The Marriage of Heaven and Earth Frontispiece from Margaret Fuller’s Woman in the Nineteenth Century(1846). The Marriage of Heaven and Earth Alchemical Regeneration in the Works of Taylor, Poe, Hawthorne, and Fuller RANDALL A. CLACK Contributionsto the Studyof AmericanLiterature,Number6 GreenwoodPress Westport,Connecticut • London LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Clack,RandallA.,1958– Themarriageofheavenandearth : alchemicalregenerationintheworksof Taylor,Poe,Hawthorne,andFuller / RandallA.Clack. p. cm.—(ContributionstothestudyofAmericanliterature,ISSN1092–6356 ; no.6) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN0–313–31269–9(alk.paper) 1. Americanliterature—19thcentury—Historyandcriticism. 2. Alchemyin literature. 3. Taylor,Edward,1642–1729—Criticismandinterpretation. 4. Poe, EdgarAllan,1809–1849—Criticismandinterpretation. 5. Hawthorne,Nathaniel, 1804–1864—Criticismandinterpretation. 6. Fuller,Margaret,1810–1850— Criticismandinterpretation. 7. Regenerationinliterature. I. Title. II. Series. PS217.A43C57 2000 810.9'37—dc21 99–058878 BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationDataisavailable. Copyright(cid:2)2000byRandallA.Clack Allrightsreserved.Noportionofthisbookmaybe reproduced,byanyprocessortechnique,withoutthe expresswrittenconsentofthepublisher. LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:99–058878 ISBN:0–313–31269–9 ISSN:1092–6356 Firstpublishedin2000 GreenwoodPress,88PostRoadWest,Westport,CT06881 AnimprintofGreenwoodPublishingGroup,Inc. www.greenwood.com PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica TM Thepaperusedinthisbookcomplieswiththe PermanentPaperStandardissuedbytheNational InformationStandardsOrganization(Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 CopyrightAcknowledgments The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission for use of the following material: RandallA.Clack.“‘StrangeAlchemyofBrain’:PoeandAlchemy.”InACompanionto PoeStudies,ed.EricW.Carlson,367–87.Westport,Conn.:GreenwoodPress(animprint ofGreenwoodPublishingGroup,Inc.,Westport,CT),1996. RandallA.Clack.“TheAlchemyofLove:Hawthorne’sHermeticAllegoryoftheHeart.” ESQ:AJournaloftheAmericanRenaissance41(1995):307–38. RandallA.Clack.“TheTransmutationofSoul:TheOpusAlchymicumCelestialandEd- ward Taylor’s ‘Meditation 1.8.’” Seventeenth-Century News 50(Spring/Summer1992): 6–10. JeffreySteele.“Freeingthe‘PrisonedQueen’:TheDevelopmentofMargaretFuller’sPo- etry.”InStudiesintheAmericanRenaissance,ed.JoelMyerson,137–75.Charlottesville: UniversityPressofVirginia,1992. Michael Maier. Atalanta Fugiens: An Edition of the Emblems, Fugues andEpigrams. TransandEd.JoscelynGodwin.GrandRapids,Mich.:Phanes,1989. Tothememoryofmyfather,RalphA.Clack, WilliamT.Booth,andReginaldH.Ward Contents Acknowledgments xi Abbreviations xiii 1. AlchemyinEarlyAmerica 1 2. EdwardTaylorandtheTransmutationofSoul 13 3. AlchemicalSpiritsinEighteenth-CenturyAmerica 41 4. Poe’sAlchemyandtheRegenerationofImagination 49 5. Hawthorne’sAlchemyofLove 83 6. FullerandtheGoldenSeed 113 Epilogue 133 WorksCited 137 Index 149