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CHAPTER-III

The Image of the Orient in Edgar Allan Poe’s works

The study engages to trace the antebellum American writer Edgar Allan Poe‘s mastery of

historical characterization with specific references to the description of such elements that have

been engraved with the pageantry and magnificence of the Orient. It aims at figuring out

definitely those poems, tales and short stories which were composed of the Oriental backdrop,

focusing on the fascinating facts that highlight the aesthetic, mystical, and spiritual features.

The study finds it interesting that Poe‘s fascination with the Orient developed after his

rigorous reading, though he never stepped into the soil of the Orient. Nearly, all of his

information about the Orient, be it Islamic Orient (Middle East), Indian Orient (East) or

Arabesque (Arabian & Spanish Arabic) came into his knowledge through the second-hand study

material. Translated versions of numerous Oriental texts, the contemporary journals depicting the

accounts of American and British explorations in the Middle East and the lyceum lectures on the

Orient, these scholarly sources paved the way for his acclaiming the Middle East‘s Caravan of

knowledge, wisdom, art, motifs and enlightenment.

It is a curiosity of Antebellum American literary and intellectual history that Poe

achieved the prominence of being a master to discover beauty and art through his extraordinary

power of observation and expression. It is scholarly worth accepting fact that the Arabesque

Aesthetic which has masterfully been presented in his tales and poems is the fruit of his Oriental

study. Following the appreciation model of Orientalism adopted by Raymond Schwab, the great

American theorist, who acknowledged the ―Orient‖ in his The Oriental Renaissance, the

arguments in this chapter have been built on his theory. In order to ascertain the Oriental

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elements in his literary writings, this study attempts to figure and present Edgar Allan Poe as a

admirer of the Oriental wisdom. Such a reading can help readers understand the Eastern

knowledge as a formative concept and as a constructive impact benefiting all human studies

especially the Oriental ones.

A niche in the American literary temple of fame, and an epoch - making personality,

Edgar Allan Poe has been one of the worshippers of ancient grandeur and scholar of the antique

literature, whose faculty of perceiving had realized the magnificence of the Orient at a very early

age, and he had started smelling out the fragrant and gentle wind from the East. N.S. Sahu, in his

book, An Approach to American Literature, recognizes the contribution of Poe as a romantic and

intellectual writer. He writes:

A century and more after his death, Poe is still among the most popular of American

authors. His works directed towards universal human responses, influenced the course of

creative writing and criticism, emphasizing that the art that appeals simultaneously to

reason and to emotion and by insisting that the work of art is not a slice of the author‘s

life, nor an adjunct of some didactic purpose, but an object created in cause of beauty,

which he defined in its largest spiritual implication…finding himself in conflict with the

prevailing spirit of his age, he took refuge in the Byronic myth of the lonely and

misunderstood artist. Of course, his neurotic personality sometimes resembled that of his

own fictional characters. (51)

Edgar Allan Poe, the literary giant of his time in America, shares Melville‘s metaphysical vision

mixed with the elements representing realism, parody, and burlesque. Poe believed that

exoticism and strangeness could add beauty and perfection to the World literature. His narratives

and poems are populated with doomed and introspective aristocrats. They have gloomy

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characters, burying and hiding the real world. The invisible rooms seem to explore ancient

libraries, strange art works, (arabesque) and eclectic Oriental objects. The aristocrats seem to be

playing the musical instruments or engaged in reading the ancient books on the one hand, and, on

the other, they feel sad on tragedies and mourn the death of the loved ones. In many of his

writings which have shades of exoticism, themes of death-in-life, particularly being buried alive

or coming back from the grave like a ghost are found. “The Black Cat,” "The Premature

Burial," "Ligeia," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Fall of the House of Usher," “Twilight

realm between life and death,” and many more works, reflect the strange themes in his works.

Malini Johar Schueller, the great literary analyst made a short description of Poe‘s Orientalism in

his U.S. Orientalisms. Race, Nation, and Gender in Literature 1790- 1890:

Yet, although Poe was attracted to the power of Orientalism discourse, he was actually

aware of the historical nightmare of colonization and constantly parodied the cultures‘

colonial use of the Orient (most notably in ―The Thousand - and - Second Tale of

Scherazade.‖ At the same time, he positioned himself as Southerner who was

ambivalently attached to the inherently raced idea of a Southern was nationhood. Poe

offers a particularly interesting case of Near Eastern Orientalist Writing, because in his

works, a parodied Oriental discourse, critical of imperial nationalism…Question of

Empire and Western colonization frequently arose in Poe‘s tales… ―Ligeia,‖ clearly

represents Near Eastern Oriental knowledge, the control over which was defining feature

of U.S nationhood in the early and middle years of the nineteenth century. (124)

The study reveals that Poe selects the Oriental plat form for his narratives, and his narrators

flaunt his Orientalism. He perceived in the Oriental design a complete mechanism for his artistic

creation. He purposefully keeps the line of separation between the East and the West safe.

Edward Said discusses this line of separation between the Orient and the West in his master-

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piece Orientalism: ―Almost from the earliest times in Europe the Orient was something more

than what was empirically known about it. At least until the early eighteenth century, as R.W.

Southern has so elegantly shown, European understanding of one kind of Oriental culture , the

Islamic , was ignorant, not quite informed‖. (55- 56)

In this chapter, an attempt will be mad to trace Poe‘s fascination with the Orient and to

show how his popular Orientalism develops into an arabesque aesthetic which is considered to be

the core of his work. The study will begin by examining several of Poe‘s poems which have

Oriental elements. It will try to move to a discussion of his book reviews of specifically

Orientalists‘ works, and finally it will discuss the tales which reveal the full complexity of Poe‘s

Orientalism. It is believed that Poe became aware of the popular interest in the Orient, not only

through the scholarly journals he had studied which contained accounts of American and British

explorations in the Middle East, but also through some Oriental poems and tales of the East

which greatly inspired him. His concern was not only with aesthetic and literary but also with the

religious and social significance which had important repercussions for the crystallization of his

views. His interest in the Oriental subjects started at a time when Byron‘s Hebrew Melodies and

Tales and some major Oriental tales had become as famous and were appreciated in America as

they were in Europe. Thomas Moore‘s Oriental romances, Lalla Rookh and Aliciphor,, published

in 1840 in Graham‘s Magazine, revealed the general excitement about things Oriental.

