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 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.
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