Al Aaraaf

The Oxford Companion to American Literature | 1995 | 700+ words | Copyright

Al Aaraaf, allegorical poem by Poe, published in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems (1829) and revised in later printings. With the sonnet “To Science” as a “prologue,” the poem is arranged in two parts, composed of octosyllabic groups, heroic couplets, and songs of two‐ and three‐stress lines.

Al Aaraaf in Mohammedan mythology is a sort of limbo, but in the present allegory it is the brilliant star, briefly observed by Tycho Brahe, which the poet imagines to be the birthplace of the “Idea of Beauty.” To this haven of ideal loveliness is carried the earth‐born youth Angelo, but his worship is removed from the realm of the ideal by his passion for the maiden Ianthe. Because of their passion they do not hear the summons sent them by the presiding spirit Nesace, through her agent Ligeia, and they fall to perdition:…for Heaven to them no hope imparts
Who hear not for the beating of their hearts.

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James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Al Aaraaf." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Al Aaraaf." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-AlAaraaf.html

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Al Aaraaf." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-AlAaraaf.html

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