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

[page 72:]

Below is given a list of French writers to whom Poe refers in his various writings. These writers are listed in order of frequence of occurrence in Poe's works and the dates of the writers given so as to indicate the period of French literature with which Poe was most familiar.

Though much has been written concerning Poe's influence on French writers little has ever been done concerning the possibility of the influence of certain French writers on Poe. The present chapter deals with indications of influences exerted by French writers on the writings of Poe.. These indications do not represent research but they are collected and given more as suggested subjects for careful research. First will be given a few extracts from writers of literature concerning Poe and French.

Edmund C. Stedman in His [[his]] Poets of America speaking of the French and Latin authors whom [page 75:] Poe quotes says, “His French tendencies were natural and he learned enough of the language to read much of its current literature and get hold of modes unknown to many of his fellow-writers . . . . . . . . In some way, known to genius, he (Poe) also caught the romance of France, of Italy, of the Orient and one tale or another is transfused with their atmosphere.(1)

James A. Harrison, in an introduction to a volume of Poe's literary criticisms, speaks of Pinakidia which is a collection of Poe's critical reviews: “ ——— The collection is psychologically interesting as showing Poe's wide reading at twenty-seven, the cast of his mind, and his incidental industrious habits of holding on to what he once had gained, afterwards so remarkably shown in his Marginalia, in which he exemplified the French habit of self-quotation. La-Bruyere-like characterization, and autograph epigram after the fashion of Pascal and La Rochefoucauld.(2) [page 76:]

Fred L. Pattee in his book entitled, The Development of the American Short Story, speaks of Poe's French, ——— “How much German he knew is open to question but in French he was carefully trained and he had read enough of it to catch to perfection the French lightness and finesse. ‘The Duc de L’Omelette’ is essentially French in its art. In ‘Bon Bon’ he finally works him to a neatly turned climax in the crackling epigrammatic French paragraph stye.”(1)

It would be impossible in a study of this nature to evaluate or compare in detail the individual influences of French writers on Poe. However, a few comments will be made concerning some of the outstanding writers whom Poe quotes most often. The writer will also give some of the comments Poe makes in regard to these writers.

As the tabulation shows, Voltaire is the writer to whom Poe most often refers. Although Poe criticizes Voltaire, many times, he was probably influenced by Voltaire's philosophical contes. [page 77:] In “Zadig” one of Voltaire's best tales he uses certain detective methods probably appealed to Poe. Poe mentions “Zadig” as well as Voltaire's tragedy “Zaire”. Voltaire's style is highly artistic and there is a possibility that Poe may have been influenced by this.

De Beranger closely follows Voltaire in the bnumber of times quoted by Poe. Beranger was a notable writer of French songs and his works are characteristic by fantasy and revery. Poe in the Poetic Principle says of Beranger: “De Beranger has wrought brilliant things, pungent and spirit stirring — but like all immasive bodies they lack momentum, and thus fail to satisfy the Poetic Sentiment. They sparkle and excite but, from want of continuity, fail deeply to impress.” “In this review of ‘National Melodies of America’ by George P. Morris, reviewed in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, December 1839, Poe speaks of indefiniteness in sone and says — ‘coming down to our own times it is the vital principle in De Beranger.’”(1) [page 78:]

Poe at several times refers to Rabelais’ “Gargantua” in such a way to make one believe that he was familiar with this writing. The “Gargantua” is a story of the enormous giant Gargantum and is an example of Rabelais’ extravagance of imagination. Rabelais chose unusual subjects and was ahead of his age in ideas as Poe was ahead of his time. Rabelais drew his vocabulary from every conceivable source and used dialects, and foreign words.

In his “Essay on Secret Writing” Poe speaks of Berryer's penetrating mind and his ability to solve cryptographical problems. As Poe was very much interested in cryptographs he must have been attracted by Berryer's writings. Poe says of Berryer “a biographist of Berryer calls him ‘l’homme qui, dans as description, demands la plus grande quantité possible d’antithèses.”

Chateaubriand whom Poe often was the first in France to draw attention to the literary resources of the middle ages. His genius [page 79:] “made itself felt through the double force of his morbid charm and his expansive imagination.”(1) In literary art Chateaubriand marks an era and his style left its mark on literature. Poe was possibly attracted by his themes and style of writing. On account of Poe's undoubted acquaintance with Chateaubriand's ‘Genie de Christianisme’ it has been assumed that the first suggestion of ‘The Bells’ was derived from this source.”(2)

Poe quotes from Corneille who was one of the great classic dramatists. His stories often deal with horror and his dramas deal with the extraordinary. Poe quotes from Corneille's ‘Cid’, which was the French tragedy.

Racine was an artist in his technique of poetry. Poe mentions three of Racine's works, Andromaque, Phedre, (which Poe calls Phaedra) and Berenice, which is Racine's greatest tragedy. That Poe was conscious of Racine's style in evident as Poe says in the “Marginalia.” “La Harpe, (who was no critic) has nevertheless done little [page 80:] more than strict justice to the fine taste and precise finish of Racine in all that regards the minor morals of literature.

Boileau was the guardian of Classical culture and much of his work is satirical. Poe says in the “Marginalia” —— “Macaulay, in his jut admiration of Addison, overrates Ticknell, and does not seem to be aware how much the author of ‘The Elegy’ is indebted to French models. Boileau especially he robbed without mercy.” Poe claims that many fine things have been taken from the French.

On several occasions Poe quotes Balzac who had a wonderful faculty for short tales His characters are never fully human and the atmosphere in which they are placed has something of the unreality. Stedman in his Poets of America says, “The poet's analytic faculty has been compared to that of Balzac, but a parallel goes no father than the material side. In condensation he surpassed either Balzac or Hawthorne.”(1) [page 81:]

Victor Hugo has been called (by Babbitt) “next to Chateaubriand the great linguist” of French literature . . . . . he had the widest range of vocabulary of all French poets. In Poe's article on the “Defects in the Technique of Barnaby Rudge,” he criticizes the lack of unity of time and place in Dickens, saying, ‘The Notre Dame’ of Hugo affords a fine example of the force which can be gained by concentration or unity of place.” Poe's own following of this idea of concentration or totality of effect shows that he was in sympathy with Hugo's art.

The foregoing comparisons and comments have been given merely to indicate the need for further research in this field.

[[Footnotes]]

[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 75:]

1. Stedman, Edmund C. Poets of America, p. 261. Published by Houghton Mifflin and Co. New York, 1903.

2. Harrison, James A. Essays, Literati, Autography, Introduction p. vi. Published by Thomas Y. Crowell, New York, 1901.

[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 76:]

1. Pattee, Fred Lewis, The Development of the American Short Story, p. 125. Published by Harper and Brothers, New York, 1923.

[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 77:]

1. Smith, C. Alphonso, Edgar Allan Poe: How to Know Him, p. 109. Published by Bobbs-Merrill Co., New York, 1921.

[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 79:]

1. Nitze and Dargan. A History of French Literature, p. 516. Published by Henry Holt and Co., New York, 1922.

2. Steward [[Stewart]], Robert A. Poems and Tales, p. 52, (as book is misplaced in library cannot give publisher) [[Atlanta, Richmond, Dallas: B. F. Johnson Publishing Co., 1911]]

[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 80:]

1. Stedman, Edmund C. Poets of America, p. 258. Published by Houghton Mifflin and Co. New York, 1903.