In the Seraphyms’ Footfalls: between Poetry and Analytical Prose (reading “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe)

“The Raven” and its analysis in “The Philosophy of Composition” form a diptych inviting its reader into a complex play. Poe’s theory posits poetry and prose as obstinately irreconcilable, like “oils and waters”, but their ludic mutual engagement proves, in practice, of both aesthetic and heuristic value. R. Jakobson in Language in Operation (1949) realizes a similar strategy and thus acts as Poe’s ideal reader. His “exploratory sally into the very heart of verbal communication” helps to understand the paradox of literary communication — the meaning-generating process in which belief is coupled with disbelief and negation with repetition and renewal.