ROMANTIC ORIENTALISM AND 19th CENTURY
AMERICAN LITERATURE: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS
OF ISLAMIC CONCEPTS IN SELECTED POEMS OF
EDGAR ALLAN POE
BY
FAATIMAH SALMYYAH RAHEEM
A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for
the degree of Master in Human Sciences
(English Literary Studies)
Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and
Human Sciences
International Islamic University Malaysia
MARCH 2015
ABSTRACT
This qualitative study attempts to discover Islamic concepts in selected poems of
Edgar Allan Poe using Mohammed Sharafuddin’s Realistic Orientalism framework.
This is achieved by cross-examining main concepts found in Poe’s poems with
George Sale’s English translation of the Qur’an. Prior to this analysis, the study also
examines the possible main influences of Islam on Poe to substantiate the study. The
study finds that there is limited documented evidence on Poe’s exposure to Islamic
sources. The study identifies the effects of the Barbary Wars, American travel
writings, British Romantic poetry and George Sale’s English translation of the Qur’an
as major influences. Additionally, the author proposes that Poe’s brother, William
Henry Leonard Poe, also exerted a more personal influence on his interest in the
Islamic Orient. However, analyses of the selected poems indicate varying degrees of
similarities with Sale’s translation of the Qur’an. The findings reveal that Poe is
influenced—in descending order—by the Islamic concepts of death, the afterlife, the
human soul and heart, divine inspiration, supernatural entities and ethereal places in
the Qur’an. Other possible Islamic influences may have come from a biography of
Prophet Muhammad, the Hadith and Sufi Literature. This concludes that Poe was
indeed influenced by Sale’s English translation of the Qur’an, at least one biography
of Prophet Muhammad and other sources of Islam yet to be verified.
ii
‫ملخص البحث‬
‫حتاول هذه الدراسة الكيفية الكشف عن املفاهيم اإلسالمية يف خمتارات "إدغار آالن بو"‬
‫الشعرية‪ ،‬وذلك ابستخدام منهج االستشراق الواقعي حملمد شرف الدين‪ .‬وقد مت ذلك عرب‬
‫دراسة املفاهيم الرئيسة اليت اُكتشفت يف أشعار "بو" وترمجة "جورج سيل" ملعاين القرآن ابللغة‬
‫اإلجنليزية‪ ،‬خاصة وقد ُدرس ‪ -‬قبل ذلك‪ -‬احتمالية التأثريات اإلسالمية على "بو" وهذا‬
‫يدعم البحث‪ .‬وقد توصل البحث إىل أن األدلة املدعمة ابلواثئق على اطالع "بو" على‬
‫املصادر اإلسالمية حمدودة‪ .‬وأثبت البحث أن آاثر احلروب الرببرية‪ ،‬وكتاابت أدب الرحالت‬
‫األمريكية‪ ،‬والشعر الرومانسي اإلجنليزي‪ ،‬وترمجة "جورج سيل" ملعاين القرآن ابللغة اإلجنليزية‬
‫على أهنا التأثريات الرئيسة‪ .‬إضافة إىل ذلك تقرتح الباحثة أن أخا "بو" "وليام هنري ليوانرد‬
‫يدا من التأثريات الشخصية على اهتماماته ابملشرق اإلسالمي‪ .‬ومع ذلك أشارت‬
‫بو" ق ّدم مز ً‬
‫الدراسات التحليلية للمختارات الشعرية إىل تع ّدد درجات التشابه مع ترمجة "سيل" اإلجنليزية‬
‫ملعاين القرآن‪ .‬وأثبت البحث أن "بو" أتثر – حسب الرتتيب التنازيل‪ -‬ابملفاهيم اإلسالمية‬
‫حول املوت‪ ،‬والبعث‪ ،‬والنفس اإلنسانية‪ ،‬والوحي‪ ،‬والكائنات واألمور الغيبية يف القرآن‪.‬‬
‫واحتمالية أخرى للتأثريات اإلسالمية قد تكون من إحدى كتب السرية النبوية‪ ،‬واحلديث‬
‫النبوي‪ ،‬واألدب الصويف‪ .‬وتوصل البحث إىل أن "بو" أتثر حقا برتمجة "سيل" ملعاين القرآن‬
‫ابللغة اإلجنليزية‪ ،‬وعلى األقل إحدى السري النبوية‪ ،‬وأما املصادر اإلسالمية األخرى فلم يتم‬
‫التحقق منها بعد‪.‬‬
‫‪v‬‬
APPROVAL PAGE
I certify that I have supervised and read this study and that in my opinion it conforms
to acceptable standards of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and
quality, as a dissertation for the degree of Master of Human Sciences (English Literary
Studies)
……………………………………………
Umar Abdurrahman
Supervisor
I certify that I have read this study and that in my opinion it conforms to acceptable
standards of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a
dissertation for the degree of Master of Human Sciences (English Literary Studies)
……………………………………………
Amillia Mohd. Ramli
Examiner
This dissertation was submitted to the Department of English Language and Literature
and is accepted as a fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Human
Sciences (English Literary Studies)
....................................................................
