The Philosophy of Composition, by Edgar Allan Poe
Sweet illusion to those who think that a great artistic creation is the fruit of any divine illumination
In The Philosophy of Composition, Edgar Allan Poe explains in detail his process of poetic creation, exemplifying through his best-known poem, the marvelous The Raven.
Without intending to summarize even more what is already extremely summarized in the few pages of the essay, let’s go to some interesting topics.
Poe begins:
I select “The Raven” as most generally known. It is my design to render it manifest that no one point in its composition is referrible either to accident or intuition — that the work proceeded, step by step, to its completion with the precision and rigid consequence of a mathematical problem.
Any surprises? Of course not.
Sweet illusion to those who think that a great artistic creation is the fruit of any divine illumination: it is the fruit of hard work, criteria, and rigor.
The Raven is, aesthetically, impeccable. The atmosphere and musicality that emanate from this little poem are magnificent.
And it is interesting to verify the progression of Poe’s creative process: first, the idea; then…
