| Acknowledgements | 第1-4页 |
| Abstract | 第4-5页 |
| 内容摘要 | 第5-7页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第7-10页 |
| 1. A brief review of Poe’s reputation | 第7-8页 |
| 2. The duality of Poe | 第8-10页 |
| Chapter Two “Elevating the soul”—the unity of effect determines all | 第10-21页 |
| 1. Areview of Poe’s literary criticism | 第10-14页 |
| ·Poe’s review of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales | 第10-11页 |
| ·The Philosophy of Composition | 第11-12页 |
| ·The Poetic Principle | 第12-14页 |
| 2. A comparison between traditions and Poe’s literary principles | 第14-21页 |
| ·The social function of literary works | 第14-16页 |
| ·The ways of composing literary works | 第16-21页 |
| Chapter Three “Art for art’s sake”—“beautiful”themes have been adopted | 第21-38页 |
| 1. The historical origins of Poe’s unique taste | 第21-27页 |
| ·Resemblance to Aristotle’s theories about the nature of tragedy | 第21-24页 |
| ·Inspiration from the evolution of theories about the sublime | 第24-27页 |
| 2. Anti-rational and anti-religious themes in Poe’s tales | 第27-38页 |
| ·The anti-rational theme | 第27-33页 |
| ·Doubt about reason | 第28-30页 |
| ·Satire on reason | 第30-33页 |
| ·The anti-religious theme | 第33-38页 |
| Chapter Four “One-man modernist”—a craftsman of modernistic techniques | 第38-43页 |
| 1. Psychoanalysis in Poe’s works | 第38-40页 |
| 2. The symbolic touch of Poe’s works | 第40-41页 |
| 3. The originator of modern detective story | 第41-43页 |
| Chapter Five Conclusion | 第43-46页 |
| Bibliography | 第46-50页 |
