o, Poe was a master of style, one of the greatest in English
prose, possibly the greatest since De Quincey, and quite the most
remarkable among American authors. Poe's influence on the short story
form has been tremendous. Although the _effects_ of structure may be
astounding in their power or unexpectedness, yet the _means_ by which
these effects are brought about are purely mechanical. Any student of
fiction can comprehend them, almost any practitioner of fiction with a
bent toward form can fairly master them. The merit of any short story
production depends on many other elements as well--the value of the
structural element to the production as a whole depends first on the
selection of the particular sort of structural scheme best suited to
the story in hand, and secondly, on the way in which this is
_combined_ with the piece of writing to form a well-balanced whole.
Style is more difficult to imitate than structure, but on the other
hand _the origin of structural influence_ is more difficult to trace
than that of style. So while, in a general way, we feel that Poe's
influence on structure in the short story has been great, it is
difficult rather than obvious to trace particular instances. It is
felt in the advance of the general level of short story art. There is
nothing personal about structure--there is everything personal about
style. Poe's style is both too much his own and too superlatively good
to be successfully imitated--whom have we had who, even if he were a
master of structural effects, could be a second Poe? Looking at the
matter in another way, Poe's style is not his own at all. There is
nothing "personal" about it in the petty sense of that term. Rather we
feel that, in the case of this author, universality has been attained.
It was Poe's good fortune to be himself in style, as often in content,
on a plane of universal appeal. But in some general characteristics of
his style his work can be, not perhaps imitated, but emulated. Greater
vividness, deft impressionism, brevity that strikes instantly to a
telling effect--all these an author may have without imitating any
one's style but rather imitating excellence. Poe's "imitators" who
have amounted to anything have not tried to imitate him but to vie
with him. They are striving after perfectionism. Of course the sort of
good style in which Poe indulged is not the kind of style--or the
varieties of style--suited for all purposes, but for the purposes to
whic