The Realm of Dream and Memory: Poe’s England

Abstract

This chapter examines place imagery in four tales—“Ligeia,” “Usher,” “William Wilson,” and “The Man of the Crowd”—as fantastic projections of an imaginary England pieced together in part from recollections of Poe’s childhood years, 1815–1820, a time spent in or near London with visits to Scotland. A reconstruction of Poe’s probable experience there must begin with cultural history, contextualizing Regency England; it must also make use of period maps and recognize important correlations, like the proximity of the British Museum to John Allan’s residences. The chapter will chiefly elucidate the problem of place as articulated via the crucial sites and scenes envisioned in the principal tales. These works seem particularly provocative, suggesting that Poe wished to invest remembered places with something like the complex architecture of the unconscious.