of rime and cloying sounds, and general effect of theatricality? Or should one agree with Whicher and Ahnebrink that all these defects may be easily exaggerated and that in any case they are the defects of qualities necessary to Poe's special hypnotic purpose; that there may be more to his subject-matter than meets the supercilious eye; and that his theory and practice have had such a lasting influence on modern verse that the burden of proof lies on the detractor, not on the defender? In any event,