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By John Esten Cooke, from Appletons' Journal, December 12, 1874. A look at Poe's work as a literary critic.
These reflections on the bad habit of throwing bricks have extended as far, perhaps, as the patient reader desires. Let us add, nevertheless, a single illustration of the absurd results of a carping and dogmatic style of criticism delivered in the tone of "Sir Oracle." The name of the critic who hurls wildly the brick in question is a famous one in letters--Edgar A. Poe. Mr. Poe was a man of wonderful genius, but he was also possessed of a very bitter temper, and his critical writings, when not denunciatory, are dogmatic to the last degree. This great literary "free-lance" spared nobody, and one day he amused himself by pointing out the awkwardness and blundering in the style of Macaulay, whose writings he declared could be greatly improved by--himself, Mr. Poe. Does the reader wish to behold the result--to see how a man of genius can busy himself with little carping verbal dissection, and sit delightedly in judgment, while a celebrity stands at the bar awaiting sentence? Mr. Poe seems to take up the volume of Macaulay, read a passage aloud, and say, "This paragraph, gentlemen, may appear to you very fine indeed, but that results from your ignorance. It is, in reality, awkward, involved, ungrammatical even, and nothing will be easier than to show you how I could improve it." The paragraph he proceeds to improve is the following, in which most persons would suppose that Lord Macaulay had expressed his meaning in clear, idiomatic, and grammatical English:
"Government is to Mr. Southey one of the fine arts. He judges of a theory or a public measure, of a religion, a political party, a peace, or a war, as men judge of a picture or a statue, by the effect produced on his imagination. A chain of associations is to him what a chain of reasoning is to other men, and what he calls his opinions are, in fact, merely his tastes."
This, I say, seems clear and vigorous, and not to violate grammar or idiom. Mr. Poe does not think so. In his opinion the paragraph is "inaccurate, pleonastic, awkward, and faulty;" and, straightway grasping his brick, he proceeds to hurl it, declaring that Lord Macaulay should have written the passage after this fashion:
"With Southey, governing is a fine art. Of a theory or a public measure, of a creed, a political party, a peace, or a war, he judges by the imaginative effect; as only such things as pictures or statues are judged of by other men. What to them is a chain of reasoning to him is a chain of association; and, as to his opinions, they are nothing but his tastes." It would be tedious to dissect Mr. Poe as he dissects Lord Macaulay, and show how all the vigor of the original vanishes in the improved version. Note only how the English is trodden under foot! "What to them a chain of reasoning is, to him is," etc. Then, is the meaning clearer? "As only such things as"--does the first "as" mean "inasmuch as" or not? and does Mr. Poe's judging "by the imaginative effect" express Macaulay's meaning when he writes, "the effect produced on his imagination?"
Let us not be too critical of the critic, however, leaving the reader to decide which of the two versions is the "awkward and unpleasant one." Few persons will be found to side with Mr. Poe, who refutes himself in the most thorough manner.
Thus, the bricks we hurl at our neighbors only rebound and injure ourselves. Let us keep our hands from them, and live in peace and good-will. The Supreme Law lays down the maxim, as wise as it is kindly, that of the three great virtues--faith, hope, and charity, the greatest of all is charity.
