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Gymnasium am Turmhof, Mechernich

Gut, Blum, 2013

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How far fulfills Edgar Allan Poe his own requirements from The Philosophy of Composition in his poem The Raven?

 

Comparison of his two works
The Philosophy of Composition and The Raven.

 

Contents

Introduction  2

1.        Edgar Allan Poe  3

The Raven  4

2.        Formal aspects 4

3.        Content 5

The Philosophy of Composition  6

4.        Content 6

Comparison between The Raven and The Philosophy of Composition  9

Conclusion  12

References 13

5.        Primary literature  13

 

Introduction

Till this day Edgar Poe is known as an author of black short stories and an ancestor of detective fiction. His lyric on the other hand is clearly less reminded.

Actually his lyrical work is also by his contemporaries disposed as ‘three fifths brilliant and two fifths nonsense’[1] and Poe as a ‘jingle-man’[2]. Although that everyone respects his ability to create fabulous melodies in words.

These evaluations are in stark contrast to Poes self-image. For him he was a poet and his short stories just a breadwinning.

To confirm his entitlement as a groundbreaking poet, Poe writes three theoretic Essays. With The Rationale of Verse (1843), The Philosophy of Composition (1846) and The Poetic Principle (1850) he tries to define his special admission to the lyric.

These works, particularly his justification of his ideal The Raven in The Philosophy of Composition should give an analytic frame in order to search for Poes own requirements in his lyric.

This analysis makes sense on the basis of his greatest poem The Raven because Poe also often refers to it. Except from that The Raven still has the biggest literary importance. The outstanding history of effect is supported by tree film versions (1909, 1915 and 1963) and about 13 German translations. First there are a short summery of Edgar Allan Poes life.

At the beginning this analysis tells the content of The Raven and some first formal aspects. After that the main theses of The Philosophy of Composition are demonstrated. At the end I want to prove or rebut the single principles at/on/from/by The Raven.

 

1.   Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe is born on the 19th of January 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. When he was two years old he became a complete orphan. From now on he lived with a foster family in Richmond, Virginia. Even when he later assumes the name of his foster parents, they never adopt him. Poe attends a private school and was educated to become a gentleman. 1826 he starts studying old and new language in Virginia.[3]

After the death of his foster mother in 1829 it amount to a quarrel between Poe and his foster father John Allan. For financial reasons Poe joined the army, but in 1831 he was dismissed because of ‘rebelliousness’[4].

After that Poe works as a free writer, journalist and deskman but he lived in narrow circumstances. 1836 Poe married his thirteen years old cousin Virgina Clemm, but already eleven years later she died. On the 07th of October 1849 Poe died too. The situation and reasons are cloudy.[5]

The Raven

The poem The Raven was published parallel in a few magazines in 1845, one of them was Grahams Magazine.[6]

 

2.   Formal aspects

The Poem has 18 stanzas each with six verses. A continuous rhyme scheme is not visible certainly every fourth and every fifth verse ends with the same word which rhymes with the last word of the six verses. For Example in the sixth stanza:

 ‘Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore

Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; -

‘T is the wind and nothing more!’[7]

Another stylistic device is the usage of internal rhyme for example in stanza five:

‘But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token, / And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Leonore?” ‘[8]

In stanza one, for example, you can find one of the repetitions. ‘While I nodded nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, / As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. / “’T some visitor, “I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door - ’[9]

The often repetitions and parallelism underlines the content and the expression of the poem. The lyrical I seem to be a man often depicted as an academic. Not only the paintings by Gustav Doré[10] are a reason for it, also that the losing of the beloved should be forgotten over the studying of some old books.

 


3.   Content

That’s the beginning of the Poem. The lyrical I tries, while studying ‘of forgotten lore’[11]  to block out the dead of the beloved all in vain.  He hopes that she is in heaven now. When it knocked on door, the lyrical I first do not dare to open. And when he opens the door, there is just darkness. He whispers the name of his beloved but the only answer is the return.

Inasmuch he heard another knocking, he supposed that it is the wind at the window grate. As he opened the window a raven flight into the room and sits down on the ‘bust of Pallas’[12] .

The lyrical I asks the raven after his name whereupon the raven answered ‘Nevermore’[13] which the lyrical I surprised. The Raven also negates with a ‘Nevermore’[14] when the lyrical I regrets that the raven also want to leave tomorrow. Over these pretended fitting answer the lyrical I is amazed. But he starts directly to explain it in a rational way and developed some ‘theories’ and ‘fantasies’ [15] about the meaning of the raven and his repeated word. The thoughts of the lyrical I digress to Leonore, his beloved, again and he asks the raven ‘if there is balm in Gilead’ [16] but the raven just repeats his answer ‘Nevermore’[17].

