Reading Notes on Edgar Allan Poe’s
“The Philosophy of Composition” –
A Beginning of Literary Criticism
(version 2)
1.) Originality is important
2.) Plan the plot first, especially the denouement
3.) Write with the denouement always in view
4.) The poem should “have its beginning—at the end, where all works of art should begin.”
5.) Begin by considering the “effect” --> this begins the concept of Poe's "Single Effect Theory"
6.) “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.”
7.) “The vastly important artistic element [is] totality, or unity, of effect.”
8.) A work must be short enough to be read in “a single sitting”
9.) “This revolution of thought, or fancy, on the lover’s part, is intended to induce a similar one on the part of the reader.”
10.) “Beauty is the sole legitimate province of the poem.”
11.) Beauty is an effect, “that intense and pure elevation of the soul—not of intellect, or of heart”
12.) “Now the object, Truth, or the satisfaction of the intellect, and the object, Passion, or the excitement of the heart, are, although attainable, to a certain extent, in poetry, far more attainable in prose.”
13.) “The most poetical topic in the world” is “the death . . . of a beautiful woman”
14.) “A close circumscription of space is absolutely necessary to the effect of insulated incident.”
15.) Finally, there must be “some amount of suggestiveness—some undercurrent, however indefinite of meaning.”
16.) “So far, every thing is within the limits of the accountable—of the real” --> VERISIMILITUDE --> "the quality of appearing to be true or real; something that has the appearance of being true or real." Two other definitions: "the semblance of truth; the degree to which a work creates the appearance of truth." The word "verisimilitude" is a favorite with Poe, who used it in the sense of presenting details, however farfetched, in such a way as to give the impression of truth.