Text: Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Frederick Clarke Prescott, “Index to Marginalia and Appendix,” Selections from the Critical Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1909, pp. xxiv-xxvi


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[page xxiv:]

Index to MARGINALIA (pp. 257-307)

257   The art of marginal annotation
260 Male but not female writers should be bluntly criticized if deserving
261 A good book must begin with a few vivid sentences
261 Repeated vowel sounds in poetry carry “great force”
262 Art does not imitate actuality
262 Tennyson and indefinitiveness in music and poetry
264 The curse of co-consciousness
264 Poetry transmutes and subdues passion
266 Genius requires both artistic control and the moral powers of concentration, self-reliance, and energy
267 Love of novelty is an element in the moral nature of man
268 The artist is one who can carry out his subconscious realizations Many acts of plagiarism are of unconscious origin An example of how loose rhythm, even if defective in meter, may be adapted to the tone and matter of the poem
271 Negative yet principled criticism will make us better critics
272 Good internal rhyme requires some variation or unexpectedness in the line
275 Psychal fancies, visions of “the spirit's outer world,” are subject to control
278 The true artist chooses and shapes his material to convey an idea or impression
279 Poetry demands creation, not mere description [page xxv:]
279 Defining poetry is one third a question of semantics and metaphysics, two thirds a question of mathematics or “a Prosody Raisonné.”
281 The logical fallacy in a new work on mesmerism: the term “counterfeit” begs the question
284 A condescending view of German literature and criticism, including the Schlegels
286 Greek drama was overdependent on the concept of external Destiny
287 Genius is subject to alternating moods of ambition and depression
289 The English Alexandrine can be used to convey either slowness or velocity
293 The dash is mainly used to introduce a second thought or emendation
295 Song-writing illustrates the power of music to give pleasure through its indefinitiveness
299 The ideal poem will combine qualities of Shelley and Tennyson
302 Though inversions have their place in poetry, the natural order is better
303 By a “chemical combination” the imagination fuses, transforms, and integrates
304 Certain quaintnesses of phrase may, through repetition, make for high poetry
305 To genius, “the difficult” means simply “the impossible”
305 “The highest genius is but the loftiest moral nobility
306 To see “through the veil of the soul” is intuitively to perceive with the half-closed eye
306 Analyzing a work of art is not the same as enjoying the artist's intention
306 The tale requires a strict sense of plot [page xxvi:]

Index to APPENDIX:

DETACHED PASSAGES (308-322)

308   The power of the older English poetry is traceable to its quaint phraseology, grotesque rhythms, and “glorious abandon”
310 Organic plot is to be distinguished from mere narrative complexity and intrigue
311 Though plot is not essential, a well-managed plot is desirable
312 Unity or totality of effect is to be found in the brief tale but not in long romances
313 Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop praised for its originality and characters
315 Macaulay's Essays are marked by a terse, precise style and rigorous logic
316 Shakespeare's Hamlet should be understood as a dramatis persona
318 Allegory is valid only when used as a form of subtle artistic suggestion
319 Intense imaginative consciousness is the mode for glimpsing the supernal
320 A good plot, as in Godwin and Bulwer, depends on a defined “intended effect”
321 Tales (1845), a highly diverse collection, omits “Ligeia,” Poe's best tale.

Eric W. Carlson


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Notes:

None.

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[S:0 - FCP09, 1909] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - A Poe Bookshelf - Index for Marginalia Excerpts and Appendix (F. C. Prescott, 1909)