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all who bring offerings, or seek in oracle.
In his tales, Mr. Poe has chosen to exhibit his power chiefly in that
dim region which stretches from the very utmost limits of the probable
into the weird confines of superstition and unreality. He combines in
a very remarkable manner two faculties which are seldom found united; a
power of influencing the mind of the reader by the impalpable shadows
of mystery, and a minuteness of detail which does not leave a pin or
a button unnoticed. Both are, in truth, the natural results of the
predominating quality of his mind, to which we have before alluded,
analysis. It is this which distinguishes the artist. His mind at once
reaches forward to the effect to be produced. Having resolved to bring
about certain emotions in the reader, he makes all subordinate parts
tend strictly to the common centre. Even his mystery is mathematical
to his own mind. To him X is a known quantity all along. In any picture
that he paints he understands the chemical properties of all his
colors. However vague some of his figures may seem, however formless
the shadows, to him the outline is as clear and distinct as that of
a geometrical diagram. For this reason Mr. Poe has no sympathy with
Mysticism. The Mystic dwells in the mystery, is enveloped with it; it
colors all his thoughts; it affects his optic nerve especially, and the
commonest things get a rainbow edging from it. Mr. Poe, on the other
hand, is a spectator ab extra. He analyzes, he dissects, he watches
"with an eye serene,
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