Text: Rebecca C. Tansil, “Abstract,” French Language and French Influence in the Works of Edgar Allan Poe (1827), pp. i-ii

[page i:]

This thesis presents a study of the French language and French influences in the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

A study of Poe's life has been made to discover the training he had in the French language and the contact he had with French literature. After this study of his life Poe's prose works have been examined and a tabulation made of the French words, phrases and references appearing in these selections. The poetry has been omitted from the study because of the negligible amount of French in this field.

Chapters II and III show in detail the amount of French used in Poe's prose works. Of the sixty-five tales examined thirty-six contain French words, phrases and references. More references appear in Poe's essays and critical reviews than in his tales. The French in these prose selections ranges from single words to entire sentences in French. Poe seems to have used French for two purposes —— [page ii:] first for the foreign and aristocratic atmosphere that French lends to a composition, and second for the special meaning that the foreign word imparts.

The French references appearing in Poe's prose works represent forty-three French writers whose dates run from Rabelais, 1495, to Hugo, 1802. The period most often represented is the classical period. A few comparisons of Poe with French writers indicate the need for careful research in the field of literary influences.