Lizzie Doten Analysis

In 1909, New York Timesnewspaper published an article in its November issue under the name Laureate of Spookland: Strange Case of Lizzie Doten, Writer of ‘Spirit Verse’ praisingthe medium Lizzie Doten’s ability in communicating with dead poets and publishing their poems in her book Poems from the Inner Life(New York Times, 1909). Even though that forty-five years had passed since the publication of her book, Doten still received notice from one of the leading newspapers. Her popularity derived from communicating with spirits was not uncommon. Along with being seen as a movement that helped in promoting radical political and cultural beliefs such as women’s rights and abolitionism, spiritualism, the belief in the possibility in communicating
Upon describing the nature in which these poems were composed, Doten proclaims that they were ‘given under direct spirit influence before public audience. For many of them I could not obtain the authorship, but for such as I could, the names are given’(Doten, 1865). Her book contains rewritten versions of Poe’s poems. Six poems were composed with Poe’s spirit and a lecture under the name of ‘The Mysteries f Godliness’ (Doten, 1865) was dedicated to discuss Poe’s supposedly last poem ‘Farewell to Earth’ (Doten, 1865). Doten asserts in the preface to Poems from Inner Life that she ‘had never read, to my knowledge, any of his [Poe’s] poems, save "The Raven," and that I had not seen for several years’ (Doten, 1865). Her claim of being ignorant to Poe’s work is dubious given the similarities between Doten and Poe’s styles in writing. Related to this point, many critics argue that her poems are recreated versions of Poe’s poems. Professor Shawn James Rosenheim, for instance, argues the impossibility of accepting Doten’s prior statement without acknowledging her mediumship(Rosenheim, 1997). Rosenheim continues his argument by pointing out the similarities between Poe and Doten’s poetic styles. He lists the similarities by pointing out that ‘ “The Cradle or Coffin” [by Doten] adopts the metrical structure of “Ulalume” [by Poe],
Nathaniel Hawthorne, for instance, had treated the theme of mesmerism and mediumship in his novel The Blithedale Romance (1852) in the character of the veiled lady, mesmerized medium who communicates with spirits. In order to answer this question, it is essential to look at Doten’s circle of connections. Doten was part of a group of female poets who claimed the ability to communicate with Poe telepathically. These women includes Sarah Helen Whitman, Poe’s former fiancé, Mary Forest, Sarah Gould as well as Lizzie Doten. They express their fascination with Poe by exchanging letters and poems convey massages from Poe from the spirit world. David Haven Blake refers to this circle by using the phrase ‘fan community’ (Blake, 2012)and uses the critic Richard Schickel’s term ‘illusion of intimacy’ (Schickel, 2005)in describing their assumed relationship with Poe. Their fascination with Poe established an ‘illusion of intimacy’ (Schickel, 2005)with the deceased poet. While Blake describes this practice with Schickel’s ‘illusion of intimacy’, Schickeldescribes this activity as an attempt to form a ‘mystic kinship’ (Schickel, 2005), among the members of this circle. I argue that being part of this circle contributed to Doten’s choice of Poe. Especially that Sarah Helen Whitman was part of this circle. Whitman was Poe’s former fiancé and she wrote a book called Edgar Poe and His Critics