This was essential, and in his own obsessive-compulsive way, Poe was frustrated with the works of others because they were being wasted on his potential audience. In many ways, Poe could be considered an obnoxious know-it-all, deconstructing the works of other authors and poets to make his own look better, and to illuminate a better usage of technique. For Poe, it was that “every piece had to fit, as in a jigsaw puzzle if it did not, the writer had wasted words and lost some of his potential effect” (Hough xix). In many ways, Poe was so obsessive over the details of the technique of poetry, that he went to great lengths to define how one could achieve the most precise masterpiece possible.
EDGAR ALLAN POE GOTHIC LITERATURE PROFESSIONAL
Moreover, Poe is astutely concerned with the overall technique of a poem, so much so that he spent a good majority of his professional life re-writing and criticizing the works of others. For Poe, the length of the poem will determine the lasting effect it has on the reader, and he makes it clear that the content of the poem has a certain task that it must achieve in order for it to be considered a poem of worth. In his own words, Poe defines what he calls “The Poetic Principle” in which he says that “a poem deserves its title only inasmuch as it excites, by elevating the soul” (Poe 1).
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