Unity Of Effect In Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven

442 Words2 Pages

Edgar Allan Poe, in his work "The Philosophy of Composition", put forward three principles a writer should follow to compose a good essay. He admitted that these are the methods he himself employed while writing the poem "The Raven." Before penning his essay, Allan Poe first would determine the length of his work. He wrote, "the initial consideration was that of extent." The "totality” or “unity of effect" could be deprived if an essay is excessively lengthy. A redundant and tedious essay is in want of "the vastly important artistic element." In Allan Poe's opinion, the best essay allows readers to finish it at one sitting. This prevents readers from the disturbance of all worldly stuff, so that readers can immense themselves in the world the author has created and relive the life in mind with characters. The brevity of the work of art encourages more interaction between readers and writers, as well as readers and characters, because readers can immediately get an impression of the whole plot without interruption. If an essay has to be finished at two sitting, "the affairs of the world …show more content…

According to Allan Poe, he especially loves the effect of beauty and horror, as well as the tone of sadness. He claims, "my next question referred to the tone of its highest manifestation- and all experience has shown that this tone is one of sadness." Because supreme beauty to an extent inevitably reduces those poetic souls to tears, and melancholy is therefore the most appropriate poetical tone to