Appreciating the Oriental objects, the following lines from (―Alaaraaf. Part 1‖) have been quoted

in Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, show his deep affection towards exoticism.

His writings show precious interest in mystical or esoteric aspects of spiritualism. The cultural

manifestation finds its place in his writings as :

―And the Nelumbo bud that floats for ever

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With Indian Cupid down the holy river

Fair flowers and fairy! to whose care is given

To bear the Goddess‘ song, in odors, up to Heaven.‖ ( 611).

In Indian fiction there was a floating Cupid in the sacred river Ganga, and he still adores the

cradle of his childhood. There are also golden small bottles replete with the odors which are the

sources of prayers of the Hindu priests. It is actually an expression of saint worship. An analysis

of his poetic genius points out that Poe always endeavored to define the beauty in its largest

spiritual implications. Finding himself in conflict with the prevailing spirit of the age he

emphasized on the art that appeals simultaneously to reason and to emotion. Through the

calculated use of language, Poe framed the Oriental design and literary themes which represent

his vision of art. They have generally been formed on two literary devices - Alteration and Irony.

The presence of these two elements in his works which have shades of Eastern rays makes the

readers realize the aesthetic sense of the Orient and how he lusciously lent colour to his varied

shaped Oriental characters.

In order to discuss Edgar Allan Poe‘s Orientalism, (a constructed myth about the Orient)

one of his greatly celebrated lyrics, ―To Helen,‖ may be an exemplar for perceiving the under

current which runs quiet and deep. While attempting to explain the hidden meaning of the lyric

poem, the research has documented the elements which have Oriental significance. The Oriental

entity in this poem can be spotted and possibly made visible but under a microscopic analysis.

The poem from Anthology of American Literature, reads:

Helen, thy beauty is to me

Like those Nicean

That gently, o‗er a perfumed sea,

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The weary, way – worn wandered bore

To his own native shore.

On desperate seas long wont to roam,

Thy Naiad airs have brought me home

To the glory that was Greece,

And the grandeur that was Rome.

Lol in yon brilliant window – niche

How statue – like I see thee stand,

The gate lamp within thy hand!

Ah, Psyche, from the regions which Are Holy- Land. (917)

With the conceptual aestheticism, narrated by the persona who laments the unexpected death of

his beloved, the poem opens with a quest for the beauty of Helen who has been personified as the

classical beauty of ancient Greece and Rome. Glorifying her mind and soul, Poe compares her

beauty to the ship bringing a "weary, wayworn wanderer" to his home. Her classic beauty recalls

the poet of ancient times. She has been depicted as "statue-like" with an "agate lamp", standing

like a statue holding a stone lamp. According to the ancient Greek myth, a man named Paris,

kidnapped Helen and took her back to Troy, a mythical city located in what is now Turkey in the

Middle East. The poem is associated with the ancient ideal female, highly praised character,

having classical influence with reference to "the glory that was Greece" and "the grandeur that

was Rome‖. The poem with the transition of images and thoughts develops with the development

of stanzas. The analytical study of the poem establishes two facts: A. There is a beauty on the

surface which can be observed externally. B. A hidden beauty lies under the thick layer which is

not accessible to viewing. As a composer, Poe has employed this literary device to enhance the

content of the poem and emphasize the consistency between Helen's exterior influence and the

beauty of the soul and the beauty of spirit.

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The poem abounds with the transition of images and thoughts making room for another

one to grow which appears on the surface is more classical than Oriental. With the development

of stanzas, the material beauty transforms itself into spiritual one. The significance of lyrical

beauty cannot be overlooked. But its lyrical excellence is not the area of interest for this study.

There is an emphasis on studying the hidden virtue of the lyric, the attempt has been made to

fathom the significance of the Oriental beauty that has been featured in the poem and became

unnoticed by the common readers, and it will explore the symbolic language employed for

characterization. In order to create the ironical situation, Poe selects characters and events from

the history of the Middle East. "Nicean barks," here reference is made to the ancient city. Nicaea

was ancient city on the West coast of Turkey. Its modern name is Iznik. Why Comparison of

Helen's beauty to the sailing ships from Nicaea? Possibly, by this similitude, he means that her

beauty is like a ship that helps an exhausted travelling man reach his destination. How can

beauty be like a ship? Does it sail? Let the scholars keep reading and search for the significant

secrets of the poem. The last stanza focuses on Helen‘s transformation from an image of classical

beauty to the psyche, to the goddess of the mind and the soul who comes from the Holy Land, he

makes a reference to the sacred place in the Middle East, Palestine as mentioned in the Quran.

(Chapter Maidah. Part, 6)

It is observed in many of Poe‘s works, the object of quest and curiosity shifts from

physical to the spiritual, from superficial to the intellectual, and from earth to Heaven. The

concluding line of this complex poem has an indirect reference to the psyche and influence of

Orientalism, Oriental woman and Oriental vision. Here Holy Land represents a geographical

region in the Middle East and also, the holy land of mind. Poe always tries to make his readers

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feel the genuine pulse of life by sketching heterogeneous characters. They do advocate his

philosophical thoughts, which make a deep impression on mind and spirit.

This study advances with the concentration on Poe‗s next major work integrated with the

Oriental backdrop having instances of his great love and adoration for the Oriental wisdom. The

significance of his famous historical poetic creation ―Tamerlane” and its various Oriental

identities cannot be overlooked. Here the reference is made to the historic Oriental personality. It

is a Persian word for lame, pronounced as ‗Tai Moor Lung‘, (Timur the lame) the great 14th

century conqueror of the West, South and Central Asia. Central Asia is the place where

Tamerlane grew up.

