EUREKA: A PROSE POEM
Edgar Allan Poe
In this remarkable work, master story-teller Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) builds on known
scientific truths to propound a universe governed by the immutable laws of attraction and
repulsion, i.e., expansion and a return to unity. The irascible, vindictive God of the Old Testament
and the Deist's Master Clockmaker are routed by Poe's pantheistic World Spirit who, through the
force of expansion, is diffused throughout his creation. Moreover, we humans are all part of this
universal spirit and each of us is his own god. Published after his death, as Poe desired, Eureka
remains a startlingly different work from the author's more popular offerings.
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