He has done something very similar in his poem, _The Raven_, where
the poem is followed by an analysis of its gestation, which is called
_The Philosophy of Composition_. Would it be more remarkable to
write _The Raven_ by inspiration, or to write it through conscious
skill? To find the hidden treasure through the talisman of _The
Goldbug_, or through the possession of analytical faculties such as
those of the protagonist of Poe's tale?
Much consideration will lead to the conclusion that one process is as
marvellous as the other.
It may be said that there is nothing miraculous in nature, and it may be
said that it is all miraculous.
MY LITERARY AND ARTISTIC INCLINATIONS
Generally speaking, I neither understand old books very well, nor do I
care for them--I have been able to read only Shakespeare, and perhaps
one or two others, with the interest with which I approach modern
writers.
It has sometimes seemed to me that the unreadableness of the older
authors might be made the foundation of a philosophic system. Yet I
have met with some surprises.
One was that I enjoyed the _Odyssey_.
"Am I a hypocrite?" I asked myself.
I do not find old painters to be as incompatible as old authors. On the
contrary, my experience has been that they are the reverse.
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