Analysis Of Mysticism In Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat And The Tell-tale Heart

Edgar Allan Poe is a prominent American poet, short story writer and critic in the 19 th century, who holds a distinctive position in American literature as well as in world literature. Poe is considered as one of the earliest American short story creators and the inventor of the defective fiction genre. He is also known as a contributor to the emerging genre of mystic fiction.Mysticism is a constellation of distinctive practices, discourses, texts, institutions, traditions, and experiences aimed at human transformation, variously defined in different traditions. The term "Mysticism" has Ancient Greek origins, with various, and historically determined meanings. Derived from the Greek language, meaning “to conceal”, it referred to the biblical, the liturgical and the spiritual or contemplative dimensions in early and medieval Christianity and became associated with “extraordinary experiences and states of mind” in the early modern period.In this paper, the author analyzed Poe’s contribution in the area of literature and summarized the theories of Eckhart’s and Al-Ghazzali’s on Mysticism. As a step in that direction, the writer regarded Mysticism as a tool to present Poe’s works in a different angle. At first, the origination and development of Mysticism came into view. Then based on the connections between Mysticism and religions, social factors, the writer analyzed the reasons and effects of mystic elements in Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat. Finally, taking the usage of Mysticism on later generation especially the mystic thoughts and works as a carrier, the writer paid attention to the influence of Mysticism.