The philosophy of composition

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The philosophy of composition ( The Philosophy of Composition ) is an essay by Edgar Allan Poe , in which he is a aesthetic developed theory about the objective and the method of literature. The essay first appeared in Graham's Magazine in 1846 . He influenced modern poetry , especially French symbolism .

Poe already expressed similar literary theoretical considerations in his review of the Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne . This also appeared in Graham's Magazine in April and May 1842 . In addition, some central ideas of the Philosophy of Composition were taken up again in Poe's equally influential essay The Poetic Principle (published in 1850, The Poetic Principle ).

content

Poe uses his poem Der Rabe to illustrate that the "unity of effect", the length and the logical structure of a literary work are of particular importance for its aesthetic value.

length

Poe believed that all literary works should be short. If a work cannot be read without interruption, the distractions of everyday life cannot create a “unity of effect”. He specifically deals with his (own) poetry. However, he also mentions that the short story is superior to the novel for this reason. Very long poems, as exemplified by Milton's Paradise Lost , he does not deny any quality with his assertion: It is only a series of short poems, which enables a “unity of effect” despite the length.

method

Poe believes that the process of good writing is methodical, analytical, and precise, not spontaneous or intuitive. He compares the creation of his poem The Raven with solving a mathematical problem. Other authors would seldom admit this, however, since the process of creating a work is rather inglorious.

Unity of effect

The emotional effect that the literary work is supposed to have on the reader is of central importance to Poe. The author should always be clear about the effect he is striving for in the reader, and he should pursue this goal at all levels of the work (including the plot , characters and motifs). For Poe, the death of a beautiful woman is the most poetically effective motif.

German translations (selection)

Web links

Wikisource: The Philosophy of Composition  - Sources and full texts (English)
Wikisource: The Philosophy of Poetic Creation. Translated by Adolf Strodtmann, 1862  - sources and full texts
List of the works of Edgar Allan Poe


Poems

Tamerlane (1827) • Song (1827) • Dreams (1827) • Spirits of the Dead (1827) • Evening Star (1827) • Imitation (1827) • Stanzas (1827) • A Dream (1827) • The Happiest Day (1827 ) • The Lake (1827) • Sonnet — To Science (1829) • Al Aaraaf (1829) • Romance (1829) • To - - (1829) • To The River - (1829) • To M— (1829) • Fairy -Land (1829) • To Helen (1831) • Israfel (1831) • The Sleeping Woman (1831) • The Valley of Unrest (1831) • The City in the Sea (1831) • Enigma (1833) • Serenade (1833) • To - (Sleep On) (1833) • Fanny (1833) • The Coliseum (1833) • To One in Paradise (1834) • To Elizabeth (1835) • To Mary (1835) • Bridal Ballad (1837) • To Zante ( 1837) • The Haunted Palace (1839) • Sonnet - Silence (1840) • The Conqueror Worm (1843) • Lenore (1843) • Dream-Land (1844) • Eulalie (1845) • The Raven (1845) • Impromptu. To Kate Carol (1845) • To - (1845) • The Divine Right of Kings (1845) • Stanzas (1845) (1845) • A Valentine (1846) • To ML S— (1847) • Ulalume (1847) • To Marie Louise (1848) • An Enigma (1848) • The Bells (1849) • A Dream Within a Dream (1849) • For Annie (1849) • Eldorado (1849) • To my Mother (1849) • Annabel Lee (1849) • O, tenses! O, Mores! (1868) • Alone (1875)

Volumes of poetry

Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827) • Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems (1829) • Poems (1831) • The Raven and Other Poems (1845)

Stories

Metzengerstein (1832) • The Duc de L'Omelette (1832) • A Tale of Jerusalem (1832) • Loss of Breath (1832) • Bon-Bon (1832) • MS. Found in a Bottle (1833) • The Appointment (1834) • Berenice (1835) • Morella (1835) • Lionizing (1835) • The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall (1835) • King Pest (1835) • Shadow - A Parable (1835) • Four Beasts in One - The Homo-Cameleopard (1836) • Mystification (1837) • Silence - A Fable (1837) • Ligeia (1838) • How to Write a Blackwood Article (1838) • A Predicament (1838) • The Devil in the Belfry (1839) • The Man That Was Used Up (1839) • The Fall of the House of Usher (1839) • William Wilson (1839) • The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion (1839) • Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling (1840) • The Business Man (1840) • The Man of the Crowd (1840) • The Double Murder on Rue Morgue (1841) • A Descent into the Maelström (1841) • The Island of the Fay (1841 ) • The Colloquy of Monos and Una (1841) • Never Bet the Devil Your Head (1841) • Eleonora (1841) • Three Sundays in a Week (1841) • The Oval Portrait (1842) • The Mask of the Red Death (1842 ) • The Landscape Garden (1842) • The Secret of Marie Rogêt (1842) • The Pit and the Pendulum (1842) • The Treacherous Heart (1843) • The Gold Beetle (1843) • The Black Cat (1843) • Diddling (1843) • The Spectacles (1844) • A Tale of the Ragged Mountains (1844) • The Premature Burial (1844) • Mesmeric Revelation (1844) • The Long Box (1844) • The Angel of the Odd (1844) • Thou Art the Man (1844) • The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq. (1844) • The Stolen Letter (1844) • The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade (1845) • Conversation with a Mummy (1845) • The Power of Words (1845) • The Imp of the Perverse (1845) • The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether (1845) • The Facts in the Waldemar Case (1845) • The Sphinx (1846) • The Amontillado Barrel (1846) • The Domain of Arnhem (1847) • Mellonta Tauta (1849) • Hopping Frog (1849) • Von Kempelen and His Discovery (1849) • X-ing a Paragrab (1849) • Landor's Cottage (1849)

Other works

Maelzel's Chess Player (1836) • The Daguerreotype (1840) • The Philosophy of Furniture (1840) • A Few Words on Secret Writing (1841) • The Rationale of Verse (1843) • Morning on the Wissahiccon (1844) • Old English Poetry (1845) • The Philosophy of Composition (1846) • The Poetic Principle (1846) • Heureka (1848) • The Balloon-Hoax (1844) • The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) • The Journal of Julius Rodman ( 1840) • Politian (1835) • The Conchologist's First Book (1839) • The Light-House (1849)