EDGAR ALLAN POE'S GENIUS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 437, 20 February 1909, Page 9

EDGAR ALLAN POE'S GENIUS.

"If we pass'.in -review, the : whole- body of those who have: made: a name for themselves in American 'literature, we. shall probably have to say that llonry Wadsworth Longfellow. is the. most: popular. . Should wb ask which "'one : 'isC.the most originali ; ;'some'. : might seleot. Ralph. Waldo Emerson,,' and .not. a■: few' would select Walt /Whitman; but,' taking liim all :in all; most judges would- agree'that .the palm for .originality, belongs to Edgar Allan Pob, ,;whq' TOS. born .■.■ in Boston; just' one hundred years agb." So w ; rites Jlorris Bacholler in "Munse^'s., Magazine." 7 ' "At tho time of l'oo's birth his mother was filling.: a - theatrical'-:' engagement in : the!' New England city.Like most men of genius, Poe resembled his mother, who .before: her marriage!.was -Miss:; Elizabeth /Arnold. : As.; an. actress, showed/those qualities'which w ; ere aftorward . far more conspicuous in her son. 'Like: hiiiiy she was frail of 'figure, but shewon the' hearts of those, who saw her by her archness,, her 'romantic . grace,and her ' exceeding sensitiveness. 7 ■'

7- did. much: to. make; Edgar jUlaiiPo'e.the remarkable, master of'prose and poetry .t^t : he' , aft:erward becarde. So sus-; ceptible 7vo3'' ho to every impression- that ;we might; call :his nature' almost feminine.' In tho .world of ; imagination tliis quality stimulated all his'piowers.. In;the;prosaic, external' "world of fact it, made' his life unhappy, - and' is. responsible for .the': tragedy of-.his prbma'-. t'ure . end.: A .man .'of more robust physique, a.nd,.of; steadier,-herves . would /have kept vhia' friends,' -andt.woidd -have -established'.'himself in-a j but it is/ doubtful: whether. anyVonoi save; the iPoe ,who /really lived; could ■ nave written.. 'The Bolls' .and: 'The Raven,' and somo. of'the strangely romantic stories, such, as 'his'r'Tale'Siof thejArabesque ahd-'Grp-tosqub,'' w'iich: have .made' his name- immortal I m both' hemispheres.• • ;' ' 7 777: 7 / : "Ppb, ' sensitive almost to tho point of ■ neurasthenia,- stalids quite alone., not '■ merely : in our ;lijMrature;'>fct7in: : all;.literatnre.,7 His exquisiti?'Knse:.pf-;h.afmony/was'ablb.to from/'pur. 'language - combinations :of words whichi as l'eniiyson:'s'aid of pbetity, keep continually ringing 'little bells of change:' The-' ea , r '} 3 ravished, . arid / yot . one .cahnqt/- quite tell'Why^evei]/after the last.analysis has been made. ;wbndeHul 'haunting power of ; liis > lines.is k unefiiiallcd, oxcepi; perhaps; ini sbme . few parts of'. Coleridge's drearii-poem, :', ; ■^! lan ,jV:whicli;.is.'said, to been; composed: while: the'author was stupefied »'by 'opiuh^i;:;;77;>;v v 7^;,7 { ;7::, a ;-'vy77;/i;:-v" ; i ?,*Pi gift,', this wizai-tIT like command: oft inkling, silvery words and cadences; which : -.stirred -/Emerson', to .'impatience and - led him to: call- Poe 'tlie: jingle-' man:'-.', But /if Emerson .'did :not .appreciate it,' the world at large has. done so ; and some of Poe's woven harmonies represent tho supremo effort. of our; language in pure ■ music. He was .himself conscious of his gift; and ox- , pressed its nature/in some words that: deserve quotation: '.!• 'It is .in music,' perhaps, that the soul most: nearly, attains thp great end for., which; when ' inspired by, the . poetic; sentiment,' it struggles—the creation of supernal beauty. We.- are often made to /feel, with; a 'shivering • delightj that .from an' earthly harp 1 are ;stricken;; hoteV ;Which;:canndt':: havb. been un-' familiar to the' angels.' 7.;' : ■ : 7: -~ 77 7