Zahariah Pilus
Head, Department of English
Language and Literature
This dissertation was submitted to the Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and
Human Sciences and is accepted as a fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of
Master of Human Sciences (English Literary Studies)
……………………………………………
Ibrahim Mohamed Zein
Dean, Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed
Knowledge and Human Sciences
vi
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this dissertation is the result of my own investigations, except
where otherwise stated. I also declare that it has not been previously or concurrently
submitted as a whole for any other degrees at IIUM or other institutions.
Faatimah Salmyyah Raheem
Signature…………………………..
Date……..........………….....
vi
INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA
DECLARATION OF COPYRIGHT AND AFFIRMATION
OF FAIR USE OF UNPUBLISHED RESEARCH
Copyright © 2015 by Faatimah Salmyyah Raheem. All rights reserved.
ROMANTIC ORIENTALISM AND 19th CENTURY AMERICAN
LITERATURE: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF ISLAMIC
CONCEPTS IN SELECTED POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE
No part of this unpublished research may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder except
as provided below.
1.
Any material contained in or derived from this unpublished research may
only be used by others in their writing with due acknowledgement.
2.
IIUM or its library will have the right to make and transmit copies (print
or electronic) for institutional and academic purposes.
3.
The IIUM library will have the right to make, store in a retrieval system
and supply copies of this unpublished research if requested by other
universities and research libraries.
Affirmed by Faatimah Salmyyah Raheem
………………………………….
Signature
………………….
Date
vi
DEDICATION
Dedicated to
Knowledge Seekers,
Literature Lovers,
and
Poe Enthusiasts
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, my utmost gratitude goes to the Almighty Allah (s.w.t) for giving
me the strength to complete what is my biggest achievement to date. My gratitude also
goes to my parents, Mohamed Ibrahim Raheem and Murshidah Abdul Samad, for
their patience and support in the completion of this thesis. To my beloved supervisor,
Dr. Umar Abdurrahman, thank you for your continuous encouragement, advice,
patience and support in helping me develop this thesis as well as myself as a person. A
special thanks to Prof. Dato’ Dr. Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof, a brilliant poet and
academician who helped me understand poetry at various levels. I hope I make all of
you proud now and always.
To Ms. Yau Sim Mei, thank you for being the ga je I always wanted. You are a
rare specimen among human beings and I consider myself privileged to be your ma
lau sai mui mui. I am forever grateful for your kindness, compassion, humour and
humility. To many more adventures ahead…
Lastly, my sincere thanks to the following people who have been integral and
inspirational in my studies, both professionally and personally: the kind Nur Izzati
Sapperi, the helpful Aini Fatimah Amat Kamal, the caring Alia Farhana Anuar, the
dynamic Dr. Nuraishah Ahmad, the leader Dr. Zahariah Pilus, the humanitarian Ms.
Noorsiah Abdullah, the affable Amir Hanif, the graceful Shu Ying Goh and, last but
never the least, the versatile Devi Arumugam.
viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract .................................................................................................................... ii
Abstract in Arabic .................................................................................................... iii
Approval Page .......................................................................................................... iv
Declaration Page ...................................................................................................... v
Copyright Page ......................................................................................................... vi
Dedication ................................................................................................................ vii
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. viii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 1
1.1 Background of Study.............................................................................. 1
1.1.1 Romantic Orientalism ................................................................... 1
1.1.2 Orientalism in 19th Century American Literature ......................... 6
1.1.3 Edgar Allan Poe’s American Poetry and Romantic Orientalism .. 11
1.2 Statement of the Problem ....................................................................... 13
1.3 Significance of the Study ....................................................................... 13
1.4 Scope of the Study ................................................................................. 14
1.5 Objectives of the Study .......................................................................... 14
1.5.1 Research Questions ....................................................................... 15
1.6 Literature Review ................................................................................... 15
1.7 Theoretical Framework .......................................................................... 19
1.8 Methodology .......................................................................................... 22
1.9 Limitations of the Study ......................................................................... 23
1.10 Organisation of Chapters...................................................................... 24
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................... 25
2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................ 25
2.2 Edgar Allan Poe as an American Writer ................................................ 25
2.3 Edgar Allan Poe’s Poetry ....................................................................... 26
2.4 Review of Selected Poems ..................................................................... 30
2.4.1 Tamerlane (1827) .......................................................................... 30
2.4.2 Spirits of the Dead (1827) ............................................................. 32
2.4.3 Stanzas (1827) ............................................................................... 32
2.4.4 Al-Aaraaf (1829) ........................................................................... 32
2.4.5 Romance (1829) ............................................................................ 34
2.4.6 Israfel (1831) ................................................................................. 34
2.4.7 The City in the Sea (1831) ............................................................ 35
2.4.8 The Valley of Unrest (1831) ......................................................... 36
2.4.9 To One in Paradise (1834) ............................................................ 36
2.4.10 The Haunted Palace (1839) ......................................................... 37
2.4.11 The Conqueror Worm (1843) ..................................................... 37
2.4.12 Dream-Land (1844)..................................................................... 38
2.4.13 Ulalume (1847) ........................................................................... 39
ix
CHAPTER THREE: EDGAR ALLAN POE’S ISLAMIC INFLUENCES ..... 41
3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................ 41
3.1 Edgar Allan Poe and 19th Century American Arabesque ....................... 41
3.2 Poe’s Islamic References ....................................................................... 44
3.2.1 British Romantic Poets .................................................................. 51
3.3 Discussion .............................................................................................. 54
CHAPTER FOUR: EDGAR ALLAN POE’S SELECTED POEMS................ 58
4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................ 58
4.2 Analysis of Selected Poems ................................................................... 58
4.2.1 Tamerlane (1827) .......................................................................... 58
4.2.2 Spirits of the Dead (1827) ............................................................. 60
4.2.3 Stanzas (1827) ............................................................................... 62
4.2.4 Al-Aaraaf (1829) ........................................................................... 63
4.2.5 Romance (1829) ............................................................................ 65
4.2.6 To the River — (1829) .................................................................. 66
4.2.7 Israfel (1831) ................................................................................. 67
4.2.8 The Valley of Unrest (1831) ......................................................... 68
4.2.9 The City in the Sea (1831) ............................................................ 69
4.2.10 To One in Paradise (1834) .......................................................... 70
4.2.11 The Haunted Palace (1839) ......................................................... 72
4.2.12 The Conqueror Worm (1843) ..................................................... 73
4.2.13 Dream-Land (1844)..................................................................... 74
4.2.14 To — — — (1847) ...................................................................... 75
4.2.15 Ulalume (1847) ........................................................................... 76
4.3 Discussion .............................................................................................. 78
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION ...................................................................... 84
5.1 Summary ................................................................................................ 84
5.2 Background and Research Objectives .................................................... 84
5.3 Challenges and Limitations .................................................................... 86
5.4 Recommendations for Future Research ................................................. 86
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................. 88
x
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The Islamic Orient has been an immense influence, a literary resource and “an
alternative aesthetic space” on English poets, especially the Romantic poets (Haddad,
2002: 1-2). On its importance to 19th century Western poets, Haddad quotes Raymond
Schwab that “the Islamic Orient…is the most acclimated in our literary
traditions…whose charms recaptures poets and storytellers through the glamour of
The Thousand and One Nights” (2-3). Romantic writings, travel writings and
translations of the Qur’an in English were made available to the American public that
first allowed an intimate look into the holy book of the Muslims as well as into
cultural and traditional beliefs of Islam (Sha′ban, 1991: 27). This study will look into
selected poems of Edgar Allan Poe, an American Romantic writer (Cargill, 1941:
176), to examine the extent of Islamic concepts and influences found in them. The aim
of this chapter is to provide an overview of the study’s background, statement of
problem, significance, scope, objectives, research questions, a brief literature review,
theoretical framework, methodology, limitations of the study and organisation of
chapters.
