05-02-2011, 12:00 AM
Poe regarded Eureka as his Magnum Opus, the culmination of his life's work. Written out of the tragedy of his young wife's death from consumption in 1847 after an oppressive five years of suffering, Eureka is Poe's inspired view of life and the universe. Amazingly, Poe seems to anticipate some of the theories of modern science: the time/space continuum, the expanding and contracting universe, a general proposition akin to chaos theory and an explanation (still a valid theory) for why the sky is dark at night. Professor Edward Harrison, in Darkness at Night (Harvard University Press, 1987), an astronomy book, devotes a chapter to Poe, saying "The first clear and correct solution to the riddle of darkness, though only qualitatively expressed, came from Edgar Allan Poe, the renowned poet, essayist, critic and amateur scientist...in [his] imaginative masterpiece, Eureka: A Prose Poem."
Many modern scholars see it as the key to all of Poe's writings: It has been said that if one understands Eureka, one can unlock the mystery of all Poe's work. http://www.astin-poe.com/eureka.html
Eureka had a big effect on me and its what informs me of his fluidity, how he views the universe as both transitory and eternal, and that he sees.
Many modern scholars see it as the key to all of Poe's writings: It has been said that if one understands Eureka, one can unlock the mystery of all Poe's work. http://www.astin-poe.com/eureka.html
Eureka had a big effect on me and its what informs me of his fluidity, how he views the universe as both transitory and eternal, and that he sees.