(1809-49)-American poet, short-story writer, and critic who is best known for his tales of ratiocination, his fantastical horror stories, and his genre-founding detective stories. Poe, whose cloudy personal life is a virtual legend, considered himself primarily a poet. William Wilson (1839)-A tale about a man's struggle with his conscience — an allegory in which William Wilson meets William Wil...

Poet is the object of scorn and derision in Plato’s the Republic. He even thought manufacturer was a more socially recognized occupation than poet. In Plato’s idea, handicraft was the “copy” of the “real world”, and the literary output was only the imitation of “copy”, which not only stray from the “true”, but would even misguide people. Plato’s opinion mirrors the philosopher’s distrust of Lan...

ntifying Poets Rohert Crawford speculates that 'the poet who constructs an identity I allows that poet to identify with a particular territory is the paradigmatic modern , adding that 'the position of poets in Scotland is typical of this situation' (Crawford 3: 142). One purpose of this chapter is to illustrate the limits of a Scottish literary ism preoccupied by the search for 'poetic selves t...