The title of Poe‘s first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems, (1827) reveals a strong interest

in the exotic. In the title poem, Poe describes the lament of the Tartar peasant who sets out to

conquer the world for Islam and, when he returns home, he finds that his beloved had passed

away. References to Samarqand and the mountains of Belur Taglay (Jabal Al Tariq in Arabic)

add to the exoticism which is the basis of his Oriental fondness. As with much of Poe‘s work,

―Tamerlane,‖ takes place in strange and mysterious locations which are almost unknown to the

American readership. There is a description of Taglay in his poem―Tamerlane‖ as quoted in

Edgar Allan Poe – 68 Poems- :

On mountain soil I first drew life:

The mists of the Taglay have shed

Nightly their dews upon my head,

And, I believe, the winged strife

And tumult of the headlong air

Have nestled in my very hair. (60)

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As far as the setting and background of the poem is concerned, it has been expounded in

a village in Central Asia. Samarqand, a historic Oriental city, in history it has been specified as a

grand center of magnificent civilization and culture which was chosen by Tamerlane to be the

capital of his vast empire, adds attraction and exoticism to the Oriental grandeur. Tartar, (Tribes

living in Northeastern Mongolia, Unlike the Mongols, they were Turkish language speaking

people, this group became part of the armies of the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan in the early

13th century, Mountain of Belur Taglay are now part of Independent Tartary. Many other

Oriental names identify the role of exoticism add the Oriental significance of the poem.

Christopher Marlowe wrote of Samarqand and his play Tamburlaine which has the same

Oriental theme, is worth citing, it is from Christopher Marlowe Tamburlaine – part one Two).

Then shall my native city, Samarcanda...

Be famous through the furthest continents,

For there my palace-royal shall be placed,

Whose shining turrets shall dismay the heavens?

And cast the fame of Iion's tower to hell. (155)

Marlowe was fascinated with the Orient‘s past and present. His Tamburlaine the Great had a

great influence on Poe. This play explores the rise of the historical Timur, a Central Asian

shepherd who built an empire in the fourteenth century, defeating Persian Tartars, Syrians and

Turks. This play is a procession of magnificent scenes, each representing some stages in the rise

of Tamburlaine from being a humble Sythian shepherd to the status of conqueror of the world.

This play stands out in English literature as an Oriental play. It is evident from the personae of

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the play dominated by the Oriental characters that Christopher Marlowe was interested in the

East and very curious about the historical details of the Orient.

Poe finds Marlowe trying to cater to the interest of the Elizabethan audience in Oriental

material. In this play, the Elizabethans look upon the East as the domain of war, conquest, lust

and treasury. The wealth, riches, treasuries and pageantry of Turkish Empire are some of the

major objectives of the play. From Marlowe‘s The Jew of Malta, which has some relations to the

Oriental images, Poe draws much of the material in which the Orient has been portrayed as the

source of power and money and as the source of international trade between the two worlds, the

East and the West. He gets a lot of useful and interesting information from the writings of

travellers and historians.

These materials promoted his scholarly interest in the East. There were strong historical

factors too at work that fed and enriched his curiosity in the Orient.

Poe came to know the historical fact that the Orient was considered to be rich and well - known

even for those who wanted the path of reputation particularly King Acneas, who collects his

misfortunes showing his desire to change and follow the trace of Lybian greatness. Acneas

intends to fetch wealth from India. It is described as ―Golden India,‖ and from Egypt the sun

brings the rich odours to the world. The two Oriental images of gold from India and perfumes of

Egypt or Arabia are presented in many literary texts:

―From golden India Ganges will

The sun from Egypt shall rich odors.‖ (Dido, V.i.1416 – 9)

Poe went through the details of the Easterners as pictured by Marlowe as:

Well fare the Arabians, who so richly pay

The things they traffique for with wedge of gold

Give me the Merchants of the Indian Myres

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The trade in metal of the purest mould

The wealthy Moors, that in the Eastern rocks

Without control can pick his riches up

And in his house heep Pearl like pebble stones,

Receive them free, and sell them by the weight! (Jew 1.50 – 80)

Inspired by the Marlovian approach to Orientalism, Edgar Allan Poe acknowledges the rise and

sorrowfully laments the fall of Samarqand In his ―Tamerlane‖. The lines are quoted from

Complete Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Po:

Look round thee now on Samarcand!

Is not she queen of Earth? her pride

Above all cities? in her hand

Their destinies? in all beside

Of glory which the world hath known

Stands she not nobly and alone?

Falling—her veriest stepping-stone

Shall form the pedestal of a throne -

And who her sovereign? Timour - he

Whom the astonished people saw

Striding o‗er empires haughtily

Time - including Poe - wrote Oriental tales. (684- 85)

Poe‘s next poem, showing his endearment to the Oriental knowledge is ―Al-Aaraf,‖

which can be quoted as an apt evidence to support the claim of Orientalism.

“Al-Aaraf,‖ is originally an Arabic word. It has been depicted in the Quran under specific

chapter Al-Aaraaf, in part eight. In the Quranic interpretation, it refers to the region of Dead

Spirits between Heaven and Hell where men‘s souls after death do not suffer any sort of

punishment or do not avail that peace and happiness which have been promised for the righteous

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souls. ‗And there- oh! May my weary spirit dwell- Apart from Heaven‘s Eternity-and yet how far

from Hell‘ (Al-Araaf)

Poe wrote a letter to Isaac Lea, detailing the above cited poem that provides some important

background information of the poem which helps understand the complexity of the poem.

The poem has been structured as a complex narrative poem that comprises a philosophical

dialogue between God and disembodied spirits. It is set both in the outer space and in the

spiritual world which is the abode of souls (Heaven and Hell) as depicted in the Quran, the most

authentic sacred text of Islam. ―Al -Aaraaf,‖ is considered to be Poe‘s most acknowledged

literary attempt and a major work in Oriental Studies. There is an organization of thoughts in the

poem which is too grand, having the specific substance which is lasting for a very short time

with historical root and physical location. In order to achieve this literary touch, Poe tends

towards Milton, Shelley, and Moore. He explains the title of the poem ―Al Aaraaf‘ in his Poetry

and Tales, that:

Al Aaraaf of the Arabians, a medium between Heaven and Hell where men suffer no

punishment and yet do not attain that tranquility & even happiness which are supposed to

be the characteristic of heavenly enjoyment. I have placed this ‗Al Aaraaf,‘ the celebrated

star discovered by Tycho Brache which appeared and disappeared so suddenly…I have

imagined some well known characters of the age of the star‘s appearance, as transferred

to Al Aaraaf- viz Michael Angelo-and others - of these Michael Angelo as yet alone

appears. (1368)

Thus, Poe associates Arab‘s mythical theory of the origin of the universe with the Western

history to create his own brilliant star. In the poem, ―Al Aaraaf‖ has been described as the abode

of Nesace, the mythological character, the Goddess of Beauty, and Ianthe, who is believed to be

one of Nesace‘s lowest- servants. The narrated scene relates to the Fall of Michelangelo and

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Ianthe because of the sentiments they have for each other. In Part II, Nesace addressee Ianthe as

quoted in Poe‘s Poetry and Tales:

Ianthe, dearest, see! How dim that ray

How lovely ‗tis to look far away!

