Edgar Allan Poe, Morella

Slobodan Sucur (University of Alberta)

Ed. by Stephen E. Meats, Pittsburg State University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.2: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth Century, 1783-1900.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1835

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

“Morella” (1835) is described by T.O. Mabbott as “one of the great stories in Poe’s early Arabesque manner” (

Poe

2:221). The tale makes use of the theory of “metempsychosis”, also of the “superstition that gods and men must answer when their right names are spoken” (2:221). The name of the narrator’s wife is taken from that of a real person, Juliana Morella, celebrated in Spain in the first half of the 17th century for her powers of mind; she knew fourteen languages and eventually entered the convent of St. Praxedia at Avignon (2:221-2). The lady is now known, according to the

Catholic Encyclopedia

(1911), as the “Venerable Mother Juliana Morell” (qtd. in

Poe

2:222). The wife’s name is appropriate suggests Mabbott for “‘morel’ is one of the names of the…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

4069 words

Citation: Sucur, Slobodan. "Morella". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 November 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38907, accessed 01 May 2024.]

Save this article