The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-05-07

nisdoth. | should liNe.to suggest the
piiase conEersence OF details as
,'ii'ouS ing also his distinctive coNtri-
ouuon. There are no otiose phrases
VI parailel lines in his best stories.
l rom the first word the lines begin
- converge toward the Predetermined
40 prearranged effect. In all lands
nlS stories nave been fruitful OF sug-
SeSuOn not because they brought
ne" message but because they show
tu d IaultleSS method of
Whatever a writer of narrative had to
Tell. For preachers and political
speakers there is no better model
man mat est blished by Poe. His
motto was not merely brevitv, but
breNlty plus effectiveness.
(3) The Exponent OF Self Conscious
ness in Literature.
zoe stands at the parting Of the
Ways IN the question Of self-conscious-
ness IN art. Does genius act spon-
t~aneously or self-consciously2 The
question IS an old one and a large ,
one and is usually stated badly. Poe.
AT any rate, stands for conscious and
palnstaklnS craftsmanship. Kant had
SAID That genius is wholly unconscious
OF us own operations. My own opin-
ION IS that Poe is much nearer the
ultimate truth in this matter than
Kant, but | wish now only to suggest
mat when Poe wrote the Philosophy
OF Composition 1846) he touched
:. big thought in a vital way and fur
nlshed the chief milestone on which
foreign critics, whether pro or con.
have ~sharpened their critical knives.
He was thus a constructive force
not only by what he did but by what
he said as to how he did it. Two
citations, will show how Significant
Foes s~elf-consciOus analysis Of his
W technique has been. Poe once
called this elf-attentiyeness "a
I c11rSn - hlir tJn ~ lie Z,rft;. 49,,
Ransome, in his recent Life OF Poe
deVOteS an entire chapter to Self
t Conscious Technique,' and begins by
saying:
Now this is the curse that gave
I US Leonardo's Notebooks, Feynolds's
! Discourses. and S~teyenson's essay on
{ Some echnic Elements in Style:
the curse that is among the reasons
Of LeonardO's excellence, R%eynOlds's
excellence. S~teyensOn'S excellence, anC
q the excellence Of Poe himself. i
t is the curse that is at the bottom
$ Of all public knowledge of technique
The man who is as Interested in tn
2 way Of doing a thing as in the thins
when done, is the man who is likel.
. to put a new tool into the hands o
his fellOW-CraftSInen."
I II. H.. Ewers. a German Geographic
Of Poe, goes still further. Poe" h
" says, was the first poet to speak 8
J IAA \" Aio wv N III I'LL
respect he is d%istinctively America,
and stands also on the very threshOl
Of modern thought"
"a The Revealer OF a Distinctive
Americanism
This was one Of Poe's ~uncOnsciou
services but, I believe, none the les
real. [ can merely indicate it i
outline. You notice that Ewers trie
to find in Poe something distinctivel
American. Whether successful or nc
= the German critic illustrates in h
search d new attitude toward Poe an
"a a new attitude toward Americanisn
There was a time Git is with US YET
~ when critics thought that no write
- could be American who did not en-
,s body in his work American histOr
American scenery American gees
raphy, American traditions. or Anne
lean characters / hope that day
90 passing. 7 am at least convinced tn:
it will pass and that it will pass y
a right appreciation Of what Poe h;
done. Byron and Browning are e
~ sentially representative Of their tin
sh and as truly English as Wordsworth
Va though the note Of locality in II
narrower sense is negligible in IL
az works of both. N%ationalism is n
ut physical but spiritual. 1t is to
sought in the extent to which a writ
,s illustrates the essential Characters
sic of his people. Flo at least tiftet
years foreign critics have beef tryil
ish - appiah' .slii'
-, erly they declared that he was I
terly un-American, not only in ther
~, but in essential genius. The chang
no attitude is significant. 1t means n
ms. onS 49,.
- which America and Americanism a
being better understood. To my mi
uH" Pce's Americanism lies not in
- theme but in his constructive gent
~ He thought in terms Of structure.
49, 49, 49,.
ant non,n !. nnnn+oa
y Poe's Americanisnl is found. then,
80 the conscious adaptation Of means
end. in the quick realization Of STR
7. 800, n~oeo;hiNtiaS in tho nr,ct;
dis - dot,iI~ !, ~ d+n.ior