jacobtheloofah:did-you-know:‘The Raven’ was almost ‘The Parrot’. When Edgar Allen Poe first conceive
jacobtheloofah:did-you-know:‘The Raven’ was almost ‘The Parrot’. When Edgar Allen Poe first conceived of the poem, he wanted a ‘melancholy’ feel and planned to use ‘nevermore’ as a refrain.Deciding that a talking, non- reasoning animal would be the best way to repeat the word, Poe first thought of a parrot - until he realized ravens are ‘equally capable of speech, and infinitely more in keeping with the intended tone.’(Source, Source 2)my man was like “you mean theres a GOTH talking bird??? sign me up”These fun facts refer to an essay by Poe called “The Philosophy of Composition” written by Poe. You can read it here.I’m always torn when I see this circulating because in my college gothic fiction class I was taught that this is a parody essay, but after further reading that seems to be a topic of academic contention. I think that the essay describes a comedically back-assward way of writing a poem, probably after being hounded by people about “how he did it,” but you can decide for yourself. (I think it gets more ridiculous as it goes on.)Poe describes starting with the tone he wants to convey (so far so good), then decides that a length of “about 100 words” is appropriate for this tone. Then he decides to focus the atmosphere of the poem on Beauty, because Truth and Passion, the other themes typically addressed in poetry, “although attainable to a certain extent in poetry, [are] far more readily attainable in prose.” Melancholy is the most easily attainable form of Beauty, and melancholy can be achieved with a repeated refrain.Well, it would be better to have a single word as a refrain, and “these considerations inevitably led me to the long o as the most sonorous vowel in connection with r as the most producible consonant.” AFTER choosing the sound of the word he wants, he decides on “Nevermore.”But what can be the excuse for a single word being repeated continuously throughout the poem? “Here, then, immediately arose the idea of a non-reasoning creature capable of speech, and very naturally, a parrot, in the first instance, suggested itself, but was superseded forthwith by a Raven as equally capable of speech, and infinitely more in keeping with the intended tone.”And what will the poem be about? “[T]he death then of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world, and equally is it beyond doubt that the lips best suited for such topic are those of a bereaved lover.”The essay continues in this way. Poe was no stranger to parody and once wrote a hoax story about a transatlantic balloon journey at the height of the craze around balloon travel and technological advancement. I think that this is Poe writing an almost-plausible but intentionally slightly absurd “behind-the-scenes” story about his one poem that blew up after he’d been a struggling writer for a long time. -- source link
#the raven#english major