S.K. Srivastava’s perceptive and sensitive study of the poetry of Edgar Allen Poe and Walt Whitman considers their work in a historical perspective. To begin with, Srivastava defines the essential terminology of her investigation. The nature and meaning of signs and symbols, and the movements of symbolism and Transcendentalism are clearly explained. The principal doctrines of New England Transcendentalism and the literary efforts of the Symbolists are elucidated before the major section of the book is taken up. Edgar Allen Poe’s metaphysics, his conception of imagination and the process of poetic creation, his ideas on beauty and his theory of poetry are outlined in the first part of the chapter on the writer. This is followed by a detailed examination of some of Poe’s major poetry on varied themes such as love, death, loneliness and dreams. In a well-constructed chapter on Walt Whitman, Srivastava investigates Whitman’s philosophy, his concept of a poet and poetry, the Self and Democracy. Among the poems that Srivastava has selected to illustrate Whitman’s art are those on sex, unity and identity, the purpose of creation and the real meaning of death. Symbolism in the Poetry of Poe and Whitman is an effort on a difficult subject.
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