Concept

The Philosophy of Composition

Overview

"The Philosophy of Composition" is an 1846 essay by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe that elucidates a theory about how good writers write when they write well. He concludes that length, "unity of effect" and a logical method are important considerations for good writing. He also makes the assertion that "the death... of a beautiful woman" is "unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world". Poe uses the composition of his own poem "The Raven" as an example. The essay first appeared in the April 1846 issue of Graham's Magazine. It is uncertain if it is an authentic portrayal of Poe's own method.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

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For it is in his power to argue on wider grounds concerning a genus than concerning a part; as, whatever is proved in the universal, must inevitably be proved with respect to a part. This inquiry, then, when diverted from individual persons and occasions to a discussion of a universal genus, is called a thesis. This is what Aristotle trained young men in, not after the fashion of ordinary philosophers, by subtle…
Marcus Tullius Cicero, The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 4
States what The Philosophy of Composition is.
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During the perusal of this really poetic material, the reader experienced all sorts of feelings of familiarity and concurrence. The tale was Wilhelm Jensen’s _Gradiva_, a little romance designated by its author himself “A Pompeian Fancy.”
Sigmund Freud, Delusion and Dream
Close in meaning to The Philosophy of Composition; the term itself is not named.
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The _third_ and last regarded that species of harmony which results not so much from the sound, as from the time and quantity of the several syllables in a sentence. This was called _number_, and sometimes _rhyme_; and was in fact a kind of _prosaic metre_, which was carefully attended to by the ancients in every part of a sentence, but more particularly at the beginning and end of it. In this part they usually…
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Cicero's Brutus or History of Famous Orators
Close in meaning to The Philosophy of Composition; the term itself is not named.
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Philosophers who discussed The Philosophy of Composition

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Related ideas

Opposing perspectives

Athena

Place in the tradition

Part of Transcendentalism.

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