Packham, J; (2014) Edgar Allan Poe’s Chaotic Drive to Unity. Tropos , 1 (1) pp. 44-50. 10.14324/111.2057-2212.009.

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Abstract

In his philosophical prose-poem Eureka, Edgar Allan Poe argues that true unity negates physical matter. By extension, disunity is a necessary part of existence. Additionally, Poe’s theoretical essays stress the importance of the ‘unity of impression’ in writing, by which means a single effect is elaborated and sustained throughout a poem, and to which all aspects of that piece of writing contribute. With these theories in mind, this paper explores the drive towards unity in Poe’s polar fiction, the unified space as a place of revelation, and its effect on the act of writing. These stories demonstrate a complex relationship between the antithetical states of unity and disunity; whirlpools in particular become a symbol for this space where unity and disunity coexist. Poe’s voyagers are forced to make a choice between achieving unity, and with it ultimate knowledge, at the expense of communicating their discovery, and abandoning their quest and returning with nothing to communicate.

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