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
1.1.1 Romantic Orientalism
When defining ‘Romantic Orientalism’, the Norton Anthology of English Literature
(n.d) limits “Romantic” to writers between 1785 and 1830 while “Orientalism” refers
1
to all that is non-British, including Asia, North Africa and present-day Eastern
Europe. Thus:
In literary history, Romantic Orientalism is the recurrence of
recognizable elements of Asian and African place names, historical and
legendary people, religions, philosophies, art, architecture, interior
decoration, costume, and the like in the writings of the British
Romantics. (n.d)
Initial European Oriental writers were “observant, amused and amusing
travellers [who] familiarized the Western public with visions of wealth and luxury”
(Butler, 1994: 395). Antoine Galland’s translation of The Arabian Nights brought
about “the oriental tale” in which an exaggeration of “an idealized world of
consumerist delights” was emphasized and “accuracy to modern Middle Eastern
realities played a minimal part” (396).
There were also British and European writers who used the Orient as an attempt
at “perceiving, describing and explaining the political and social phenomena of the
East in order to validate Western hegemony” (Sampson, 1999: 101) and works such as
the English translation of The Arabian Nights reinforced as a “corrective for the
insecurity concerning the Eastern Other” as well as “solidified Europe’s sense of its
Christian identity” (17).
With regards to Romanticism and the early “Romantic Oriental project” by
European writers like Shlegel, Said (2003) clearly states the project to be “a powerful
shaper of tendency itself…what mattered was not Asia so much as Asia’s use to
modern Europe” (115). Here, the ‘tendency’ Said is referring to is how Western
Romantic writers who learn Oriental cultures and its components return to the
Occident with the purpose of reshaping European civilization into a pre-Christian yet
secular way of thinking.
2
Thus, Said (2003) categorizes Romantic writers, including British Romantic
writers, as those who take advantage of the Orient’s exoticism only. He states:
Popular Orientalism during the late eighteenth century and the early
nineteenth century attained a vogue of considerable intensity… William
Beckford, Byron, Thomas Moore, and Goethe, cannot be simply
detached from the interest taken in Gothic tales, pseudomedieval idylls,
visions of barbaric splendor and cruelty. (118)
Said goes on to say that Romantic writers indeed developed a political agenda
in its socio-political and literary treatment of the Orient (192). He mentions figures
like Byron, Disraeli, George Eliot and Edward Fitzgerald as those writing Oriental
works in the name of the British colonial agenda (194-195).
Not all agree with Said’s view on Romantic writers. In “Orientalism: The
Romantics’ Added Dimension; or, Edward Said Refuted” (2000), Oueijan refutes
Said’s “highly polemical” representation of Orientalism in English literature by
observing it as an “organic movement”. According to him, even though Orientalism
was established from mid-18th century, it began as early as 15th century via
“independent (Western) travelers and scholars” who rebelled against their home
cultures’ negative depictions of the East and instead, attempted to learn from and
about Eastern cultures.
Here, Oueijan (2000) challenges Said’s undermining of British Romantic poets
such as William Beckford, Lord Byron and Thomas Moore by saying that “the poets
of the (Romantic) period were deeply preoccupied with the remote and exotic in order
to stir their imaginative powers”. This interest began because many ancient
civilizations and even Abrahamic religions came from the East.
Sampson (1999) believes that Romantic Orientalism in Britain served
fundamentally as records of “the British historical involvement with the Orient” (17).
It was necessary for the British Romantics to write Oriental tales to disguise their re-
3
evaluation of established historical accounts and narratives (18), to “evaluate and
critique European political and moral codes” without risking their credibility (79) and
to depict the ethical dispute between “Enlightenment philosophies” and “the Christian
moral system” (87). Despite the lack of “realism and authenticated scholarship” (78),
British Oriental tales tended to highlight “the philosophical and moral and
downplayed the fairy tale element” (78).
