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This is in accord with his theory of composition down in his critical writings. It is not often that the public is given an opportunity to peep into an an author's workship and observe the methods by which he produces his results. Wordsworth has given us such a glimpse in the theory laid down in his famous Preface; but it is generally conceded that however true it may have been in principle, Wordsworth was neither happy in his statement of the theory, nor consistent in his practice. Poe was a conscious artist and worked according to certain fixed rules which are fully set forth in his critical essays.
In a criticism of Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales he sets forth his theory of the short prose narrative. He preferred the short story for the same reason that he preferred the short poem because it was only in the short composition that the author could produce "unity and totality of effect." In the Poetic Principle he holds that there is no such thing as a long poem — that such an expression is a flat contradiction in terms. Paradise Lost, for instance, can be considered a poem only when we look upon it as a series of minor poems connected by long prose passages; and the Iliad, only when looked upon as a series of lyrics. This view is based upon the dictum that the value of the poem consists in the degree to which it produces elevating excitement in the soul, and that this excitement is transitory and cannot be sustained throughout a long composition. "After the attention of a half-an-hour it flags — fails — a revulsion ensues — and then the poem is, in effect, and in fact, no longer such."
In the criticism of Hawthorne he writes:
"The tale proper, in my opinion unquestionably affords the fairest field for the exercise of the loftiest talent which can be afforded by the wide domain of mere prose. Were I bidden to say how the highest genius could be most advantageously employed for the best display of its powers, I should answer without hesitation in the composition of the rhymed poem not to exceed in length what might be perused in one hour....Next to such a poem I should unhesitatingly speak of the prose tale as Mr. Hawthorne has exemplified it. I allude to the short prose narrative requiring from a half-hour to one or two hours in perusal."
He maintains that the purpose of the story is the production of an effect and brevity he considers one of the most effective means of producing unity of impression. After advancing his theory of the tale he proceeds to show its advantages over the novel "which, because it cannot be read at one sitting, deprives itself, of course, of the immense force derivable from totality. Worldly interests intervening during the pauses of perusal, modify, annul or counteract, in a greater or less degree, the impressions of the book. But simple cessation in reading would, of itself, be sufficient to destroy the true unity. In the brief tale, however, the author is enabled to carry out the fulness of his intention, be it what it may. During the hour of perusal the soul of the reader is at the writers control."
An examination of Foe's tales will prove that he was eminently successful in the application of his theory to his own work.
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