Moral Dualism has many meanings two of which are its philosophical and theological aspects. The philosophical definition is a view of the world consisting of two fundamental principles, including mind and matter or good and evil. The theological definition a view of the world in which it is ruled by two opposing forces, including good and evil. Three works that show dualism most clearly are Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven, Anne Bradstreet’s The Flesh and The Spirit, and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Nature. While they all depict dualism in their work each writer does it a bit differently. For example, Taylor utilizes the theological definition, while Poe and Emerson use the philosophical definition. However, their biggest difference in their works are their depiction of nature.
Anne Bradstreet was raised as a Puritan in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and wrote private poetry about the feelings going on inside her mind. One of these feelings was the belief that Nature was corrupt and evil, emphasizing the soul as good. In her poem The Flesh and The Spirit she states, “My garments are not silk nor gold, Nor such like trash which Earth doth hold… My Crown not Diamonds, Pearls, and gold, But such as Angels’ heads infold.” This quote is a conversation between two sisters, where Spirit rebukes flesh. It is meant to symbolize the Puritan theological view of the soul over the material. The puritans of that time were taught that everyone was depraved, or totally sinful and wicked. This was because of the original sin of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit. However, with the fall of the of man came the fall of nature. Consequently, just as the flesh is despised by the soul, so is Nature.
Edgar Allen Poe was a writer of the Romantic era known for popularizing the ‘horror’ genre. As a romantic writer he believed that nature was divine place where people could pray to and see the works of God. In his Poem, the Raven, he states, “In there stepped a stately raven…perched upon a bust of Pallas.” He uses the Raven to symbolize the dark and emotion and the bust of Pallas symbolizes light and logic. Poe regularly used dualism in his work to symbolize what he believed was the Bi-part soul. This was a belief that the qualities of empiricist and romanticist values were once one, but they are split. The empiricist value is the logic of Pallas, who symbolizes the Greek Goddess wisdom, Athena. Meanwhile, the romanticist value would be the raven, who is described as, “grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird,” by Poe.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was a transcendentalist, meaning that like Poe he was also a romantic. As a transcendentalist, he believed in Nature being divine and key to finding the secrets of the universe. In his essay, Nature, Emerson states, “Philosophically considered, the universe is composed of Nature and the Soul.” He directly states his two points of his dualism. His essay is broken up into an introduction and eight sections. Emerson states in his fourth section, “1. Words are signs of natural facts. 2. Particular natural facts are symbols of particular spiritual facts. 3. Nature is the symbol of spirit.” He listed this three-part list to state the relationship between nature and human language. According to him, all known words originated from viewing natural entity, which is also symbolic of spiritual facts. The difference between Emerson and Poe because they are both considered romantics is that the transcendentalist put a heavy emphasis on nature being key and looking outward, meanwhile the romantics typically used emotion and less God.
In conclusion, the ideal that differentiates the writers is their use and depiction of nature in their work and overall life. First, Anne Bradstreet was a puritan and as a result had strong belief of the spirit prevailing over the material. As a result, her and many other Puritans distrusted nature, thinking it to be a part of the original sin. Second, Edgar Allen Poe was a romantic writer, so he differed from Bradstreet in that he saw Nature as divine. However, his main point he depicted was the bi-part soul where logic from empiricism and the emotion of romanticism split. Third, Ralph Waldo Emerson was a transcendentalist, so he also saw nature as divine, but he took it a step further than Poe in that he saw nature as the basis for our entire language. While all writers had different writing styles and ways of portraying duality, they all created beautiful works that have lived in high regard even up until now.
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