Thereupon the lyrical I wants to have sureness and asks explicit if he will see Leonore in heaven again but the raven negates with his common answer. The reaction of the lyrical I is very aggressive, he wants that the raven takes his ‘form from off my door!’[18] However the raven declines with his periodic sentence ‘Nevermore’[19].

In the last stanza the raven still is sitting on the bust, but the lyrical I lays deathlike on the ground and his ‚soul […] [s]hall be lifted – nevermore!‘[20].

The Philosophy of Composition

The Philosophy of Composition is an Essay by Edgar Allan Poes about his aspired ideal of a poem. The essay was published in 1846 in Grahams Magazine and describes Poes work process at his as an act of bravery constructed poem The Raven.[21]

Beside The Philosophy of Composition Poe writes two other relevance lyriktheories:  The Rationale of Verse (1843) and The Poetic Principle (1850).

The importance of the unity of effect and the beauty is also represented in The Philosophy of Composition and plays also a central role in The Poetic Principle[22] .

There are six basic principles to carve out from The Philosophy of Composition which should be compared with Poes poem The Raven: length of the poem, theme, limitation of space, formal arrangements especially in reference to the refrain and the unity of effect.[23]

 

4.   Content

 ‘most writers - poets in especial - prefer having it understood that they  compose by a species of fine phrensy - an ecstatic intuition – and would positively shudder at letting the public take a peep behind the scenes’[24]

Poe examines mainly the genius cult of the poet, his God-given inspiration and the hazard of composition. Of his point of view it was the hegemonic opinion of poetry and poets by the time. The essay explains that experienced knowledge of principles and hard work are the only important requirements for a good poet and at the bottom line also for an ideal poem.

Poe also asserts that the ideal poem is not dependent on inspiration and ‘Selbstüberschreitung’[25]. [26] [27] [28]

As the ideal Poe shows the ‚Technizismus’[29] at which he uses his poem The Raven as an ‚exemplarische Vorführung handwerklicher Produktion und Entfernung von der schöpferischen Imagination’[30]. [31]

The complete essay is construed on the production, conservation and clarification of the, by Poe demanded ‘unity of effect’[32]. As effect Poe identified the impression to the reader and whose soul. He wants to cause one ‘[o]f the innumerable effects, or impressions, of which the heart, the intellect, or (more generally) the soul is susceptible’[33]. [34]

At the beginning of the essay Poe claimed that a poem has to be written from the end or the climax to the start for guarantee the requested effect.[35]

Moreover the method is for Poe the only instrument to bring the effect.[36]

 A further important criterion is the length of a poem. Poe thinks that the ideal poem is long enough for bringing the effect. However Poe warns for a too long poem because ‘if any literary work is too long to be read at one sitting, we must be content to dispense with the immensely important effect derivable from unity of impression’[37].

,[T]he proper length for my intended poem – [is] a length of about one hundred lines.’[38]

Next Poe declares that the losing of a beauty is a predestined theme of a poem and specifically melancholic.[39]

During the sequel he even asserts that ‘the death, then, of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world[40].

The melancholic aspect is very important for Poe in that the melancholia it is the only poetic accent he accepts.[41]

Poe also has an accurate image of the refrain. The refrain has to be short, best only one word and the end of every stanza.

Both the form and demonstration of monotony and a varied potential for design should be given in a refrain.[42]

In search of an adequate word that in addition has the ideal formation of a long ‘o’ and an ‘r’ ’it would have been absolutely impossible to overlook the word "Nevermore." In fact, it was the very first which presented itself‘[43].

During the further progress Poe enlarge on The Raven und whose originations process to deduce criterions for the ideal poem. So Poe called the motivation of the lyrical I for, the on the answer nevermore aimed question, as ’half in superstition and half in that species of despair which delights in self-torture‘[44]. For Poe both are important motifs for a lyrical I. 

Poe charged by his rhetorical devices and his measure and other formsprachlichen aspects originality.

Besides that Poe sees repetitions and monotony as an essential part of a poem. Similar expectations Poe has of the ’principles of rhyme‘[45] and rhetorical devices as alliterations.[46]  

The originality of measure Poe expects as follows: ‘The former is trochaic - the latter is octameter acatalectic, alternating with heptameter catalectic repeated in the refrain of the fifth verse, and terminating with tetrameter catalectic. Less pedantically - the feet employed throughout ( trochees ) consist of a long syllable followed by a  short: the first line of the stanza consists of eight of these feet - the second of seven and a half (in effect two-thirds) - the third of eight - the fourth of seven and a half -  the fifth the same - the sixth, three and a half.‘[47]

As another essential stylistic device ‘it has always appeared to me that a close circumscription of space is absolutely necessary to the effect of insulated incident: it has the force of a frame to a picture‘[48] (Philosophy S.32) Poe explained.

