is type of extreme optimism-stubborn idealism-like keeping someone alive by sheer will of force, is typical of American romantic authors. The last trait of the American Romantic period which Poe demonstrates in the short story Ligeia is an unusual remoteness regarding time and space. During the 19th century, American romantic writers were trying to disconnect themselves from past literary styles; writers often added a theme of unusual remoteness regarding time and space to make this disconnect literal and obvious to the reader. In Ligeia, Poe accomplishes this by making the narrator lose track of time. The narrator can not even remember how he knows his wife or when or where they met: I can not, for my soul, remember how, when, or even precisely where, I first became acquainted with the lady Ligeia. He doesn t even know his beloved wife s last name. Ligeia has completely taken control of the narrator s mind and altered his perception of time and events. In this sense, she is supernatural and can control time, at least for the opium-addicted narrator, anyway. Furthermore, Ligeia s identity has no clear-cut beginning (since we don t know when or how she met the narrator) or end (since she never really dies in the mind of the narrator). Additionally, we don t know how Ligeia is able to manipulate time and space to come back to life in the body of another woman. It appears that under the influence of drugs, the narrator epitomizes romantic idealism. He takes no note of time when observing Ligeia s revival: It might have been midnight, or perhaps earlier, or later, for I had taken no note of time, when a sob, low, gentle, but very distinct, startled me from my revery ... Without a sense of time, space, or reality, the narrator s first-hand account is questionable at best, but serves its mysterious and misleading purpose. It s this sort of innovation and defiance of other 18th-century writer s philosophies that makes Poe a romantic.
The world of Poe s tales is a nightmarish universe. You cross wasted lands, silent, forsaken landscapes where both life and waters stagnate. However, surprisingly, Poe demonstrates many characteristics of American romantic writers. For one, his stories constantly challenge classic authority, a cornerstone of the American Romantic Movement. His eerie idealism and uncertain description of time and space also tag him as a prime example of a romantic American author. For these reasons, Edgar Allan Poe will forever be remembered as a leader of the American Romantic Movement and one of the greatest authors to ever live.
Used links
1.http: //apstudynotes/english/sample-essays/author-analysis-edgar-allan-poe/
2.http: //gradesaver/author/edgar-poe
3.http: //poetryfoundation/bio/edgar-allan-poe