It was only with increased travelling that a more detailed and truthful portrayal
of Oriental cultures via “references to discovered manuscripts, navigational details,
actual historical events and transliterated phrases from the original Arabic, Persian and
Hindu languages” came to existence (Sampson, 1999: 78). This academic and
objective treatment of Islam began during the age of Enlightenment until the 19th
century with writers such as Thomas Carlyle, Sir William Muir and Dr. William
Carey (15-16). In this case, William Jones was the most important figure who
attempted to demystify the Orient and redefine it as “an area of esoteric knowledge”
as long as it was empirically studied by those with “proper qualifications” (92),
though his systematic approach did not receive public acceptance. A well-travelled
writer, William Beckford also developed “a scholarly, literary and personal obsession”
when writing Vathek, proving his knowledge in “Eastern languages, customs, history
and religion” via the inclusion of “notation and references to actual places, personages
and words” (101). Vathek was credited as one literary work that successfully detaches
any ethical agenda to portray a realistic Eastern way of life “in both the historic and
imaginative realms” (100-101) as well as exerting a positive influence on Southey,
Landor, Moore and Byron (102).
The 19th century saw the publications of translated Oriental works, travel
writings as well as writers who began to incorporate Eastern elements into their works
4
not for aesthetics but for exotic and artistic purposes. Oueijan (2000) refers to travel
writer Wallace Cable Brown’s writings to prove that “the Romantics were interested
in Eastern matter for personal literary reasons and not for religious and/or political
propaganda”.
Romantic poetry, in particular, reveals how Eastern elements were used to rebel
against Western classicism. Poets such as Percy Shelley, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and
John Keats used Orientalism to “epitomize the Romantic search for an ultimate Truth”
as well as for self-discovery, freedom and imagination (Oueijan, 2000).
In his article “The Native Performant: Linguistic Authority in the Text of
Romantic Orientalism”, Sitter (2010) also argues that “the Orient they depicted were
never meant to be mistaken for ‘reality’” (117) as they were merely creative literary
devices. Moreover, English Romantic writers such as Southey, Byron and Beckford
“arose to anchor the imaginative to the referential” by inserting into their poems “a
paratextual apparatus of footnotes, endnotes, prefaces advertisements and epigraphs”
(117). This methodology shows the audience that much of their knowledge of the
Orient was based on “extensive reading rather than direct experience” (117) and that
the audience were “confronted with the imagined effect of Western language on
Eastern bodies” (122).
Kelly (1989) further elaborates this shift in how the Orient was portrayed by
Western writers. While the Enlightenment writers of Gothicism and Orientalism were
inclined to use the Orient to depict “the irrational, unenlightened, tyrannical or
subservient elements in their own societies and cultures”, writers in the late 18th and
early 19th century used the Orient to describe, propagate and reflect socio-cultural
ideologies for all levels of audiences as “ways of expressing, representing, or grasping
new and increasing social changes and conflicts” (3).
5
Romantic literature also succeeded in creating personalized literature such as
“prose autobiography, personal lyric, and mythic autobiographical poem” to counter
the dominant depiction of social identity, to develop a new literary outlet that shows
the social structure and transformation of society, especially in British literature, and
to portray “the exotic, be it the Gothic, the Oriental, or the feudal and historic” (Kelly,
1989: 16-17).
1.1.2 Orientalism in 19th Century American Literature
Sha′ban (1991) defines American Orientalism as the following:
American Orientalism is a phenomenon which finds expression in
certain attitudes and behaviour towards the Orient and the Orientals. It
is an American experience stemming from a historically-conscious
process of self-analysis which has been reflected in America’s relation
with things Oriental. American Orientalism is, in short, a national
cultural dialogue which derives from European background, heritage
and influence on the one hand, and, on the other, stems from
particularly American factors and experience (vii).
He further elaborates that authoritative texts on Islam in English language were
available in the form of “biographies of the Prophet of Islam, translations and
commentaries on the Qur’an and works dealing with the Arabs, Muslems, and Islam”
(27). Other popular texts on Islam and its components were forms of “travel book, the
newspaper and the periodical article, works of literature, missionary writings, and
other works of general nature” (27). Despite the widely available materials on the
Islamic Orient in early and mid-19th century America, these literatures were
subservient to the European, especially British, and Christian perspectives of Islam
and Muslims. Writings on Islam were simply a response to American public interest
hence “they were not interested in cultural dialogue” but “a consistent picture of the
6
Muslim world, an inverted image of the world the Americans were trying to create
anew” (Montgomery, 2013: 58).