She seemed not thus upon that autumn eve

I left her gorgeous halls—nor mourn‘d to leave.

That eve—that eve—I should remember well--

The sun-ray dropped, in Lemnos, with a spell

On th‘ Arabesque carving of a gilded hall

Wherein I state, and on the draperied wall--

And on my eye-lids—o the heavy light!

How drowsily it weigh‘d them into night!

On flowers, before, and mist, and love they ran

With Persian Saadi in his Gulistan:

But O that light!-I slumbered- Death, the while,

Stole o‘er my senses in that lovely isle

So softly that no single silken hair (50)

This certainly is an example of the blend of Classical and Oriental references which seem

to be tailored for spiritualizing and moralizing in literature. As it has been noticed, this

phenomenon in Poe‘s thought has parallels in the eighteenth- century. The memory of the Greek

island of Lemnos ingratiates the readers with the Oriental visions of Saadi‘s Gulistan, a Persian

garden of love. But the mysterious melancholy, the “Arabesque carving,‖ the “Draperied wall,‖

the “Heavy light‖, and the presence of death create a mystical atmosphere in his writings. In “Al

Aaraaf,” Poe is found representing the nineteenth century hunger for exoticism as is also found

in poems like Coleridge‘s ―Kubla Khan‖ and Moore‘s ―Lalla Rookh‖.

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There is another lyric poem, charged with deep emotion, couched in a high flown

language appropriate to the emotions it expresses. It is one of Poe‘s early poems, having a

beautiful sense, sublimity, mysticism, and aesthetic elements which show his inclination towards

the Orient and how wisely he enforces the intellectual perception of his readership is his well-

known poem ―Israfel,‖ with the Oriental identity. According to Islamic theology, Israfel is the

name of the angel of trumpet, the angel who, following the command by God, will blow a horn

to end this universe. On that very day, the universe will come to an end, followed by the Day of

Judgment. The epigraph attributed by Poe to the Quran, details that Israfel is an angel whose

heart-strings are a lute and who has the sweetest voice of all God‘s creatures. A verse is quoted

―And the angel Israfel, whose heart-strings are a lute, and who has the sweetest voice of all

God‗s creatures.‖ It is generally attributed to a Quranic verse. Authentically writing, there is no

such evidence from the Quran, in which Israfel has been named. But the fact that cannot be ruled

out is that this angel has been referenced to Hadiths (sayings of Prophet Mohammad PBUHM) as

a trumpet-archangel who awaits the command of God to blow his trumpet on the last Day of

Judgment, (Qayaamah). - So all those that are in the heavens and all those that are in the earth

shall swoon. (Quran 39:68)

The structure of the poem "Israfel” is conceptual. His ideal poet is the Islamic angel, who

has a close association with a religious tradition of Christianity. Both the religions have faith in

the Oneness of God. They have faith in four angels, Hell and Heaven, punishment and reward

after death. They are identical in some features but have slight shades of differences in terms of

history, cultures, prophet- hood and faith in Jesus Christ‘s Crucifixion. Muslims have faith in the

prophet- hood of Christ (Christ has been mentioned as Isa Messiah, the prophet of God, in many

verses of Holy Quran) though Christians don‗t accept Prophet Mohammad (PBUHM) as Prophet

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of God. Poe has masterfully sketched these imaginative possibilities by spiritualizing art and

emphasizing the elements of the metaphysics in an artistic presentation that makes him stand as

one of the literary ideals of the modern time, an Oriental writer.

It is appealing that Edgar Allan Poe uses Islamic references for an exotic effect and the

ideas for shaping this poem grew out of an Oriental history. The poem describes the tenderness

of the Heavenly Song or spiritual song of Israfel. It was so astonishing that the rest of the

Heavens and the earth were transfixed in silence. The concluding lines add to the beauty of the

poem when Poe longs for creating a more beautiful melody than Israfel in Heaven. Israfel has

been specified as the king of heightened emotions, which is almost a symbol of Poe. The cited

lines below from his poem ―Israfel‖ which have been quoted from Anthology of American

Literature, tell the truth:

―In heaven a spirit doth dwell

Whose heart strings are a lute;

None sing so wildly well

As the angel Israfel.‖ (917)

Brian Yothers in his article ―Poe‘s Poetry of the Exotic‖ explores the significance of exoticism in

Poe‘s works. He writes:

Understanding the use of exoticism in Poe‘s poetry can also inform our critical

understanding of the wider significance of Poe‘s body of work. For some modern-day

critics, Poe‘s penchant for the exotic can take on sinister overtones, particularly when

Said‘s critique of Western Orientalism is taken into account…

Poe‘s yearning for the distant, Poe‘s Poetry of the Exotic surprising, the unusual, and the

exotic is a feature of his work that makes it accessible to readers from around the world

and ensures that his poetic devices can be reinterpreted by readers with the same gusto

that Poe employed in reinterpreting his poetic materials. If the presence of the exotic in

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Poe‘s poetry signified for Poe his own efforts to embrace the world, this same presence

of the exotic in Poe‘s work has helped the world, over the past century and a half, to

embrace Poe‘s poetry. (12- 32)

By and large, the Oriental elements in his poems and stories are of ancient and aristocratic

lineage, seldom American. They have an aesthetic sense, an elevating excitement of the soul.

