*This essay is part of Murray Ellison’s Master’s Thesis from Virginia Commonwealth University on Edgar Allan Poe and Science©. This column was first published on the www.thepoeblog.org
Seldom considered among Poe’s notable literary achievements is that was also one of the first prominent people of the world to write about the science and art about the emerging field of photography, and that he is among the first notable people to have images taken of his likeness. Several original Daguerreotypes of Poe are on exhibit in the Richmond Poe Museum,, including the cover-Cornwall image.
In 1840, he became a writer for Alexander’s Weekly Messenger and published three essays on the newly emerging image copying process, then known as the Daguerreotype. This technology was the earliest prototype for modern photography. Alan Trachtenberg, in Classic Essays on Photography, reprints Poe’s essays on the daguerreotype and calls them among the first commentaries on the processing of film. Trachtenberg writes that “as early as 1828, M. Nicephore Niepce succeeded in producing a photographic image using an invention he called the Camera Obscura” (4). However, Louis Daguerre claimed that his process was quicker than Niepce’s and that his image was seventy times sharper than anything that had previously been developed. “Without any knowledge of chemistry and physics,’ he claimed, “it will be possible to take in a few minutes the most detailed views, the most picturesque scenery… and replicate images of nature (12-13).
Poe exclaims that the Daguerreotype “is, perhaps, the most extraordinary triumph of modern science.”(37). He reports on this subject first as a technical writer, and then as an artist. He writes: “A plate of silver upon copper is prepared, presenting a surface for the action of light, of the most delicate texture conceivable. A high polish is given this plate by means of a steatitic cancerous stone (called a Daguerreolite) and contains equal parts of steatite and carbonate of lime…The plate is then deposited in a Camera Obscura, and the lens of this instrument directed to the object which it is required to paint.” (37). After describing the details needed to manipulate light and exposure time, Poe changes from the style of a technical writer to a writer of narrative prose or poetry, expressing awe about the new technology: “For, in truth, the Daguerreotype is infinitely…more accurate in its representation than any painting by human hands.” Upon closer scrutiny, he marvels, “the photogenic drawing discloses only a more absolute truth, a more perfect identity…with the thing represented.” He adds: “The variations of shade and the gradations of both linear and aerial perspectives, are those of truth itself, in the supremeness of perfection.” He is amazed that a mechanical technology was invented that captures the romantic beauty and perfection of nature – which he believed best expresses the work of the Universe’s Creator. He then reaches far beyond his time and challenges readers to look at this innovation, and try to imagine how it could change the world of the future. The consequences of such an invention, he exclaims, “will exceed, by very much, the wildest expectations of the most imaginative.”
Poe foresaw that future scientists might be able to view previously “inaccessible locations,” like a “lunar chart,” by using this process (38). Poe’s commentaries appear to be favorable about science. However, it can also be conjectured that he was concerned that powerful new technologies might introduce future intrusions on privacy. His essays on the daguerreotype employ both technical and artistic styles in describing one of the most important innovations of his lifetime. He was also one of the earliest historical figures to have had visual images captured on camera of his likeness. Michael Deas has published an excellent book on this subject with “over 70 of Poe’s images and portraits from various periods of his life,” entitled Portraits and Daguerreotypes of Edgar Allan Poe.
Sources
Deas, Michael J. Portraits and Daguerreotypes of Edgar Allan Poe. Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1988.
Trachtenberg, Alan. Classic Essays on Photography, Ed. New Haven: Leetes Island Books, 1980.
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Dr. Murray Ellison received a Master’s in Education from Temple University (1973), a Master’s Degree of Arts in English Literature from Virginia Commonwealth University (2015), and a Doctorate in Education at Virginia Tech (1988). He is married and has three adult daughters and a new grand-daughter! He ‘retired’ as the Virginia Director of Community Corrections for the Department of Correctional Education in 2009. Included in his ‘after-retirement activities,’ he was the founder and chief editor of this literary blog (which is still active) and he is an editor for the International Correctional Education Journal. He is the Co-Editor of the 2016 book of poetry, Mystic Verses, by Acharya Shambhushivananda, and is an Editor for The First Mennonite Church of Richmond’s Newsletter. He serves as a board member and volunteer tour guide for the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond Virginia. Mainly, however, for the last several years, he has taught literature classes for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Richmond and, effective August 2018, he has started teaching English Writing & Research Classes at the Richard Bland College of William & Mary University. Finally, in his ‘spare time,’ he tutors two school youth, does occasional professional editing and coördinates both The Midlothian, Virginia, Classic Book Club and the VCU Working Titles Book Club. Contact Murray at ellisonms2@vcu.edu, or leave a note at the bottom of the post.
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