Philosophy of Composition by Edgar Allan Poe - Notes

PHILOSOPHY OF COMPOSITION by Edgar Allan Poe - Notes

Synopsis:
Introduction
Method of composition
1) Intention
2) Length
3) Beauty
4) Tone
5) Refrain
6) Theme
7) Versification
8) Setting
9) Development
10)Transcendentalism

Introduction:
1.
2. A plot is developed with denouement in view.
3.
4. An effect is made by making any one or both incident and tone peculiar as different from ordinary.
5. A literary composition involves a number of editing before completion.
6. It is not common enough to retrace the steps taken by the author while composing because they are forgotten.
7. Poe selects his poem 'The Raven' to explain its process of development which was like a mathematical problem.

Method of composition:

Intention:
8. First there was an intention of composing a poem.

Length:
9. If the composition is lengthy there may be loss of unity and there may not be Unity of impression. Eg: At least one half of 'Paradise Lost' is essentially in prose and the rest in verse.
10. Length of a composition is decided by the particular effect intended to be produced.
11. Length of this poem came to hundred and eight lines.

Beauty:
12. Beauty should be considered which includes the object - Truth which satisfies the intellect and the object - Passion which excites the heart.
Tone:
13. The tone of this poem is that of sadness or melancholy.

Refrain:
14. To gain that effect in the poem through sound and thought, he used a refrain with varied application.
15. Since varied application was the operation, he chose refrain to be of a single word.
16. Character of the word was that it should end in 'o' sound and producible 'r' sound which seemed appropriate for the effect.
17. Then the word 'Nevermore' was selected which came to the poet's mind in the first instance.
18. The repetition of the same word from a reasoning creature might seem disagreeable. So, a non-reasoning creature was to be selected. Initially a parrot was selected then a 'raven' seemed more appropriate.

Theme:
19. Then the theme most melancholic could be 'death' and to make it beautiful it should be that of a lady and such a topic would be most effective when narrated by her lover.
20. Then the two ideas, one - the lover lamenting the death of his mistress, two - the raven repeating the word 'Nevermore', had to be combined. The intelligible way found was to present raven's word as replies to the lover's queries.
21. As it is said that the writer should see the end at the beginning of his or her writing, the poet had by now sufficiently conceived the whole idea of the poem before taking a pen to write. He composes a stanza which later becomes the last but second of the complete poem.

“Prophet,” said I, “thing of evil! prophet still if bird or devil!
By that heaven that bends above us — by that God we both adore,
Tell this soul with sorrow laden, if within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore —
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.”
Quoth the raven — “Nevermore.”

22. This stanza was the ultimate climax of the poem. So, while composing the preceding stanzas, care was taken so that any of them does not become more powerful than this stanza.

Versification:
23. Though versification can have new inventions, no one tries to do it. They just imitate and a good composition involves simply negation of known versifications to choose the most suitable.
24. Likewise, the rhythm and metre employed are not new individually but their combination into stanza is absolutely new.
-Metre: octametre acatalectic, alternating with heptameter catalectic repeated in the refrain of the fifth verse, and terminating with tetrameter catalectic
-Rhythm: trochaic
-Feet: long syllable followed by a short syllable
1st line - 8
2nd line - 7 and a half
3rd line - 8
4th line - 7 and a half
5th line - 7 and a half
6th line - 3 and a half

Setting:
25. Then it was to think about the mode of bringing together the raven and the lover. Locale was considered for which a forest was easily suggestable. But a small place appeared more effective.
26. Then the poet fixed the lover's room or chamber, well furnished, where his lady love had frequented, as the place.
27. Then the bird was to be introduced through the window. Before this, it's flapping of wings should seem to the lover as if the spirit of his mistress was knocking at the door and finding darkness beyond the opened door would create even more effectiveness.
28. Then the time of encounter was set to be in a stormy night.
29. Then the bird was made to alight on the bust of Pallas (A character from Greek mythology).

Development:
30. The bird is given a gracious description to add to the effect of sadness as a contrast.

Not the least obeisance made he — not a moment stopped or stayed he,
But with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the nightly shore —
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”
——
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning — little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door —
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as “Nevermore.”

31. The denouement follows where the praise of the bird is rapidly dropped and the lover's disturbed mind is described.
32. Lover's seriousness is focused.
33. The raven had learnt to rote the word 'Nevermore', had escaped from its owner, had come through a stormy night and has reached the lover's chamber and has alighted on the bust of Pallas. The lover asks its name for which it gives its customary answer 'Nevermore' and the same for all further questions, even for his last question of whether he can meet his mistress which gives the poem the desired effect. All these do not yet exceed the real.

Transcendentalism:
34. Transcendental poetry includes two things: some amount of complexity and some amount of suggestiveness. 
35. These elements are introduced in the last two stanzas:

“Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore!”

36. This is the first metaphorical expression used in the poem. The Raven is regarded emblematic of mournful and never-ending remembrance in the last line of the poem:

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting,
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamplight o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted — nevermore.

Note: Every paragraph from the original is made into a point here. Points 1 and 3 are empty because I couldn't find anything substantial to make a point.