It can be observed in the following lines from ―Israfel,‖ how skilfully he has employed the

Islamic character, which has been described delicately in the Quran. In ―Israfel‖ the word Hourie

has been derived from the Arabic word ‗Hour.‘ (The reference has been made in the Quran) It is

defined as one of the super- charming women of the paradise. In acknowledgement of the deeds

of the righteous persons, these women are waiting to offer a grand welcome to these departed

righteous souls at the Eden of Garden. Fascinated with their beauty, Poe composes these lines

which are worth reckoning from his poem ―Israfel, it is from Complete Tales and Poems By

Edgar Allan Poe,

But the skies that angel trode,

Where deep thoughts are a duty-

Where Love‗s a grown – up God-

Where the Hourie glance are

Imbued with all the beauty

Which we worship in a star (661)

A general look at these lines make the readers perceive the rush of beautiful feelings and sense of

transcendental ideas, inspiring awe, mysticism, aesthetical elements, and the abode of angels

which is the place of everlasting happiness. All these thoughts constitute a firm structure which

is manifested in his writings. Theoretically, the poem ―Israfel‖ offers a concise version of the

theory of poetic emotion and creation and is considered to be among the most resounding of

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Poe's poems. ―Israfel,‖ the title character, has been introduced to the readers as an angel, having

a grand stature. As an immortal creature living in Heaven, he is able to sing with immense

beauty an ethical song and for his sweet heart as well. The singer, who is immortal by nature and

human being by birth, admits that he will never be able to surpass the metaphysical beauty of the

angel's song as he is under the curtailment of mortality, physicality and materialism.

With the presence of the Islamic cosmology (the Quran and the sayings of Mohammad

(PBUHM) mention seven Heavens and a limitless universe created and sustained by Allah. Two

universes have been described, Unseen Universe and Observable Universe.) . Poe's poetic intent

of "elevating the soul," the poet makes the framework of "Israfel‖ conceptual. Both the religions,

Islam and Christianity, have a belief in the Oneness of God; concept of Eden, Hell, Angels, Jesus

Christ, Mary, David, Jacob, all these figures find description in the Quran. They are identical in

some features but have some fundamental differences in terms of history, cultures, prophet- hood

and Crucifixion. Poe has masterfully capitalized on these imaginative possibilities by

spiritualizing art and emphasizing the elements of the metaphysics in an artistic presentation.

Generally, the characters in his poems and narratives are of ancient and aristocratic lineage, they

are rarely Americans. They are erudite and accomplished. There is an interesting and very

significant parallel between the epigraph to “Israfel” and the epigraph to “The Fall of the House

of Usher.‖ This short but philosophical story has Arabesque as a dominant theme. With

Roderick, the key character, the story revolves around his personality which represents the

syntactical structure of the narrative and explores the philosophical mystery of the relationship

between spirit and body, which is the key idea of the Oriental thought. It now needs to be seen

how much interest Poe takes in choosing the Arabic words, Arabic figures of speech Metaphors

Terminologies which have Oriental significance. Poe‘s Orientalism in this poem, beyond any

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doubt, represents an important facet of his creativity. He has portrayed the sketch of Israfel

simply not for the sake of exoticism, but has very deliberately spun the theme of the poem to

appeal to the contemporary scholarship to give thought and heed to the metaphysical ideas of the

Orient. The poem, ―Israfel,‖ is a reflection of his metaphysics in poetry:

In heaven a spirit doth dwell

Whose heart strings are a lute;

None sing so wildly well

As the angel Israfel,

And the giddy stars (so legends tell)

Ceasing their hymns, attend the spell

Of his voice all mute….

And they say (the starry choir

And the other listening things)

That Israfl‘s fire

Is owing to that lyre

By which he sits and sings--

The trembling, living wire

Of those unusual strings….

The ecstasies above

With thy burning measures suit--

Thy grief, thy joy, thy hate, thy love,

With the fervor of thy lute--

Well may the stars be mute!

Yes, Heaven is thine ; but this

Is a world of sweets and sours?

Our flowers are merely – flowers,

And the shadow of thy perfect bliss

Is the sunshine of ours? (660)

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The readers come upon another Islamic angel of death, Azrel who has been mentioned in

Islamic theology as Angel of Death. This angel has been figuratively used by Poe in ―Ligeia‖ ‗I

saw that she must die‘ and ‗I struggled desperately in spirit with the grim Azrel‘. There is an

instance of this Heavenly spirit in Poe‘s unpublished drama scene from Politician has been

quoted from The works of Edgar Allan Poe:

Politian. This weakness grows upon me. I am faint,

And much I fear me ill - it will not do

To die ere I have lived!

Stay, stay thy hand, O Azrael, yet awhile!

Prince of the Powers Of Darkness and the Tomb,

O pity me! O pity me! let me not perish now

In the budding of my Paradisal Hope! (181)

It has been shown that Poe very aptly selects the Oriental platform to spin a yarn. He attempts to

find literary means to express his national concerns. He successfully performs this job. Ahmad

Nidal, Almansour in ―The cases of Ralph Waldo Emerson…Edgar Allan Poe‖ quotes Schueller

as:

It was particularly fortuitous for writers that in this highly charged political climate (first

half of the 19th

century.) the Orient that became most familiar to the public at large was

the Near East, which, with its mixture of cultures and races, questioned the idea racial

and cultural purity. In the literacy imagination, the border became a central trope in Near

Eastern Orientalist writing. Racial - cultural hybridity questioned the phallocentric

ideology of empire embodied in the figure of venturing archeologist/ savior abroad. (207.)

Other poems of Poe also have visible Oriental traits, but the development in the use of Oriental

elements in the above cited three poems leads the readers to understanding the importance of the

Orient to Edgar Allan Poe. Initially, the Orient is simply an exotic landscape which Poe can use

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to give his work a mysterious allure. It leads finally to the various aspects of Poe‘s own

imagination which have been skillfully acted or spoken in his works. The following lines are

sound examples to prove his familiarity with the great Persian Sufi poet of the medieval period,

Sheikh Saadi (1210 – 1292).

