The Philosophy of Composition

“Of the innumerable effects, or impressions, of which the heart, the intellect, or (more generally) the soul is susceptible, what one shall I, on the present occasion, select?”

For Poe, authors must choose what effect they want to produce in their readers before they begin to write. Once they have selected this effect, they must decide on the elements needed to achieve it. This idea is directly connected to Poe’s argument that the starting point of a narrative is its end, whether it’s the outcome of the plot or the effect on the reader.

“It is my design to render it manifest that no one point in its composition is referable either to accident or intuition—that the work preceded, step-by-step, to its completion with the precision and rigid consequence of a mathematical problem.”

Poe is critical of the Romantic notion that a literary work is the result of intuition or inspiration and that writers produce their work irrationally. He argues that writing requires analysis and logic like the solution to a mathematical problem. He believes that a good writer thinks both inductively and deductively.

“If any literary work is too long to be read at one sitting, we must be content to dispense with the immensely important effect deliverable from unity of impression.”

A central aspect of Poe’s aesthetics is the notion of “unity of impression,” or “unity of effect,” which he considers essential for the success of a literary work. The need for unity of effect will limit the length of a text: if it is too long and a reader cannot read it in one sitting, the author will sacrifice unity.

“It is needless to demonstrate that a poem is such, only inasmuch as it intensely excites, by elevating, the soul; and all intense excitements are, through a psychal necessity, brief—for it is clear that the brevity must be in direct ratio of the intensity of the intended effect.”

Poe argues that poetry elevates the soul because it brings the reader into contact with beauty in an intense way. But such intensity can only be maintained for a brief period. Because of that, if a poem is long, it loses its intensity and its beauty.

“It appears evident, then, that there is a distinct limit, as regards length, to all works of literary art—the limit of a single sitting—and that, although in certain classes of prose composition, such as ‘Robinson Crusoe,’ (demanding no unity,) this limit may be advantageously overpassed, it can never properly be overpassed in a poem.”

Poe acknowledges that in longer prose works such as the novel Robinson Crusoe the unity of effect cannot be maintained, as they cannot be read in one sitting. This model cannot be followed in poems, however, because they demand unity and to achieve the intensity that defines a literary work as a poem.

“Beauty is the sole legitimate province of the poem.”

Poe argues that a poem’s main effect should be allowing readers to contemplate beauty. Its main goal is not to present truth or excite passion, even if this may happen to some degree.

“That pleasure which is at once the most intense, the most elevating, and the most pure, is, I believe, found in the contemplation of the beautiful.”

Poe, like other Romantics, believes that the encounter with beauty has a positive effect on the soul. The aesthetic experience of contemplating something beautiful acquires an ethical and metaphysical dimension because it is said to “elevate” the observer.

“Regarding, then, Beauty as my province, my next question referred to the tone of its highest manifestation—and all experience has shown that this tone is one of sadness. Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears. Melancholy is thus the most legitimate of all the po­etical tones.”

Poe considers beauty as an ideal, and, given its ideal nature, not something that can be acquired permanently. Rather than associating beauty with joy (as perhaps in a beautiful garden or in a beautiful representation of the divine), Poe argues that beauty can be created most effectively in the depiction of sadness.

“Having made up my mind to a refrain, the division of the poem into stanzas was, of course, a corollary: the refrain forming the close to each stanza. That such a close, to have force, must be sonorous and susceptible of protracted emphasis, admitted no doubt: and these considerations inevitably led me to the long o as the most sonorous vowel, in connection with r as the most producible consonant.”

Poe claims he decided to have a refrain due to practical considerations regarding the effect he intended to generate. He states that a refrain is a useful element in a poem, and he concludes that it should appear at the end of each stanza. He analyzes which sounds will produce a mournful effect, and from this, he concludes that the best refrain for his poem is “Nevermore.”

“‘Of all melancholy topics, what, according to the universal understanding of mankind, is the most melancholy?’—Death was the obvious reply. ‘And when,’ I said, ‘is this most melancholy of topics, most poetical?’ From what I have already explained at some length, the answer, here also, is obvious—‘When it most closely allies itself to Beauty; the death, then, of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world—and equally is it beyond doubt that the lips best suited for such a topic are those of a bereaved lover.’”

This quotation condenses Poe’s aesthetics as expressed in the essay. After defining the contemplation of beauty as the essence of poetry and stating that melancholy is the highest form of beauty, Poe concludes that the most suitable topic for poetry, one that has the elements of beauty and sadness, is the death of a beautiful woman as experienced by her lover.

“And here I may as well say a few words of the versification. My first object (as usual) was originality. The extent to which this has been neglected, in versification, is one of the most unaccountable things in the world.”

Poe recognizes that the possibilities of originality are limited where the meter of the verse is concerned. However, the combination of different meters and rhyme in a stanza are endless, and this is where the originality of his poem lies.

“So far, everything is within the limits of the accountable—of the real.”

Poe claims that the events of “The Raven” are plausible and not fantastic; it is possible to give a rational explanation for a raven coming indoors during a storm. However, the poem also hints at a supernatural explanation. While this interpretation is suggested in the poem, it could also be explained by the student’s gradual loss of touch with reality.

“But in subjects so handled, however skillfully, or with however vivid an array of incident, there is always a certain hardness or nakedness, which repels the artistical eye. Two things are invariably required—first, some amount of complexity, or more properly, adaptation; and, secondly, some amount of suggestiveness.”

Even if the plot of a narrative poem such as “The Raven” has been carefully constructed, there is a risk that it might be too blunt. To avoid this, the writer must make it more complex or subtle. He must also make the story more “suggestive,” which in this case means a supernatural and otherworldly dimension to the poem that is open to alternative interpretations.