Transcriber's Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
Copyright 1906 by The Harwell-Evans Co.
Lenore
The Raven
and
The Philosophy of Composition
Contents
Foreword
The initial intention of the publishers to present “TheRaven” without preface, notes, or other extraneous matterthat might detract from an undivided appreciation of thepoem, has been somewhat modified by the introduction ofPoe’s prose essay, “The Philosophy of Composition.”If any justification were necessary, it is to be found bothin the unique literary interest of the essay, and in the factthat it is (or purports to be) a frank exposition of themodus operandi by which “The Raven” was written. Itis felt that no other introduction could be more happily conceivedor executed. Coming from Poe’s own hand, it directlyavoids the charge of presumption; and written in Poe’smost felicitous style, it entirely escapes the defect—notuncommon in analytical treatises—of pedantry.
It is indeed possible, as some critics assert, that thissupposed analysis is purely fictitious. If so, it becomesall the more distinctive as a marvelous bit of imaginativewriting, and as such ranks equally with that wild snatch ofmelody, “The Raven.” But these same critics would leadus further to believe that “The Raven” itself is almosta literal translation of the work of a Persian poet. Ifthey be again correct, Poe’s genius as seen in the creationof “The Philosophy of Composition” is far more startlingthan it has otherwise appeared; and “robbed of his bayleaves in the realm of poetry,” he is to be “crowned with