The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-04-28
POE AND EMERSON.
A Cri,iea al Review oi the Methods O. Poe
 and Emerson.

Raleigh. m the Si. Joseph Mo Gazette.
 There is no example sf influence of style in literature which Is more striking than the strange alterations of Edgar \. Poe. by the means of which he Tn man. ner introduced new verse 10 our poetry. Not less strong are the abstract and isolated sentences which crowd the verse oi Ralph Waldo Emerson. l; would not be putting the matter too exiravaganily 10 say tha, Emerson failed where he be- lieved hlmselito be strong for the verd.el of criticism already indicates that the Sage of Concord will be worshipped as philo gopher. and revered as clear and striking essayisi when his poems are forgotten yet he believed himself 10 be stronger in verse than in prose. Ot all his writings he believed the Ii ,le poem, Days" ,o be the best. Though |, con. ,ains bu; eleven lines i, must be confessed that ,heJ are stnkingly beautiful. They bear repetition here:
 Daughters of time, the hypoeri,ie days.
 Muif,ed and dumb like barefoot dervishes, And marching singls m an endless hie,
 Bring ciadems and iagots in their hands.
 To each they offer gifts after his Will,
 Bread kingdoms. stars, and sky that holds
 them all.
 I, in my bleached garden. watched the
 pomp,
 Forgot ny morning wishes. hastily
 Took ieX herbs add apples, and the Day
 Turned and departed ssiea, l. too late
 tnder her solemn h,leI sa" the scorn.
 Still. the lever of Emersonian poetry pauses for the plAudits he Is eager to hear and too of en his friend. bearing pug zled expression. breaks the suspense by remark of doubtful bearing. Looking over a note book have recently come to an entry which made some two years since on '' Poe and Emerson" l,recalls some facts which may interest students of iI,eraiare. so present the thought Tn a disconnected and ffagmentay manner.
 IL Is we'll known 10 students of poetry that Emerson and Poe are as unlike as can well be imagined. both in form and in substance. speak of them as poets As thinkers, as philosophers. there Is no controversy, Tor Poe did no; rise to the plane where Emerson rcigns as a master. Nor IS there any special controversy as to the relative merits of the one or the other as poet: but comparison of their methods Is the object of this review The poems of Emerson were severely criticised and even ridiculed by Poe, while Emerson regarded Poe as no more than lingler who played upon words as a child would amuse itself with rattle. Mir. Moncure D. Conway has given us an idea of Emerson's estimate of Poe. In his recent work entitled :. Emerson at Home and Abroad" while il Is well know that Poe never regarded Emerson's poetry with any degree of favor.
 Poe's literary workshop, as he has re- yealedi il 10 use in his essay on e The Phil osophy of Composition" is one of the ouriosities of literature. To read the = Raven one would suppose il 10 have been written when every cell and camer- fila of the authors brain was aglow with passion; but the fac, IS that production was slowly evolved from a complicated network of carefully planned notes and literary measurements. As subscribed by Poe. one is utterly bafiied to comprehend how such a creation could have been called forth in cold blood to use A legal term. As result, the '' Raven I" Is piece of passion. but as an inchoa; poem in a formative condition II was a work ofrhe intellect. Passion was reached through reason. and inc climax was writ ten first The locale was determined and the effect of the denoucment was care fully provided for before the lover passion a,ely and ienderly exclaimed, Tell this soul with sorrow laden, if within the dis tant Alden. ii shall clasp as ain,ed maiden whom the angels name Lenore."
 IL IS evey~hese apparen; that Poe reached the triumph Of zr, in asslon. by the mos, s,udioGs observance ef ~ell known principles of acoustics. by close " circumspection of space" and insula- ted incident" 10 use his ovn phrases. In other words. Poe wrote poetry through purely intellectual and analytical pro- eesses. In order that the reader may clearly see some of the differentiating features of Emerson : and Poe's methods. and of their productions. . sentence from Poe. essay IS gwen. one which, by allusIon. has critical bearing some what directly on Emerson's poetry
 Two things are invariably required: First. sorae amount of ccmplexiiy. or. more properly. adoption asd secondly. some amoun, of sugges,iveness some uadercurent- however Indefinite, of meaning T. IS this latter. ln especial. l which laparts to a wosk ot ar, so n1eh .