The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1905-01-24
TAg POETRY OF roe,


Si9G FS5E.iltsA 9f POE.
ssEwa-F ffthss sheer Fudge, Perhans,
but aesert heiessS INN or tai.
III Roe IS To American literature what
Keats, In INFINITELY higher sense ana
measure Is 20 ours an artist Sors arts
sake, to tshom little appeal ed but The
Sbeautiful and whose poetry. at Its
best, Is the Spression of4 exclusive
homage to 1t. He was tie sflrst3 AMER.
Jean poet to- dlsassoci ates poetry from
nature! and life, from; the world OF men,
and to transport II into aSworld OF In.
aginationS and fantasy. An artist more
tconsunmate never existed, and, al.
though the scinatl lon md wltchery
sof much Of his poetry had their origin
from mystic sources of genuine sinspi..
ration and cannot be resolved Into til.
,umphs, into miracles of conscious art,
yet ms we know from himself, he rev:
eled In the display OF mere mechanical
Craftsmanship. z 4
This he did In The Bells and ...The
Raven obviously and almost as obyi.
ously In "Ulalume, 2 and In this consists
the insincerlty5 OF his poetry, .".the two.
fifths sheer fudge Of Loweil's well
known sarcasm. OF mo poet may II be
said with more truth that he WINS the
slave OF music; hence some OF his poems,
like "Israfelp and the poem Just men.
toned, Ulalume, Z resolve themselves
into mere music. butt is n music (which
had never before been heard on GARTH
It Is in such poems as "The Haunted
Palace 's"The Conqueror. Worm, :, "The
City In the Sen, = y enore," Dream.
land that, In his fantastic vcln he Is
at his best because his magical power
as an artist and musician Is employed
legitlmatcly to bodytforth the genuine.
conceptions of Imagination. weird and
In various degrees touched with In.
sanity MS that Imagination Is. 81 A
But the poems which come most home
to MS are the love lyrics and tlrcn Giles,
whether represented by such a classic
gem us Helen, Thy Beauty or by
"Annabel Lee with Its pathos In
Hnintcsscncc anu haunting harmony, or
the magic Of .'Eulalle". and "The
Sleeper or the utterly unanaIyzablcl
fascination Of the verses .For Annie
4 The poetry of Poe WINS q new crea.
ton. 1t owed something to Colcridgc,
something to Shelley and something TO
Tcnnyson, but nothing like 1t MS a
Whole Ind appeared before. IL "Thc
Raven" and "The Bells. arc little bet.
ter than tours dc force they are abso-
lutcly original. II "Ulalume' md Els
rnfel are tuneful nonsense. no such
tunefnl nonsense Ind MS yet been heard.
Every note which he struck he struck
for tic first time, and every note which
he struck has since yibr,tcd In the lyric
poetry OF America and England. ID It
would be idle to institute any COMPARE
son between him and the other lyric
poets Of the English speaking race
whose Immortality he will share, for
he stands neutrality-suspicious., 5ia 4
Every generation willGdeligllt In Ills
poetry, but It Will never come home 10
men like the poetry Of Ills brethren.
They will be fascinated with the weird
witchery of its music and with the
mystic.beauty OF its strange, wild fan:
Scics. #Tliey3?will wander with mingled
emotions through Its wonderful dreams.
land, now radiant with the light Of
heaven, now lurld with a light whiclils
thc light In ilplIriIIm's fcyns They will