His well-known masterpiece Gulistan (The Rose of Garden) is replete with the practical wisdom,

mysticism, logic, ethics, Sufism, moral and ethical stories. Edgar Allan Poe praised him highly

for the contribution he made for the spiritual poetry. Recognizing his prominence in the region of

knowledge and the significance of the Arabesque, he pays rich tributes to the Orient by focusing

on these important features in such beautiful lines from ―Al Aaraaf II‖. The original text reading

is from Complete Tales and Poems By Edgar Allan Poe:

On th' arabesque carving of

a gilded hall

Wherein I sate, and on the

draperied wall-

And on my eyelids-O the heavy

light!

How drowsily it weigh'd them

into night!

On flowers, before, and

mist, and love they ran

With Persian Saadi in his

Gulistan (619)

Poe always tries to find the apt mode to reveal his thought and, through the manifestation of his

characters he analyzes the situation. His ―Some words with Mummy.” offers an example for the

readers. It is noticed that the character in this work has an Oriental identity; there is Count

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Allamistakeo who made negative remarks against President Jackson‘s administration. In order to

define the role of democracy for any nation to survive, he goes through the ancient history to

narrate the story of Egypt. He tells his audience as quoted by Ahmad Nidal, Almansour, in his

unpublished Dissertation, ―The cases of Ralph Waldo Emerson…Edgar Allan Poe.‖ he writes:

Thirteen Egyptian provinces determined all at once to be free, and so set a magnificent

example to the rest of mankind. They assembled their wise men, and concocted the most

ingenious constitution it is possible to conceive. For a while they managed remarkably

well; only their habit of bragging was prodigious. The thing ended, however, in the

consolidation of the thirteen states, with some fifteen or twenty others, into the most

odious and insupportable despotism that ever was heard of upon the face of the earth.

(209)

Similar to ―Some Words with a Mummy‖, the study finds another historical work Stargate, a

novel that revolves around the Egyptian history. Egypt became a victim of tyranny; the well

known Egyptologist, Daniel Jackson, emerges to save them. This is very amazing that modern

American authorship always selected Egyptian themes in framing the pictures of their creations.

Arabia Petraea (1837), the well-known book by John Lloyd Stephens was. It was very curiously

studied and examined by Poe. This book which is travelogue in itself focuses on curious

incidents of travels in Egypt and the Levant. His journey covered those areas which had been

little explored by nineteenth-century travelers. It got tremendous admiration and

acknowledgement among the American scholarship. Poe with his great enthusiasm and personal

interest, made this literary survey very carefully and thoroughly. This review is often described

as an example of how Poe used other people‘s expertise to enhance his own popularity as a critic.

This document identifies Stephens‘ route North from Egypt to Petra and on to Hebron. The

location has been recognized as Edom, and has been cursed by God in Isaiah (34.10) ‗None shall

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127

pass through it forever and ever.‘ Contemporary travelers interpreted the curse literally. They

believed that anyone who tried to cross Edom would come to an end. Poe points out towards

what is contrary to Stephens‘ assertions, and it remains the fact that the explorer did not actually

cross completely through Edom.

He made an entry into the Wasteland from the South, but after coming to Petra he

travelled West to Gaze instead of North to the Dead Sea. Poe concludes that that Stephens ―did

not pass through the Edom of Ezekiel. Apparently, what he learned about the Oriental and

Arabic similes, metaphors, characters and his considerable references to Arabic culture is a result

of his endearment to the Orient. Poe had little knowledge of Hebrew; as a result he relied on

information received from Professor Charles Anthon at the University of Pennsylvania.

He might have approached George Sale‘s interpretation of Quran and Al - Rafi‘s Arabic

dictionary. From another direction, it can be noticed that Poe is practically acknowledging the

importance of language in establishing the truth and outlining the nineteenth-century experience

of the Middle East. In ―Tamerlane,‖ he acknowledges the rise and mourns the fall of Samarqand.

(Islamic name Samarqand, it is now in Russia). The following lines which are in a Lament form

through which he expresses his great regret for the historical city which had been the center of

developing civilization, advancement of knowledge and learning especially translation of ancient

manuscripts is worth quoting from ― Tamerlane‖:

Look ‗round thee now on Samarcand!—

Is not she queen of Earth? her pride

Above all cities? in her hand

Their destinies? in all beside

Of glory which the world hath known

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128

Stands she not nobly and alone?

Falling—her veriest stepping-stone

Shall form the pedestal of a throne—

And who her sovereign? Timour—he

Whom the astonished people saw

Striding o‘er empires haughtily

A diadem‘d outlaw (C T B E A P: 684)

Now it would be in order to look at some of his short stories. First, this study will try to examine

―Ligeia‖ and analyze Poe‘s linking of the Orient with Romance. It was written in 1838, and was

recognized as the best tale by the author himself. It has been structured on ironical platform,

showing New England‘s rising cultural hegemony and South‘s dividing racism. It has Oriental

shape and nature with arabesque‘s creation, having a melancholic tale of love and death. Beyond

any doubt, this well - known tale is literally the best ironic tale. Initially, the name Ligeia appears

in his poem ―AlAaraaf‖ where its name is given to the spirit who seems to have represented what

Daniel Hoffman calls ―the disembodied embodiment of Intellectual Beauty‖:

―Ligeia! Ligeia!

M ―‗Neath blue-bell or streamer—

Or tufted wild spray

That keeps, from the dreamer, y beautiful one!‖ ( CTAPBEAP. 617)

The above cited lines explore the same woman in the Tale to the Oriental world of the poem. In

the tale, Romance and the Orient are found to be linked significantly. The narrator, who is

supposed to be Ligeia‘s husband, comments in Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque:

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―If ever that spirit which is entitled Romance - if ever

She, the wan and misty – winged Ashtophet of idolatrous

Egypt presided, as they tell, over marriages ill - omened,

Then most surely she presided over time‖. (171 )

Here Egypt is mentioned as the abode of Romance. As the tale advances, Oriental designs are

employed to increase the significance of mystery, to heighten the tension to produce especial

special effects. As these motifs are exotic in nature and mysterious in psychology, and they help

us understand the psyche of the tale. The reading suggests that the bridal room is decorated with

an arabesque fabric works, the chamber has been ornamented with ancient designs having

Oriental shades. Malini Johar Schueller in his U.S. Orientalism - Race, Nation and Gender in

Literature - 1790 - 1890, explores the presence of the Orient in Poe‘s well-known character

Ligeia as:

The physical description of Ligeia clearly confirms her embodiment of the Near Eastern

Orient. Ligeia‘s hair is ―raven - black‖ with ―glossy‖ Luxuriant and naturally curling

tresses.‖ Her eyes are described as ―far larger than the ordinary eyes of our own race‖.

