Never Bet The Devil Your Head Transcendentalism

Never Bet the Devil Your Head is an attack on transcendentalism, more than once the narrator calls transcendentalism a disease afflicting Toby Dammit. In fact Edgar Allan Poe is know for admitting a distaste for transcendentalists, whom he coined "Frogpondians" after the pond in the Boston Common. In particular Poe ridiculed their writings by describing them as "obscurity for obscurity sake.” At the most literal level, Never Bet the Devil Your Head is about a man who routinely ends his sentences by offering to bet the devil his head that he can do whatever he claims he can. One day, while Dammit and the narrator are walking together, the devil appears, takes him at his word, and he wins Toby’s head. Taken at face value, the point of the tale is weak, and the reader feels cheated. However, one must look deeper into the story in order to uncover Poe’s criticisms regarding transcendentalism, and even deeper still to discover his criticisms on other philosophical beliefs.
Never Bet the Devil Your Head is a rough sketch used to show the not so obvious flaws among these groups ideas. The weaknesses in the Transcendentalists position explored through Toby’s annoying habits and weak character. The materialist and literalist position is personified in the Devil’s appearance and the subsequent betting of Toby’s head. And the perceived social and moralistic positions are exemplified in the narrator's warped views of morality and questionable beliefs. Depending on which of the aforementioned philosophical ways of living the reader chooses to focus on Poe’s critique is not only of transcendentalism, though it may be the most prevalent. But it instead is comprised of an attack on transcendentalism, materialism, and the adaption to social acceptability as a