A Deconstructive Glance at Edgar Allan Poes The City in the Sea Essay

A Deconstructive Glance at Edgar Allan Poes The urban center in the sea Always mesmerizing, Edgar Allan Poes poems range from deep and depressing to dark and grotesque. Certainly this is authoritative of his poem The City in the Sea, which is dark in tone and double meaning. What does it mean, and where did Poe come up with his concept? There are numerous feasible answers to this question, and interpretations include the phallic and yonic symbols of Freudian theory and the intellection of biblical cities as source material exist. Therefore, it seems that critics cannot agree on a definite explication for the poem. Alice Claudel posits that on that point are mystic symbols in the poem and states that One can theme bits together and form the general narrative from II Chronicles, II Kings, and Daniel, among others (56). The idea that Poe took his ideas from the bible is well founded, but he was too complex a poet to make his poetry that easy or that obvious. Another writer, Dwayne Thorpe, suggests Poe had Christian philosophy in mind when he wrote the poem, contending that Poes sources were biblical in nature (395). He continues identification of it biblical source casts some infernal illumination on his use of a Christian work to create a nihilistic vision (395). This goes tail end to Claudels biblical association, but Thorpe ascribes the city a darker, more sinister meaning. composition many critics look at The City in the Sea done a Freudian or biblical lens, a deconstructive approach reveals the visit of Deaths inverted Necropolis. Deconstruction is the art of ambiguity. The theory posits infinite interpretations to literary works, with about of them just as creative as the work itself. With so many interpretations, no one ... ...ing only becomes more deeply hidden. The complex snarl of twisting, turning, and doubling back of Poes work, specifically The City in the Sea, makes the task of entirely deconstructing it almost imp ossible.Works CitedBressler, Charles E. Literary Criticism An Introduction to Theory and Practice. swiftness Saddle River, NJ Prentice, 2003.Claudel, Alice M. Mystic Symbols in Poes The City in the Sea. document on Poe Essays in Honor of John Ward Ostrom. Ed. Richard P. Veler and Richard Beale Davis. Springfield, OH Chantry Music weigh at Wittenburg U, 1972. 54-61.Garrison, Joseph M. Jr. Poes The City in the Sea. Explicator 48.3 (1990) 185-88. Leonard, Douglas N. Poes The City in the Sea. Explicator 43.1 (1984) 30-33.Thorpe, Dwayne. Poes The City in the Sea Source and Interpretation.American Literature 51 (1979) 394-99.