It is important to note that Islam was known as ““Mahometanism” or
“Mohammedanism,” itself was an Orientalist designation that gave undue centrality to
the place of the Messenger Muhammad” (Marr, 2006: 6). Early Americans who
travelled to the Islamic Orient were “sailors, traders, diplomats, and military officers”
(26) and they encountered and engaged in warfare with Muslims from Algiers,
Greece, Turkey and Sumatra (22). These events took place either before or during
Poe’s lifetime. Literary writings as a result of such encounters may have been
purposely produced to portray the Islamic Orient as “a vicious realm of inhumane
bondage, unstable tyranny, illicit sensuality, and selfish luxury” to incite a fear of
possibly losing their “political rights and freedom” to such depraved cultures (21).
Such literature served two main purposes to Americans: as a form of “cultural
expression (that) spelled defeat for despotism both inside and outside the United
States” and in order to be “actively compensated for this diplomatic disgrace and their
lack of actual global power” (34). Eventually, this lead to the psychological
fossilization of an image of “Islam with cruelty, sensuality, and infidelity” in
Americans (135).
American travel writings were heavily drawn from British travel writings and
slowly evolved into a separate genre 20 years before Poe’s birth, beginning with the
effects of the Barbary Wars (Yothers, 2011: 19). The American thought or perspective
on Islamic Orient further developed from mid-19th century onwards with the
establishment of Transcendentalism, Free Religion and Universal Religion. These
movements were the first to demonstrate the similarities in universal values between
Christianity and Islam such as “belief in God, divine revelation...freedom, right, truth
7
and progress” (Sha′ban, 1991: 28). Prior to this period, the long-held view was that
Islam is a deviation from Christianity that needed to be “civilized”. This was, of
course, the continuity of the European Christian sentiment towards Islam and Muslims
that were inherited by Americans through literature concerning Islam widely available
in public and private libraries (29-30).
The two major translations of the Qur’an that were used since 17th century in
America were that by Alexander Ross in 1649 and George Sale in 1734 (Sha′ban,
1991: 30). Although the former translation was more popular and widespread among
the public, the latter translation proved to be more objective and accurate. The
accuracy in Sale’s translation was due to his “many explanatory footnotes, biblical
comparisons and analogies, and textual explications” (31), making it the best
translation until late 19th century (47). With his translation came his essay Preliminary
Discourse which provides an overview of Islamic history, concepts and figures “as he
sees them” (31). Sha′ban considers this—as well as Sale’s neutral portrayal of the
Prophet—as the first step in depicting Islam positively (58). Even Said (2003) himself
praised Sale’s translation for using “Arab sources” and “Muslim commentators”
(117).
It is imperative to note that Sale’s intention as a Christian Orientalist was to
present Islam’s inferiority to Christianity so the religion could be conquered and its
followers converted. However, Sale’s aim was unsuccessful as later writers on Islam
and biographies of Prophet Muhammad, including Washington Irving, maintained
their impartiality and even “felt the need for an apology, or at least a justification, for
writing on the subject” (Sha′ban, 1991: 32). Despite these attempts, the negative
perception of Islam and the Prophet remained a predominant theme.
8
In his thesis “Literary Orientalism in Nineteenth-Century Anglo-American
Literature: Its Formation and Continuity” (1983), Saad Abdulrahman Al-Bazei argues
that American literary Orientalism is the “third phase of the Oriental discourse” with a
different treatment of its portrayal (170). The relationship between British and
American Orientalism derives mainly from its shared history, language, culture as
well as literature (169). Initial Oriental literature began in the late 18th century with the
so-called “books of mere amusement”: pseudo-Oriental fiction intended to capture the
American audience with exoticism (174). These included Royall Turner’s fiction The
Algerine Captive (1797) and William Cullen Bryant’s edition of Tales of Glauber Spa
(1832).
Al-Bazei names Washington Irving as “America’s first major literary and
scholarly ambassador to the Orient and Old World in general” (176) due to his
introduction of the history and culture of Islam, including the biography of Prophet
Muhammad, and Islamic Andalusia to the American audience through works such as
The Conquest of Granada (1829), The Alhambra (1849) and Mahomet (1849) (176).