They are even ―fuller than the fullest of the gazelle eyes of the tribe of the valley of

Nourjahad.‖… Ligeia‘s vast knowledge, combined with her Near Eastern looks,

associates her with the culture and learning of the region. (125)

The study finds an unpublished dissertation ―The Oriental Tale in America Through 1865: A

study in American Fiction.‖ by Poe, which is an excellent instance of Oriental motifs. According

to Mukhtar Ali Isani, who attempts to trace the development of the Oriental tales in the United

States, the genre of the Oriental tale which emerged in the United States in the first half of the

eighteenth century. He is of the opinion that the growth of the numerous magazines in the

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130

literary societies generated a high demand for lighter literature, and the war against the Barbary

States in North Africa persuaded the national scholars towards the Orient as a sound setting for

Adventurous Tales. One can experience the presence of historical, religious, and most popular,

romantic tales in the earliest American Oriental tales. The romantic Oriental tales were strongly

influenced by the charm of the English verse romances of Byron and Moore. Following the

British pattern, Poe wrote a total of seven tales which can be called Oriental tales: A Tale of

Jerusalem, Four Beasts in One, The Homo-Camelopard, Silence-A Fable, Shadow-A Parable, A

tale of the Ragged. Mountains, The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade and Some

Words with a Mummy.

His literary reputation grew because of these tales which were written by him in this

period. And fairly Light pieces represent his burlesque and satire. A Tale of the Ragged

Mountains, Silence - A Fable, and Shadow-A Parable, and many more which are complex and

serious. A ―Tale of the Ragged Mountains‖ is a well- crafted mystery story. It is different from

most of his tales as it takes place in the specifically named locations, the ragged Mountains, close

to Charlottesville, Virginia, and Benares, India. The tale concerns the sublime vision of Benares

that the leading character, Bedloe, has while walking in the Mountains. The city has been

mentioned as rich in all respect, ―Eastern-looking City,‖ such details can be observed and found

in the Arabian Tales. Here the Oriental setting is used as a backdrop for a tale of ―Doubles and

Reincarnation.‖ This setting at first appears relatively unimportant, but the central action

concerning the Doubles takes place in an Oriental dream-world. When exotic Oriental settings

and motifs occur in his writings, a psychological depth is created and the level of complexity is

increased. The companion tales like Silence-A Fable and Shadow-A Parable, are most

appropriate examples of this art.

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131

―Silence‖ and ―Shadow‖ are almost Oriental prose poems based on different facets of

death. Their subtitles, ―A Fable‖ and ―A Parable‖ lead us to the fact that these are not simply for

amusement; they are meant to enlighten the readers as well. A comparative study of both the

tales concludes that ―Silence‖ deals with the death of sound, and ―Shadow‖ deals with the sounds

of death. They have different sides of the same coin. Both tales have ghastly, brooding

atmospheres. Though ―Silence‖ takes place in ―Lydia‖ on the borders of the river Zaire, and

―Shadow‖ seems to take place in Egypt or Greece, the locations are psychological rather than

physical. The importance of these tales in the development of Poe‘s Orientalism is in his use of

Oriental settings and motifs to create intense, psychological works which appear to have obscure,

secret meanings. In the article under the title ―The Imp of the Perverse,‖ E. A. Poe writes about

one of the tales of Arabian Nights, he details the Supernatural Spirit as ―genius‖, derived from

the Arabic term Djinn, (ghost) a titled Verse in chapter 29 of Quran, who was released from

imprisonment in a bottle, by a fisherman. He writes: ‗By gradation, still more imperceptible, this

cloud assumes shape, as did the vapor from the bottle out of which arose the Djinn in the

Arabian Nights‘. (The Imp of the Perverse)

Commenting on the recent book Beneath the American Renaissance, David Reynolds

suggests that for Poe, ―Oriental fiction was a primary symbol of the unfettered imagination.‖ (41)

It cannot be denied that the vast shadow of Poe‘s tales is the Orient with exotic nature.

Moreover, the key to the importance of the Orient for Poe is connected to his use of the term

―arabesque.‖ According to Oxford Dictionary, this term refers to ―Arabian,‖ ―Arabic‖ or ―A

species of mural or surface decoration in colour or low relief, composed in flowing lines of

branches, leaves, and scroll -work fancifully intertwined.‖ The textile, pottery work, Oriental

ornaments, Arabian perfumes , Gothic and Saracenic architecture, the Phantom handiwork, the

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Sylphs, the Fairies, the Djenii, the Gnomes, the view of paradise and the fine arts which were

parts of the developing culture of Qartaba , (Cordova) now in Spain. It has been used by the

Arabs, or rather the Moors of Spain.

The role of Arabesque in his tales and fictions to express his views on national concerns

is very important. The stories of Eleven of the Arabesque is very helpful in understanding the

relationship between his art of storytelling and his Arabesque. His ―burlesque,‖ ―Ligeia,‖ Tales

of the Grotesque and Arabesque contain all the aspects and clues of arabesque. It is strange to

observe that of Poe twenty - five short stories in the Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque;

twenty have Oriental references. There is no specific difference between these two terms; they

have a little shade of differences. Making a distinction between them, Harry Levin, in The Power

of Blackness, defines the terms as: ‗Since both ‗arabesque‘ and ‗grotesque‘ mean much the same

thing, in the sense of capricious and fanciful, efforts to subdivide Poe‘s tales between them are

harder to support imagination and fancy‘.

The study finds a recent doctoral thesis on the subject, Novel Conceptions, Unusual

Combinations: The Arabesque in Poe. (1970) The research scholar, Patricia Clark Smith,

discusses a new approach to this subject. He refers these terms to a particular style of decorative

art. Detailing this emerging branch of literature, Smith concludes that the excavations at

Pompeii in the early nineteenth century, especially the discovery of extraordinary paintings on

the walls of Pompeiian villas, caused a surge of enthusiasm and curiosity in the decorative arts.

