The Philosophy of Composition

In “The Philosophy of Composition,” Poe claims to describe the process he used to write his poem “The Raven.” There is no indication, however, that Poe followed the method he describes, and some consider the essay an exaggeration or even a hoax. Regardless of whether the explanation of his writing process is accurate, the essay illustrates the author’s aesthetic and literary values and principles.

Poe begins by arguing for the necessity of “unity of impression” or “unity of effect” (545). A defender of the short story and one of its most important authors, Poe made a similar argument in his 1842 essay “The Importance of the Single Effect in the Prose Tale,” in which he claimed that the writer must first imagine the outcome of the plot (in the case of a short story) or the desired effect on the reader (in the case of a poem) before beginning to write. The writer must begin at the end of the literary work and then proceed backward, filling in the details and incidents that build up to the climax and that single effect that he or she wants to achieve.

Poe’s method ensures that the elements of the poem are linked in such a way that nothing is left to chance, and it has no random or unnecessary elements.