sound, and at the same time in the fullest possible keeping with that melancholy which I had predetermined as the tone of the poem. In such a search it would have been absolutely impossible to overlook the word "nevermore." In fact, it was the very first which presented itself.

The next desideratum was a pretext for the continuous use of the one word "nevermore." In observing the difficulty which I at once found in inventing a sufficiently plausible reason for its continuous repetition, I did not fail to perceive that this difficulty arose solely from the pre-assumption that the word was to be so continuously or monotonously spoken by a human being; I did not fail to perceive, in short, that the difficulty lay in the reconciliation of this monotony with the exercise of reason on the part of the creature repeating the word. Here, then, immediately arose the idea of a non-reasoning creature capable of speech; and, very naturally, a parrot, in the first instance, suggested itself, but was superseded forthwith by a raven, as equally capable of speech, and infinitely more in keeping with the intended tone.

I had now gone so far as the conception of a raven, -the bird of ill omen,- monotonously repeating the one word, "nevermore," at the conclusion of each stanza, in a poem of melancholy tone, and in length about one hundred lines. Now, never losing sight of the object supremeness, or perfection at all points, I asked myself, "Of all melancholy topics, what, according to the universal understanding of mankind, is the most melancholy?"

Death, was the obvious reply.

"And when," I said, "is this most melancholy of topics most poetical?" From what I have already explained at some length, the answer here also is obvious: "When it most closely allies itself to beauty: the death, then, of a beautiful woman, is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world; and equally is it beyond doubt that the lips best suited for such topic are those of a bereaved lover."

I had now to combine the two ideas, of a lover lamenting his deceased mistress, and a raven continuously repeating the word "Nevermore," I had to combine these, bearing in mind my design of varying, at every turn, the application of the word repeated. But the only intelligible mode of such combination is that of imagining the raven employing the word in answer to the queries of the lover. And here it was that I saw at once the opportunity afforded for the effect on which I had been depending; that is to say, the effect of the variation of application. I saw that I could make the first query propounded by the lover, the first query to which the raven should reply "Nevermore," — that I could make this first query a commonplace one; the second less so; the third still less, and so on, —until at length the lover, startled from his original nonchalance by the melancholy character of the word itself, by its frequent repetition, and by a consideration of the ominous reputation of the fowl that uttered it, is at length excited to superstition, and wildly propounds queries of a far different character,— queries whose solution he has passionately at heart; propounds them half in superstition, and half in that

species of despair which delights in self-torture; propounds them not altogether because he believes in the prophetic or demoniac character of the bird (which, reason assures him, is merely repeating a lesson learned by rote), but because he experiences a frenzied pleasure in so modeling his questions as to receive from the expected "Nevermore" the most delicious because the most intolerable of sorrow. Perceiving the opportunity thus afforded me, or, more strictly, thus forced upon me in the progress of the construction, I first established in mind the climax, or concluding query, - that query to which "Nevermore" should be in the last place an answer; that query in reply to which this word "Nevermore" should involve the utmost conceivable amount of sorrow and despair.

Here then the poem may be said to have its beginning, at the end, where all works of art should begin; for it was here, at this point of my preconsideration, that I first put pen to paper in the composition of the stanza :

"Prophet," said I, "thing of evil!-prophet still, if bird or devil!

By that heaven that bends above us, by that God we both adore, Tell this soul, with sorrow laden, if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden, whom the angels name

Lenore,

Clasp a rare and raidant maiden, whom the angels name Lenore."

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore!"

I composed this stanza, at this point, first that, by establishing the climax, I might the better vary and

graduate, as regards seriousness and importance, the preceding queries of the lover; and, secondly, that I might definitely settle the rhythm, the meter, and the length and general arrangement of the stanza, — as well as graduate the stanzas which were to precede, so that none of them might surpass this in rhythmical effect. Had I been able, in the subsequent composition, to construct more vigorous stanzas, I should without scruple have purposely enfeebled them, so as not to interfere with the climacteric effect.

And here I may as well say a few words of the versification. My first object (as usual) was originality. The extent to which this has been neglected, in versification, is one of the most unaccountable things in the world. Admitting that there is little possibility of variety in mere rhythm, it is still clear that the possible varieties of meter and stanza are absolutely infinite. And yet, for centuries, no man, in verse, has ever done, or ever seemed to think of doing, an original thing. The fact is, that originality (unless in minds of very unusual force) is by no means a matter, as some suppose, of impulse or intuition. In general, to be found, it must be elaborately sought, and, although a positive merit of the highest class, demands in its attainment less of invention than negation.

Of course I pretend to no originality in either the rhythm or meter of "The Raven." The feet employed throughout (trochees) consist of a long syllable followed by a short. The first line of the stanza consists of eight of these feet; the second, of seven and a half (in effect two-thirds); the third, of eight; the fourth, of seven

and a half; the fifth, the same; the sixth, three and a half. Now, each of these lines, taken individually, has been employed before; and what originality "The Raven" has is in their combination into stanza. Nothing even remotely approaching this combination has ever been attempted. The effect of this originality of combination is aided by other unusual and some altogether novel effects, arising from an extension of the application of the principles of rhyme and alliteration,

The next point to be considered was the mode of bringing together the lover and the raven; and the first branch of this consideration was the locale. For this the most natural suggestion might seem to be a forest, or the fields; but it has always appeared to me that a close circumscription of space is absolutely necessary to the effect of insulated incident: it has the force of a frame to a picture. It has an indisputable moral power in keeping concentrated the attention, and, of course, must not be confounded with mere unity of place.

I determined, then, to place the lover in his chamber, -in a chamber rendered sacred to him by memories of her who had frequented it. The room is represented as richly furnished; this in mere pursuance of the ideas I have already explained on the subject of beauty, as the sole true poetical thesis.

The locale being thus determined, I had now to introduce the bird; and the thought of introducing him through the window was inevitable. The idea of making the lover suppose, in the first instance, that the flapping of the wings of the bird against the shutter is a "tapping" at the door, originated in a wish to