Closing Poe presents two indispensable characteristics of his lyric: ‘first, some amount of complexity, or, more properly, adaptation; and, secondly, some amount of suggestiveness - some under-current, however indefinite, of meaning‘[49]. (S.35/36). Both the melancholic and masochistic character Poe concentrate proper as ’luxury of sorrow‘[50].

Comparison between The Raven and The Philosophy of Composition

At first this analysis tries to find out, if Poe achieves his own requirements from The Philosophy of Composition in his poem The Raven. After that I want to assess if Poes primary goal, namely the conservation of the unity of effect is gained.

In the way I see it the length of The Raven consistent Poes criterions. The keynote of The Raven is clear illustrated and brought to an end. Anyway it is possible to read the poem ‘at one sitting‘[51] and the target effect persists.

As a positively predestined theme of a poem Poe sees the damage of a loved beauty.[52] [53]

Because The Raven processed the lyrical I losses of his beloved Leonore this principle shall be deemed as fulfilled. Also her elegancy which is an important topic for Poe is mentioned. In the 16. stanza Leonore is named an angel[54] and even in the second stanza the lyrical I talks ’from ,the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore‘[55].

Also the limitation of space is adhered in The Raven. Indeed the lyrical I tries to escape the limited space in its room at the time when it ’opened wide the door‘[56]. But already in the fifth stanza it is pushed back by the echo Leonore[57] and in the sixth stanza ’back into the chamber turning, all my soul / within me burning‘[58]

Poe gives a very clear description of the formal arrangement in the poem especially the one in the refrain. This analysis starts regarding the whole poem and than having a closer look on the refrain.

The raven offers a lot of repetitions which Poe asks for. For example the word ‘chamber’[59] is discovered eleven times. This repetition also backed the before handled limitation of space.  

Also the fact that the last word of the fourth and the fifth verse is always the same caused a repetition and underlines the required monotony. You can see this for example in stanza two: ‘From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore / For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore‘[60].

Apart from that Poe requests some alliterations, for example ‘nodded, nearly napping‘[61] or ‘grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt‘[62]. This criterion could also be applied as fulfil. Now this analysis should take a closer look to the refrain which is always the last word of a stanza.

Because Poe already in The Philosophy of Composition sees nevermore as the ideal refrain it is no wonder that from stanza eight till the end (stanza eighteen) the refrain is ‘nevermore’[63] altogether eleven times.

However Poe asks for the varied potential of a refrain so in the second stanza the refrain is ‘evermore‘[64]. The following stanzas tree to seven and the first one has the refrain ‘nothing more‘[65].

In addition to the ideal formation of the letters o and r there is also the melancholically sound of the refrain. The Raven has a melancholic tone caused of the rived vowel o and u and the melancholic diction for example in the first stanza ‘curious volume of forgotten lore‘[66] also the name of the beloved Leonore offers this attributes.

Even the main theme namely, if the lyrical I would ever see his beloved again[67] even if she is in heave[68] and if the lyrical I could leave the earthly pain behind[69] are typical melancholic topoi.[70]

An other aspect of the melancholy is the pleasure of self-torture. This masochistic aspect is very present in stanza 15 and 16 in The Raven when the lyrical I couched his questions in that way that the ravens answer ‘nevermor’[71] fits and the lyrical Is hope negates. After the single principles of Poe are proved at his poem The Raven, this analysis contemplates Poe prime goal, the unity of effect and the effect of beauty.

The effect of the death-in-life could be applied as intended, because the reader until the end knows which meaning the raven has for the lyrical I. The raven has the position of the ‘alter ego’[72] and reflects the subconscious of the lyrical I.

The effect of beauty is defined as a result of the unity of effect and so it appeared. It is, as it is often in Poes work, a dark and dreary beauty maybe even a disturbing. An other characteristic is that the reader first understands a lot of metaphors, references and hints when he knows the end. [73]

Probably this is a hint that the author first writes the end and thinks about the effect and than take a look at the beginning and possible reasons for it. Consequently Poe complies his call for a construction of a poem from the end to the beginning. Because we could come from that the reader starts with the beginning and so first sees the reasons before he find out about the consequences, he is first disoriented. This manipulation of the reader is a volitional part of the effect, assert Poe: It is both goal and requirement of the effect.[74]

Conclusion

After having a closer look to Poes requirements to the ideal poem from The Philosophy of Composition and his most popular poem The Raven I want to answer the main question of this analysis. How far fulfil Edgar Allan Poe his own requirements from The Philosophy of Composition in his poem The Raven?

At first you can say that Poe fulfil all of his principles and also the very subjective unity of effect is provable. In that you can answer the question clearly with squarely fulfilled.