His interest in the history of Spain as well as the history Islam and Muslims’
contribution to Andalusia made him relate to “Old World cultures, including those of
Arabo-Islamic Orient” and his approach was more “sympathetic” (177-178).
Another phenomenon that occurred in the American Oriental literary scene was
the emergence of “captivity narrative”, in which depictions of Eastern cultures and
people are used to draw parallels to the experiences of the Puritans in America in their
search for the “promised land” (Al-Bazei, 1983: 173,179-180). The Algerine Captive
is singled out in Al-Bazei’s study as accomplishing the above as well as to scrutinize
the Islamic Orient, and by extension non-American cultures, through the eyes of
Americans (182). Yothers (2011) further adds that The Algerine Captive also delved
9
into discussions on Islam and Christianity and criticised slavery in America by
drawing parallels with Americans being captured by Africans in the War (20).
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s treatment of the Orient was seen as being “self-assured
and patronizingly sympathetic attitude” due to his prioritization of “American
transcendence” (Al-Bazei, 1983: 170). Al-Bazei believes this was done to make
America the centre of the world in the eyes of its citizens (171) as Emerson himself
puts it, “We read the Orientals, but remain Occidental” (178).
Berman (2012) made the following comment on the 19th century American
writers’ perception of the Islamic Orient:
Nineteenth-century American writers who traded in Orientalism,
regardless of their personal politics or individual relationship to
structures of power, produced an archive of imagery that attests to the
American public’s taste for representations of Arabs and Islam…In this
sense, Arab phrases, words, and terms borrowed by American writers
are not properly any culture’s property. Tracking a word’s
transformation over time and/or space is the point, as well as a path that
connects cultural traditions that are too often separated by prejudices of
discipline, ideology, or language (5-6).
The above statement proves that the American writers indeed did not merely
replicate the British and European treatment of the Islamic Orient but took a further
step to actually incorporate the latter’s symbols and images as their own in order to
enrich their literature, regardless of the accurate portrayal of the Islamic Orient.
Said (2003) also affirms that America is “less dense” towards the Orient (2) but
the citizen would still be an “American first, an individual second” (11). With regards
to the British and American view on Orientalism, Said states:
My idea is that European and then American interest in the Orient was
political according to some of the obvious historical accounts…but it
was the culture that created that interest, that acted dynamically along
with brute political, economic, and military rationales to make the
Orient the varied and complicated place that it obviously was in the
field I call Orientalism (12).
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1.1.3 Edgar Allan Poe’s American Poetry and Romantic Orientalism
Buranelli compares Poe’s Romanticism to that of Byron, Keats and Shelley, among
others (1977: 22, 89; Montgomery, 2011) and categorises them as followers of
pseudo-Orientalism. This referred to poets who relied heavily on Eastern “names
resonant with mysterious, romantic syllables evocative of distant lands, remote times
and strange people” (24). According to him, “Al-Aaraaf” was Poe’s “spiritual home”
where “the Platonic idea of absolute beauty can be known directly instead of through
the imperfect things on the earth” (97). He uses the same idea of explaining “Israfel”;
fleeting over Orientalism to explain Romanticism in Poe’s poems.
Montgomery’s article “Turning East: Edgar Allan Poe’s Poems (1831), the
Orient, and the Renewal of American Verse” (2011) discusses Poe’s creativity in his
collection of poems by considering “numerous conventions of British Romantic
verse” (1). He argues that Poe actually uses “Romantic conventions” in a completely
original way. He also breaks away from the American Lake School by adding more
Oriental elements than American elements, the former symbolizing “artistic freedom”
and “poetic transcendence”, while the latter “British and American traditions” and
aesthetics (5-6). It is important to note that Poe never attempted to portray Islam or its
images as a religion but rather for its exoticism (9) and “poetic ideals” without
didacticism (20).
An important event that influenced Poe and invoked American interest in
Islam was the Barbary Wars (1801-1805; 1815-1816). Montgomery (2011) quotes
Timothy Marr that:
The recurrent cultural images of Islam circulating during the colonial
period and inherited and enhanced by Americans in the early national
period frequently stood in opposition to many qualities that citizens of
the United States affirmed in their own bid for moral legitimacy as an
emerging civilization (7).
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This dominant phenomenon during Poe’s time was termed American
Islamicism, as it emphasized an American view, rather than actualities, of Islam (7).
