The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 5

The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 5

Dear B......... Believing only a portion of my former volume to be worthy a second edition-that small portion I thought it as well to include in the present book as to republish by itself. I have therefore herein combined Al Aaraaf and Tamerlane with other poems hitherto unprinted. Nor have I hesitated to insert from the Minor Poems, now omitted, whole lines, and even passages, to the end that being placed in a fairer light, and the trash shaken from them in which they were imbedded, they may have some chance of being seen by posterity. It has been said that a good critique on a poem may be written by one who is no poet himself. This, according to your idea and mine of poetry, I feel to be false-the less poetical the critic, the less just the critique, and the converse. On this account, and because there are but few B-s in the world, I would be as much ashamed of the worlds good opinion as proud of your own. Another than yourself might here observe, Shakespeare is in possession of the worlds good opinion, and yet Shakespeare is the greatest of poets. It appears then that the world judge correctly, why should you be ashamed of their favorable judgment? The difficulty lies in the interpretation of the word judgment or opinion. The opinion is the worlds, truly, but it may be called theirs as a man would call a book his, having bought it; he did not write the book, but it is his; they did not originate the opinion, but it is theirs. A fool, for example, thinks Shakespeare a great poet-yet the fool has never read Shakespeare. But the fools neighbor, who is a step higher on the Andes of the mind, whose head (that is to say, his more exalted thought) is too far above the fool to be seen or understood, but whose feet (by which I mean his everyday actions) are sufficiently near to be discerned, and by means of which that superiority is ascertained, which but for them would never have been discovered-this neighbor asserts that Shakespeare is a great poetthe fool believes him, and it is henceforward his opinion. This neighbors own opinion has, in like manner, been adopted from one above him, and so, ascendingly, to a few gifted individuals who kneel around the summit, beholding, face to face, the master spirit who stands upon the pinnacle. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 2151
Author: Poe, Edgar Allan
Release Date: Apr 1, 2000
Format: eBook
Language: English