The Philosophy of Compositio

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19 October 2013

Read Poe’s “The Philosophy Of Composition”, Identify The Elements That Poe Demands Of

Good Poetry, And Explore The Degree To Which “Annabel Lee” Is A Good Example

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The Philosophy of Composition

The philosophy of composition was first publishName

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The Philosophy of Composition

The philosophy of composition was first published in 1846 in the Graham’s Magazine. It

offers an explanation into Poe’s process of composing the poem “The Raven.” It also acts as

a template for the composition of poetry in a more general way.This book therefore tends to

act as a true prescription for writing poetry. Many critics have however seen it as a ploy to

met satirical attack on other writers and keep much attention to Poe. There are notable

moments of extreme exaggerations by Poe in this poem but his central critical and central

ideas lie on such poetic styles for example unity of effect, and beauty as the main motive of

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poetry. In the poem “The Raven” for example Poe puts into the foreground the importance of

design or a clear sense of purpose while designing any literary work e is against those poets

who hold the view that ecstatic intuition should be the basis of composition.

The emergence of Romanticism for example had brought this ecstatic influence into the

world of poetry at this time. Poe was however against this hyper sentimental treatment in

poetry. In other words, rather than the poem becoming a mere expression of emotion, it also

needed to in cooperate precision and rigid consequences of a calculated problem in order to

capture and communicate psychological states to the reader. In this essay Poe argues that

literary design begins with the idea of effect. This effect on the other hand must be novel and

vivid to the reader. In addition, the effect should be universally appreciable and also suit in

one a full way the popular and critical taste of the reader. In this essay, Poe discusses the idea

of circumstance in poetry. It is this circumstance that also creates the necessity of universal

appeal.

The circumstance should however conform to literary market of the time. The critical

emphases of Poe lie on the unity of impression in any artwork. Unity of impression according

to him means that every element of the poem or a short story should work towards having a

similar effect in the reader. He however looks at the element of unity in two ways. The first

perspective is the emphasis on extent, in that any work, in order to achieve this unity must be

consumable in one sitting. This limit is particularly true for the poem “Annabel Lee”. The

second point on precision comes from the common knowledge that there is no thing as a long

poem. Any long poems are thus a manifestation of a series of poems interposed among

several prosaic moments. (Poe 1979:499 -500).The second idea that is developed out of his

emphasis on unity of effect is that poetry as opposed to prose is particularly made for beauty.

He argues that beauty rather than being a mere quality inhering in an object also refers to an

effect in the reader bringing an entire elevation of the soul.

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He therefore contrasts this effect from those that address the heart known as passion and

those addressing the intellect also known as the truth. His poetry tends to deal with the three

parts of demonstrates his application of the theoretical hypotheses in artistic creation.

Annabel Lee is made up of a total of 41 lines distributed in six stanzas in the pattern of

6/6/8/6/7/8.It is notable that the number of lines in each stanza varies and Poe deliberately

extends the characteristic quatrain of the traditional ballad. Brevity as a quality of good

poetry provides condensation of meaning and Annabel Lee confirms this function. Moreover,

Poe notes that lines are not only richly ideal, but full of energy; breathing an evident sincerity

of sentiment. (Poe 1979:503).From the present day point of view Poe’s modern attitude can

be extolled as opposed to the puritanical tendency to value literature for moral reasons. Poe

restores the rights of art by rising up as a module of all poetic and literary creation, the most

absolute freedom of the artist, irrespective of historical rules, or current fashions.

The poetic originality of this poet is in contrast with the mediocre aesthetic standard of his

time. Annabel Lee is thus a poem without a didactic purpose, without a message and only

valued for its artistic beauty and does not relay truth at the end. If that which is beautiful is

true naturally, this so much the better, but the fact that it is also fantastic and imaginary grants

the message in the poem more beautiful. The world of art is judged can only be judged based

on aesthetic suppositions. Poe considers poetry as beauty and to be judged by taste. He goes

ahead to mention that just as the intellect concerns itself with truth, so taste informs us the

beautiful while the moral sense is regardful of duty.

The poetic principle, (1979:504).Poe goes ahead to note that it is not a mere appreciation of

the beauty before us but a wild effort to reach the beauty above that satisfies human yearning

for eternal. (The poetic principle, 1979:5065).Moreover when poetry occurs it is not the mere

presence of eternity in us but also the best way to gain access to that eternal part I us. Poetry

is thus the means not an end (Cunliff 1970:579).The struggle to apprehend supernal

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loveliness and the quest for purification real poetic feeling. All poems should have some

acoustic and oral character and without these rhythmic elements, poetry would not exist.

Annabel Lee is a literary ballad showing that its oral presentation was accompanied by music,

albeit monotone just to add some mnemonic role (Bold, 1979:23).Repetition in a poem

provides rhythmic effects which enhance unity in the poem. In Annabel Lee, we find two

lines which separately act as refrain. The two lines are variably placed in the stanzas but

never at the end. The poet for example, develops a theme to his taste: a feeling of sadness and

melancholy about the death of a beautiful young woman: “this certain taint of sadness and

melancholy is inseparably connected with highered in 1846 in the Graham’s Magazine. It