Poe’s Romantic philosophy was mainly derived from German idealism but he
never fully complied with the philosophy behind Romanticism due to his empirical
interests in art, science and the macabre. In fact, he has “warned his readers…not to
rely on the imagination to ease the spirit when it has been injured by harsh realities”
(Buranelli, 1977: 30-32). Instead, Poe’s poetry showed his attempts to use his senses,
thoughts and images to describe his inner psyche in search of Truth (30). His
Romanticism can be clearly seen in the themes of his poetry; for example, the
continuous use of the dream theme, evidently seen in poems like “The Sleeper” and
“Israfel” (29). This indicates the need to retreat into an alternative reality for creativity
and imagination to flourish (28).
It is also interesting to note that during the American literary resurgence that
triggered more nationalistic literary writings, Poe instead chose to publish Orientalthemed poems as his first published work (Montgomery, 2013: 56).
Poe’s constant but intermittent attempt to “borrow” and “break off” from the
early British Romantic tradition was probably because he was more fixated on
establishing an American literary identity that is not reliant on the British tradition
(Wolosky 2007: 258). This contradiction labels Poe a “perverse Romantic” (258) even
though his poetic blending of aesthetics and metaphysics produced “a version of
American Romanticism” (258). Wolosky resonates critics who criticise Poe’s poems
for being difficult to decipher but this was “one of Poe’s purposeful technical
achievements to write in a language structured intently to refute or negate the impulse
to reference” (260). Poe’s technique of “defeated reference” in themes such as time
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and space uses “wordscape” between “nonsense and reference” (260). According to
Wolosky,
The result is a poetry of resistance, indeed of negation; carried out in
theory and also, concretely, in poetic practice; intentionally defiant,
critical, remote, and repudiating – yet also giving strange expression –
to American life (258).
This is evident in the way Poe redefines and creates new poetic symbols and
meanings.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Currently, there is a lack of substantial evidence on possible major Islamic influences
in Poe’s poetry. Poe has also never been critically studied as a Romantic Oriental poet
despite evidences that he has been inspired by literary and travel writings on the Near
East. Existing literature by previous researchers that do remark on the above topics
are either superficial or incomplete in their statements with no supporting references.
This leads to a lack of established connection between Poe, Islam and Romantic
Orientalism.
1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
The use of the Realistic Orientalism theoretical framework to approach Edgar Allan
Poe’s poetry will certainly provide an understanding on the influence of Islam in 19 th
century American writers and their literature. While Transcendentalism was the major
movement in this era, highlighting Oriental realities in such works will open new
areas of studies of Poe and the influence of Islam in American Romantic Orientalism.
In addition to opening new areas of study by applying Realistic Orientalism to Poe’s
works, it is also hoped that this study would generate new interest in the application of
Realistic Orientalism to works of similar American writers. This research will also
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substantially contribute to existing resources on Romantic Orientalism in Poe’s poetry
and help in motivating scholars to study other literary works of Poe.
1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
There are two main areas in this study. Firstly, the study will examine critical works
that will show evidence of possible major Islamic influences—both direct and
indirect—in Poe’s poetry. The second scope is to explore Islamic concepts in Poe’s
poetry.
The following are poems that will be analysed in the study: “Tamerlane”
(1827),
“Spirits of the Dead” (1827), “Stanzas” (1827), “Al-Aaraaf” (1829),
“Romance” (1829), “To the River—” (1829), “Israfel” (1831), “The Valley of Unrest”
(1831), “The City in the Sea” (1831), “To One in Paradise” (1834), “The Haunted
Palace” (1839), “The Conqueror Worm” (1843), “Dream-Land” (1844), “To — — —
” (1848) and “Ulalume—A Ballad” (1847). The above poems can be found in The
Library of America’s collection, Poe: Poetry and Tales (1984).
The poems above have been chosen for having both Oriental and Islamic
references and fulfil the requirements of producing a substantial conclusion to the
study’s objectives.
1.5 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This study will firstly elaborate on possible major Islamic influences of Poe.
Secondly, the study will identify any existing Islamic ideas in selected poems of Poe
using the Realistic Oriental framework developed by Mohammed Sharafuddin and
thirdly, the study will examine the depiction of Islam in Poe’s poetry.
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