But in the Philosophy of Composition it is very demonstrative that The Raven is the model for Poes principles. For example when Poe talks about the length: ‘[T]he proper length for my intended poem – [is] a length of about one hundred lines. It is, in fact, a hundred and eight.’[75]

Also the claim that the lost of a loved and beauty woman is the only real poetic theme is literarily not provable. Many critics say that this theme is caused of a biographic and psychological aspect, because Poe lost all loved women in his life.[76]

All in all you can say that the The Raven did not fulfil the requirements from The Philosophy of Composition, but The Philosophy of Composition illustrated the different instruments which Poe used in The Raven. Insofar the Essay did not obtain the poem but, the in the poem expressed ‘collapse of rationalization’[77] obtained the Essay. And even if The Philosophy of Composition is no general theory of lyric, the success of The Raven proves him right..

 

References

5.   Primary literature

Poe, Edgar Allan: The Philosophy of Composition. New York City, 1907.

Poe, Edgar Allan: The Raven.

 



[1] Ibid James R. Lowell in Kindlers

[2] Ibid R.W. Emerson

[3]  Prof. Dr. Dieter Meindl in Harenbergs Lexikon der Weltliteratur. *** p. 2312

[4]  Hrsg. Carl Dietrich Bracher, Theodor Eschenburg, Joachim C. Fest, Eberhard Jäckel in Brockhaus. Following as ’Brockhaus’. Volume 17. p.267.

[5] Ibid. S.267.

[6] Thomas Collmer, p. 214.

[7] Edgar A. Poe, The Raven. Following as ‘Poe, Raven.’  Siehe Anhang, p.XY. V.34-36.

[8] Poe, Raven, V.27-28.

[9] Poe, Raven, V.3-5.

[10] Anhang p.XY.

[11] Poe, Raven. V.2.

[12] Poe, Raven. V.41.

[13] Ibid. V.48.

[14] Poe, Raven. V.60.

[15] Edgar A. Poe, deutsch von Hans Wollschläger. Phantastische Geschichten. München. V.69-70. und ließ die Gedanken fliehen, reihte wilde Theorien / Phantasie an Phantasien: wie’s wohl zu verstehen wär’- .

[16] Poe, Raven, V.89

[17] Ibid. V.90

[18] Ibid. V.101

[19] Ibid. V.102

[20] Ibid. V.108

[21] Thomas Collmer, p. 214.

[22] D. Klaus Jürgen Popp in Kindlers Literaturlexikon. München 1991. Volume 13, p. 494

[23] Poe, Philosophy. p.19 -39.

[24] Edgar A. Poe in The Philosophy of Composition. Following as ‘Poe, Phillosophy.’,     p.21

[25] Thomas Collmer, p. 219.

[26] Ibid.,  p. 219.

[27] Poe, Philosophy a. a. O., p. 20f..

[28] Patrick Full in Der Abgesang der Imagination. Trier 2007. Following as ‚Full’. Here p. 71

[29] Thomas Collmer, p. 219

[30] Ibid., p. 219

[31] Poe, Philosophy, p. 20f..

[32] Ibid. p.22

[33] Ibid., p. 20.

[34] Ibid., p.20.

[35] Ibid., p.19.

[36] Ibid., p.21.

[37] Poe. Philosophy, p.22.

[38] Ibid., p.23.

[39] Poe, Philosophy. p.23-24.

[40] Ibid. p.29.

[41] Ibid. p.24.

[42] Ibid. p.25-26.

[43] Ibid. p.26.

[44] Ibid. p. 30.

[45] Poe, Philosophy, p.32.

[46] Ibid., p.26, 31-32.

[47] Ibid., p.31-32 .

[48] Ibid., p.32.

[49] Ibid., p.35-36.

[50] Ibid., p.35.

[51] Poe, Philospohy, p.22.

[52] Collmer, p.218.

[53] Poe, Philosophy, p. 29.

[54] Poe, Raven, V.94.

[55] Ibid., V.11.

[56] Ibid., V.23.

[57] Ibid., V.29.

[58] Ibid., V.31.

[59] Poe, Raven. V.4,5,16,17,22, 31, 40, 41, 52, 53, 104.

[60] Ibid. V.10-11.

[61] Ibid. V.3.

[62] Ibid. V.71.

[63] Ibid. V.48, 54, 60, 66, 72, 78, 84, 90, 96, 102, 108.

[64] Ibid. V.12.

[65] Ibid. V.6, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42.

[66] Poe, Raven, V.2.

[67] Ibid., V.93-94.

[68] Ibid., V.10-11.

[69] Ibid., V.89.

[70] Brockhaus, volume 14, p.430.

[71] Poe, Raven, V.90, 96.

[72] Ibid. p.216.

[73] Full, p.65, 76.

[74] Ibid., p.76.

[75] Poe, Philosophy, p.23.

[76] Collmer, p.218

[77] Collmer, p.220


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