But Smith could not find the clear consensus about the distinction between the meanings of the

two words.

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He turned towards Poe, to study his point of view in the Preface to Tales of the Grotesque and

Arabesque, where Poe briefly discussed the terms, and then the tales themselves. He gives his

opinion as quoted by Eric W. Carlson in his book Companion to Poe Studies:

Poe seems to have associated the arabesque-grotesque style in art, which was tough to

create unity out of disparity, with his own doctrines of cosmological and aesthetic

unity…Poe seems to use ‗grotesque‘ to imply a defensive, uneasily jocular attitude on the

part of his narrators towards intimations of unity; ‗arabesque,‘ on the other hand, is used to

imply a serious and acquiescent attitude. (283)

Here Smith‘s investigation of the two terms is certainly thorough and comprehensive, and the

reader may agree with her argument on major points. To be sure, the term ―Arabesque‖ is one of

the central characteristics not only of Poe‘s intellect and method of writing, but also of his life as

well. For Poe the arabesque was a way of ordering and rationalizing incidents, of creating, an eye

within the storm. It is a unifying aesthetic force. The reading finds another passage by Daniel

Hoffman discusses the two literary terms ―grotesque‖ and ―arabesque.‖ In his ―In an art work‖,

under the title, ―Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe‖ he defines :

Grotesque‖ signifies the depiction in an elaborate, foliated setting; while ―arabesque‖

refers to an intricate pattern, geometric in design, which does not reproduce the human

form- this latter element deriving from the Mohammedan injunction against the

reproduction in a work of art of that divine image, the human body…. The intricacy of

pattern in an arabesque corresponds to Poe‘s desire, or need, to reveal by complex and

elaborate concealments of his theme. There is no human form anywhere in Poe‘s

arabesques; but their intricate patterns of abstraction create a synthetic and harmonious -

though often horrifying - experience, a consistency. (204)

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134

Here Hoffman seems to be different from Smith. He considers that the source of Poe‘s arabesque

style has been derived from Islamic culture, art and civilization rather than Pompeiian. Indeed,

there is little doubt that the emerging popularity of the Orient among American scholarship and

Poe‘s superficial knowledge of Islamic culture as evidenced in ― Al Aaraaf‖ and ―Israfel,‖ make

it obvious that Hoffman‘s use of the term is closer to Poe‘s rather than to Smith‘s. Obviously,

Poe, in his thoughts and art seems, to be much closer to the Arabic and Islamic sources. ―The

Philosophy of Furniture.‖ is an example of Oriental decorative. Poe here seems to associate

artistic virtues of the Orient with the service of the mankind.

The genius of Poe is reflected in this work, which concerns structures, both physical and mental,

and the arrangement of these structures as boxes, rooms, and building are nicely described and

are the focus of interest in such works as ―The Oblong Box,‖ ―Landor‘s Cottage,‖ and ―The Fall

of the House of Usher.‖ The arrangement of the space and the circumscription of space are

considered to be important literary instruments in Poe‘s writings. He appears to have been

profoundly influenced by Oriental objects. Poe‘s interesting description of his imaginative room

can be experienced when he pays special attention to the carpet. ―The soul of the apartment is the

carpet from it are deduced not only the hues but the form of all objects incumbent.‖ In ―Touching

pattern‖, from his Oriental Poetry and Tales, Poe remembers India as a source of arabesque:

A carpet should not be bedizened out like a Riccaree Indian—all red chalk,

yellow ochre, and cock‘s feathers. In brief—distinct grounds, and vivid circular or

cycloid figures, of no meaning, are here Median laws. The abomination of

flowers, or representations of well-known objects of any kind, should not be

endured within the limits of Christendom. Indeed, whether on carpets, or curtains,

or tapestry, or ottoman-coverings, all upholstery of this nature should be rigidly

Arabesque. (384)

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He remained attached with Indian history, as he writes in ―Poems of youth‖. The quoted lines are

from The works of the English Poets from Chaucer to Cowper.

―No Indian prince has to his palace

More followers than a thief to the gallows.‖ (124)

There is for example, another specimen of Orientalism in his well-known poem ―The Raven‖

from the Edgar Allan Poe – 68 Poems. He writes:

Prophet!‖ said I, ―thing of evil! - Prophet still, if bird or devil!

By that Heaven that bends above us- by that God we both adore-

Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn

It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore

Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore‖

(83)

The word ‗Aidenn‘ comes from the Arabic root word ‗ A‘dn‘ having the sense of eternity or

immortality. Paradise, according to the Islamic doctrine, is an eternal abode. The word, ―Garden

of Eden‖ has a literal translation in Quranic verses as Janna‘t A‘dn. It shows the use of a

significant word which has an Islamic reference. The same significance may be observed in the

preceding lines of ―Raven‖, where Gilead, the place in Jordon, has been described by Poe as

mentioned by Maurice Garland Fulton in his book Southern life in Southern Literature.

Prophet!‖ said I, ―thing of evil! - Prophet still, if bird or devil!

Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed the here ashore,

Desolate yet all undaunted on the desert land enchanted –

On this home by Horror haunted – tell me truly, I implore –

Is there – is there balm in Gilead? – tell me, I implore (133)

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The popular interest in Orientalism initially drew Poe to focus on the Orient and write about it,

but beneath his superficial interest lay a deeper, psychological connection which had creative

imagination represented by Poe in all of his works, and all of his work results from this blend of

wild imagination placed in a tight, intricate framework. Finally, arabesque for Poe is not only a

decorative design, but also way of thinking about the universe.

The study that has been done so far, leads the readers to the fact that, Poe‘s Oriental design has

been formed through two important basic literary elements which constitute a rooting firm for

the structure of the narratives. These are: Alteration and Irony. These two elements help in

understanding his art of storytelling and the term Arabesque and the way he designed his

Oriental character and how arabesque and romanticism are interrelated. As a good shaper of

fiction characters, he chose the Oriental platform as a mark of his interest in the Middle East

culture and suggests the American scholarship to dive into the depth of Oriental Ocean of

knowledge and wisdom.