Summary: An Insight Into The Philosophy In The The Literary World Of Edgar Allen Poe

Edgar Allen Poe was an author, editor and literary critic, who shaped the literary world within western culture. He pioneered the beginning of science fiction, detective stories and various other genres of literature. Along with this, Poe compiled many short stories some of his most recognized include: “The Mask of the Red Death”, “The Fall House of Usher” and his only completed novel titled The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. It is no question that Poe profoundly influenced modern American literature and his efforts continue to be noticed in today's era.

The question at hand is, what is Poe's philosophy of composition and how is essentially defined in his essay? Poes compositional technique utilizes an emphasis on logical structure, effect, and extent. Additionally, other considerations can also be identified in his work and will be further explained as we progress through the essay; however, it is these three elements that vividly define his philosophy of composition.

A Logical method is the structure on which the entire premise of the poem is centered upon.

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Poe mentions that every poem or work of literary art is done in a strict mathematical matter, and that no literary work starts or ends by a fluke or mistake. He mentions no author will admit this as “ at the fully-matured fancies discarded in despair as unmanageable—at the cautious selections and rejections—at the painful erasures and interpolations—in a word”. This means it would belittle an author for the public to know how much thorough consideration goes into a single sitting piece of literature.

In the third stanza, Poe mentions there is an error within most methods of storytelling. Within this method, the author will start with a baseline idea that advances the plot and transforms the narrative which then creates the premise of the story. Poe, however, takes a different approach as he begins his work with the conclusion of the story. He uses the conclusion as the foundation from which the story will unravel; where in character and event in the story acts as a mouthpiece ensuring that the plot advances based on the thesis of the conclusion.

By beginning with the denouement of the story, Poe is able to develop the plot to better suit the stories desired outcome. He acknowledges the denouement when stating, “ it is only with the denouncement constantly in view that we can give a plot tend to the development of intention”. This ensures that the authors ideas and tone are aligned with the intended denouement which provides the plot with what Poe calls an “indispensable air of consequence” . He first mentions the effect of a story’s length to all compositions. He notes that all literary works should be short enough to read in a single sitting. He believes if they are overly extensive it decreases the importance of artistic elements and effect, which he also believes is peculiarly true for short stories and poems. Poe makes comparisons of his process to that of a mathematical problem meaning that within his writing there are no accidents. Every line is condensed and written within the poem to serve a purpose as it is the initial reason that forwarded Poe to limit “The Raven” to 100 lines, when it is in fact 108.

Lastly, Poe discusses the importance of effect and the poems sole intent. He writes, “ beauty is the sole legitimate province of the poem, melancholy is this the most legitimate of all political tones”. Thus meaning that melancholy is the set tone for “The Raven”. He argues, “the death of a beautiful woman is the most poetical topic in the world…”. Poe can attribute this to the death of his mother and wife. After concluding these decisions, he then comes to decide the artistic flavour that serves as the ‘key-note’. One effect used was that of refrain as he suggests, “ the refrain or burden, is only limited to lyric verse, but depends for it’s impression upon the force of monotone- both in sound and thought”. Thus providing reason to why Poe uses ‘nevermore’ at the end of each stanza, partially for the phonetics as it sounds like the lovers lost wife named Lenore. Additionally, the word ‘nevermore’ is short enough to not decrease readability.

Poe provides an insight into the philosophy of how a piece is composed. It is apparent that no single work of literature, long or short is merely thrown together by accident. Every body of work within its frame of reference is its own mathematical equation to equal the authors satisfaction. Poe does an incredible job at describing his own method as it is evident that there is more to be considered than initially thought.