Edgar Allan Poe Essay -- Edgar Allan Poe Structure Structuralism

Edgar Allan PoeThough an innumerable amount of interpretations of any given text might be drawn from a variety of perspectives, a structuralist analysis of two of Poes works help place their symbols at heart a theme related to myth and heroism. Peter Barry attempts to define structuralism compactly by narrowing it down as the belief that things cannot be understood in isolationthey have to be seen in the context of the larger structures they be part of he goes on to add that meaning is always an attribute of things, in the literal sense that meanings are ATTRIBUTED to the things by the human mind, not contained within them (39). One might attempt to further narrow this idea (ironically) by quoting the famous line, Everything is relative, which is to say, all reality is contingent upon the perceiver. The context in which that reality is macrocosm perceived becomes the point of interest, so that, in regard to literature, there is a constant movement away from the interpret ation of the individual literary work and a parallel drive towards understanding the larger, abstract structures which contain them (Barry, 40). The question becomes not what, but how. It is interesting, then, to further define the crux of this theory in search of what closure a modern structuralist reading of a pre-structuralist author, namely Edgar Allan Poe, might yield. Structuralism itself is defined as modern but through its own origins following the wide discussed applications of structural analysis to mythology by the anthropologist Claude Lvi-Strauss can be attributed to relatively recent intellectual movements, which then reflect back on the writings of Poe, perchance evidencing inspiration for the theory in the firs... ...l and follows its progression panel by panel.Works CitedBaldick, Chris. Structuralism. OXFORD CONCISE DICTIONARY OF LITERARY TERMS. 2nd edition. New York Oxford University Press, 2001. 245-246.Barry, Peter. Structuralism. BEGINNING THEORY AN intromission TO LITERARY AND CULTURAL THEORY. 2nd edition. Manchester Manchester University Press, 2002. 39-60.Coogan, Peter M. The Secret Origin of the Superhero The Origin and Evolution of the Superhero Genre in America. AMERICAN QUARTERLY. Vol 55, Iss. 4. College Park, December 2003. 801Poe, Edgar Allan. The Tell-Tale Heart. RETELLINGS A THEMATIC publications Anthology. New York McGraw-Hill, 2004. 404-407 The Cask of Amontillado. Classroom handout (SUNY Potsdam, Fall 2005, LITR 300, Dr. McNutt). 463-467.