Abstract

Edgar Allan Poe is a very influential romantic novelist, critic and poet in American literature. Poe not only created a lot of Gothic novels in the style of black romance, but also published many famous Gothic poems. Poe’s Gothic poems make full use of Gothic elements, through which he expresses the theme of darkness completely so as to present the horrific beauty for the readers. Almost Poe’s every poem is involved with Gothic elements, such as horror and death. Besides, death images can be found everywhere, which is rare in other poets’ works.
Although the studies on Poe’s works have become hot recently, they mainly focus on his Gothic tradition in novels, while seldom paying attention to his Gothic aesthetics in poetic creation. Therefore, on the basis of previous study, this thesis will put its emphasis on the Gothic aesthetics in his poems. Combining his unique writing style, Poe’s absorbs and inherits Gothic style to fully explore horror and pain. In Poe’s poems, Gothic aesthetics is often presented as death. As an aesthetic form, the horror, cruelty and ugliness of death has become another form of beauty. By analyzing the theme of death, we can better understand Poe’s poetic Gothic beauty and acquire the spiritual experience of death awareness so as to strengthen the understanding of life.
Firstly, this thesis introduces Poe’s literary status and his poetic style; explore his motivation of Gothic poetic creation by reviewing his miserable life experience and the background of his times. For the second part, it dwells on the origin and development of   Gothic literature and its features. The third part interprets Poe’s several classic Gothic poems, including “The Raven”, “Annabel Lee”, and “To Helen”, etc. By reviewing the Gothic elements in them, like Gothic image, Gothic atmosphere, Gothic aesthetic value and the death of beauty, we aim to explore the deep reason for Poe’s Gothic poetic creation. The last part is the conclusion of this thesis.

Keywords:  Edgar Allan Poe  poetry  Gothic aesthetics  death 

摘要

埃德加·爱伦·坡是美国文学史上一位极有影响力的浪漫主义小说家，评论家和诗人。坡在创作大量被称为“黑色浪漫主义”的哥特小说的同时，还出版了脍炙人口的哥特诗歌。坡的哥特诗歌通过应用哥特元素，把黑色浪漫的主题表现地淋漓尽致，为读者展示出恐怖之美。细读坡的诗歌，几乎每篇都涉及到恐怖、死亡等哥特元素，死亡意象更是随处可见，这在其他诗人的作品中是罕见的。
尽管近年来对于坡的学术研究趋热，但研究大都是其小说中的哥特传统，对其诗歌中的哥特美学，批评界较少涉及。在前人研究的基础上，本文将重点探讨坡诗歌创作中的哥特美学。坡在诗歌中吸纳和传承了哥特式传奇色彩，展示了恐怖和痛苦。在坡笔下，哥特美学主要以死亡形式呈现的，死亡成为一种审美形式，死亡的恐怖、残酷乃至丑陋都成为另一种形式的美。通过分析其诗歌作品中的死亡主题，我们能更好地理解坡诗化了的哥特之美，获得对死亡意识的心灵体验，加深对生命意义的了解。
论文第一部分主要介绍了坡的文学地位和诗歌风格，并从坡悲惨的人生经历、所处的时代背景等方面来探讨坡进行哥特诗歌创作的原因。第二部分梳理西方文学中的哥特源流和哥特文学特征。第三部分将重点分析坡的经典哥特诗，如《乌鸦》、《致海伦》、《安娜·贝尔·李》等，解读其中的哥特元素，包括哥特意象、哥特氛围的营造、哥特美学意义、美女之死等，探究坡诗歌中哥特美学的深层次原因。最后是论文的总结部分。

关键词: 埃德加·爱伦·坡；诗歌；哥特美学；死亡