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ple; Poe calls his Annabel Lee because the two words tinkle with music. He does not hesitate to repeat a thought if the repetition adds to the pleasing effect on the ear, for Annabel Lee closes with the lines,
In the sepulchre there by the sea In her tomb by the sounding sea.
It has been said that the poetry of Poe appeals especially to the superficial and untutored. If by superficial and untutored is meant those who have not "thought long and deeply" the criticism is true. While a young man Wordsworth became convinced that he was to become a great poet. He assumed habits of thought and modes of life which he considered most conducive in developing poetic power. He strove to translate all he heard or saw into some moral or philosophic precept which would be of use to him when he had perfected his poetic power. He endeavored to store up mental treasure to be used at some future time till it became second nature with him, and thus he lost the ability to see intrinsic value in any phase of consciousness. This is why his poems seldom treat of an emotion entirely independent from other things, and why an impression is valuable only as it leads up to a higher. If one must be superficial and untutored to thoroughly enjoy Poe, on the other hand he must have thought long and deeply to enjoy Wordsworth. More than that he must think as Wordsworth thought. Both Poe and Wordsworth admit that there are elementary feelings common to all men, and that thought expressed in terms of these feelings will be understood by all. But not even Wordsworth would say that the intellectual part of man—the result of circumstance and experience—could be alike in all. The intellect is the artificial part of self, and except when they have been developed on similar lines, no two intellects can understand each other. This is why we must study Wordsworth to enjoy him; this is why we delight in Poe at first sight.
Aside from the musical and rhythmical effects in Poe's poetry, elementary feeling is the most effective force. The sole purpose of his work
is beauty. It may be a beauty of sound and rhythm as "The Bells," or a beauty of the play elementary feelings as "Ulalume," or a combination of the two as in "Eulalie," or, on a larger scale, in "The Raven."
The rhythmic and musical elements in poetry are so essential in Poe's eyes that he sees no cause for arguing in their behalf. "No error," he says (Marginalia CCIX) is more certainly fatal in poetry than defective rhythm." As to music he says, (Poetic Principle) "Contenting myself with the certainty that music in its various modes of meter, rhythm, and rhyme, is of so vast a moment in poetry as never to be wisely rejected, is so vitally important an adjunct that he is simply silly who declines its assistance. I will not now pause to maintain its absolute essentiality." Such exaltation of musical qualities is never found in Wordsworth's critical writings. Music is never an end with him. Most of his poetry could be translated into a foreign language and still retain its most important features. But a faithful translation of "The Bells" or of "Annabel Lee" would be impossible. So far as music is concerned there is no comparison between Poe and Wordsworth.
Elementary feeling was endorsed by both. This is why Wordsworth proclaimed apparently insignificant subjects worthy of poetic treatment. But he tells us that in humble life when "elementary feelings coexist in a state of greater simplicity—the passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of Nature." Here is where his view of elementary feeling differs from that of Poe. With Wordsworth feeling reflects a beauty that comes from without; with Poe, feeling is beautiful in itself. Wordsworth sees beauty in Nature entirely independent of man. Poe never wrote a poem of nature. His landscapes and natural objects are always related to man. The personal element alone is of value to him. His landscapes are haunted by spirits or demons; they are feelings materialized. We find his landscapes mostly in his poems on dreamland, but here all the objective forms of nature are but symbols of feelings.