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 which it is adapted it may well be called supreme.

Then as a poet his work is almost or quite as excellent in a somewhat more restricted range. In verse he is probably the best artist in American letters. Here his sole pursuit was beauty, both of form and thought; he is vivid and apt, intensely lyrical but without much range of thought. He has deep intuitions but no comprehensive grasp of life.

His criticism is, on the whole, the least important part of his work. He had a few good and brilliant ideas which came at just the right time to make a stir in the world, and these his logical mind and telling style enabled him to present to the best advantage. As a critic he is neither broad-minded, learned, nor comprehensive. Nor is he, except in the few ideas referred to, deep. He is, however, limitedly original--perhaps intensely original within his narrow scope. But the excellences and limitations of Poe in any one part of his work were his limitations and excellences in all.

As Poe's best short stories may be mentioned: _Metzengerstein_ (Jan. 14, 1832, Philadelphia _Saturday Courier_), _Ms. Found in a Bottle_ (October 19, 1833, _Baltimore Saturday Visiter_), _The Assignation_ (January, 1834, _Godey's Lady's Book_), _Berenice_ (March, 1835, _Southern Literary Messenger_), _Morella_ (April, 1835, _Southern Literary Messenger_), _The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall_ (June, 1835, _Southern Literary Messenger_), _King Pest: a Tale Containing an Allegory_ (September, 1835, _Southern Literary Messenger_), _Shadow: a Parable_ (September, 1835, _Southern Literary Messenger_), _Ligeia_ (September, 1838, _American Museum_), _The Fall