Unmasking Edgar Allan Poe's Influence on the 20th Century

This essay explores the misunderstood legacy of Edgar Allan Poe and his vision for establishing a classical culture in the newly formed American Republic. Poe's goal was to create a national literary journal called The Stylus that would uphold the standards of a truly literate society. However, his untimely death prevented the realization of this project, and instead, the decline of classical literature and the rise of Modernism took place. Modernist art rejected the idea of universal truth and beauty, embracing the arbitrary and the ugly. The essay argues that revisiting Poe's artistic vision and recognizing the importance of the poetic principle could lead to the revival of a high culture in literature.