a note now lying before me
in a web of difficulties
the precise mode of procedure
not altogether in accordance
its indispensable air of consequence
in the usual mode of constructing
render themselves apparent
suggested by an incident of the day
commencing with the consideration of an effect
more to do with the omission than any other cause
take a peep behind the scenes
seized only at the last moment
the innumerable glimpses of idea
at the maturity of full view
fancies discarded in despair as unmanageable
to retrace the steps by which conclusions have been attained
to show the modus operandi
regarded as a breach of decorum
too long to be read at one sitting
everything like totality is at once destroyed
a certain degree of duration is absolutely requisite
all intense excitements are brief
stands not in the slightest need of demonstration
spared the necessity of submitting it to analysis
inventing a sufficiently plausible reason
and infinitely more in keeping with
one of the most unaccountable things in the world
not everything is within the limits of the accountable
gathered from Edgar Allan Poe’s The Philosophy of Composition
