Eureka

A Prose Poem

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Pages: 82

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Read by Scotty Smith · 4 h 32 min · 9 parts

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Preface and pages 7-22
32:54
pages 23-37
31:27
pages 37-52
29:54
pages 53-63
21:18
pages 63-81
35:37
pages 81-95
25:25
pages 95-112
34:59
pages 112-128
31:27
pages 128-143
29:30

Eureka (1848) is a public domain work.

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About this book

Edgar Allan Poe approaches the universe as a subject for both argument and poetry in this 1848 work. His starting idea connects the variety of existing things to an original unity, and his preface asks that the composition be judged as a poem. The opening then turns to a fanciful letter whose account of philosophical methods makes room for intuition and imagination alongside logical reasoning.

The discussion moves between the nature of knowledge and the observation of stars. Poe weighs the difference between explaining facts through a hypothesis and proving that hypothesis. He also examines reports from powerful telescopes and their bearing on Laplace's theory of cosmic formation. Readers interested in the meeting of literature, philosophy and astronomy can follow a writer testing the reach of scientific explanations while shaping his own picture of the whole universe.

About the author

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as one of the central figures of Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the United States and of early American literature.