Text: Palmer Cobb, “Chapter VIII,” The Influence of E. T. A. Hoffman on the Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, 1908, pp. 91-102

CHAPTER VIII

POE'S STYLISTIC INDEBTEDNESS TO HOFFMANN

Every one conversant with Poe's Tales, who has read them with some attention to their style, has probably noticed one idiosyncrasy of style, which, owing to its frequent occurrence becomes a downright vice. I refer to the peculiar habit of the author in conversational dialogue of beginning a sentence with one or more words, inserting thereupon the word of saying, by itself or with others, and then repeating the opening words before proceeding with the rest of the sentence. E. g., “Thou hast conquered,” she said, or the murmurs of the water deceived me — “thou hast conquered.”(1)

“What think you,” said he, turning abruptly as he spoke — “What think you of this Madonna della Pieta?”(2)

“They have given the signal at last,” cried the Pharisee, “they have given the signal at last!”(3)

Such examples might be multiplied by scores. These repetitions take various forms, differing in minor details, which may be classified in three types for the sake of convenience.

The first type is the one of which examples have just been given, i. e., with some expression of saying intervening [page 92:] between the opening words and their repetition. The second type is that in which a statement is made and followed by a parenthetical explanation or interruption, whereupon the first words are repeated with “I say!” E. g., “Do you know, however,” continued he musingly, “that at Sparta (which is now Pal-aeschori), at Sparta, I say, to the west of the citadel,” etc.(4)

There is a sub-class of this type in which the phrase “I say” is omitted. As, “The person of the stranger — let me call him by this title, who to all the world was still a stranger — the person of the stranger is one of these subjects,” etc.(5)

The third type is a mere repetition with or without any parenthetical phrase, but with a change to strengthen the opening statement. E. g., “Very well! — very well, sir! Very well indeed, sir!” said his Majesty, etc.(6) “Seel See!” cried he, shrieking in my ears, “Almighty God! See! See!”(7)

Hence there can only be one inference from these facts; Hoffmann grew into the peculiarity, Poe grew out of it; with Hoffmann it was natural, self-developed, with Poe something extraneous, acquired, but thrown off as he grew more and more independent in style and in method. So much seems established beyond a reasonable doubt. But, if this peculiar habit was acquired, if it was an imitation, there is only one writer Poe could have learned it from, and that was Hoffmann, from whom he seems to have obtained so many suggestions for his tales, particularly the earlier ones.

“You are worse then, sir!” said Emily, extremely alarmed by his manner; “you are worse, and here is no assistance.” (Page 31.)

“I feel,” said he at length, “I feel how insufficient all [page 94:] attempt at consolation must be on this subject.” (Page 49.)

“His hand deposited them here,” said she, as she kissed some pieces of the coin, and wetted them with her tears — “his hand which is now dust.” (Page 51.)

“Ah, I see,” said Valancourt, after a long pause, during which Emily had begun and left unfinished two or three sentences — “I see that I have nothing to hope.” (Page 52.)

“So, niece,” said Madame Cheron, casting a look of surprise and inquiry on Valancourt — “so, niece! how do you do?” (Page 54.)

“Emily,” said Valancourt at length, as he pressed her hand in his, “Emilyl — “and he was again silent. (Page 75.)

“I had hoped, sir, that it was no longer necessary for me to disclaim it,” said Emily; “I had hoped from your silence,” etc. (Page 102.)

“But this morning,” continued Annette, lowering her voice and looking around the room, “this morning as it was broad daylight,” etc. (Page 124.)

“Nay, prythee, good Annette, stay not talking,” said Emily in a voice of agony — “go, prythee, go, and see what it is.” (Page 125.)

Nobody, I believe, ma’am,” replied Annette, “nobody has been with her,” etc. (Page 128.)

“Hear me, Emily,” resumed Morano, “Hear me! I love, and am in despair — yes — in despair.” (Page 128.)

The same sorts of repetition are to be found in the Italian(9) by the same author.

“Stop! for heaven's sake stop!” said Bonarmo. (Page 20.) “Tell me, I conjure you, instantly tell me,” etc. (Page 37.)

“Three weeks ago, say you! you said three weeks, I think?” (Page 58.)

“Yet I will not suppose, Signor, I say I will not suppose,” raising his voice significantly, “that you have dared,” etc. (Page 63.)

“I understand,” said the abbess, on whose appearance the alarmed Ellena had arisen, “I understand,” said she, without [page 95:] making any further signal for her to be seated, “that you are the young person,” etc. (Page 83.)

“Avaunt,” cried he, in a tremendous voice, “Avaunt! sacrilegious boy!” (Page 129.)

To a less degree the same device is found in Horace Walpole's Castle of Otranto.(10)

“I sent for you, lady,” said he, and then stopped under great appearance of confusion. “My Lord! Yes, I sent for you on a matter of great moment,” resumed he. (Page 72.)

“Theodore!” said Manfred, mournfully, and striking his forehead; “Theodore, or a phantom, he has unhinged the soul• of Manfred.” (Page 168.)

“Thou art no lawful prince,” said Jerome, “thou art no pünce;” (Page 191.)

“Forgive him, dearest mother — forgive him my death.” (Page 215.)

From Hawthorne such quotations could be multiplied indefinitely.(11) A few will suffice.

“Thou knowest,” said Hester, for depressed as she was, she could not endure this last quiet stab at the token of her shame — “thou knowest that I was frank with thee.” (Page 97.)(12)

“Where,” asked he, with a look askance at them — for it was the clergyman's peculiarity that he seldom, nowadays, looked straight forth at any object, whether human or inanimate — “Where, my kind Doctor,” etc. (Page 160.)

“Thus, a sickness,” continued Roger Chillingsworth, going on in an unaltered tone without heeding the interruption — but standing up and confronting the emaciated and white-cheeked minister, with his low, dark and misshaped figure — “a sickness, a sore place,” etc. (Page 166.)

“Strange! forsooth! very strange!” cried the lieutenant. (Page 21.)

“Poor business!” responded Dixey, in a tone as if he were shaking his head, — “poor business!” (Page 59.)

“Well, child,” said she, taking heart at sight of a person so little formidable, “well, my child, what did you wish for?” (Page 61.)

“For what end,” thought she, giving vent to that feeling of hostility which is the only real abasement of the poor in the presence of the rich, — “for what good end, in the wisdom of Providence, does that woman live?” (Page 67.)

“Take it as you like, Cousin Jaffrey!” muttered the maiden lady, as she drew back, after cautiously thrusting out her head, and looking up and down the street — “take it as you like!” (Page 71.)

“So you have really begun trade,” said he — ‘•really begun trade.” (Page 75.)

“Ah! but these hens,” answered the young man, — “these hens of aristocratic lineage would scorn to understand the vulgar language of a barn-yard fowl.” (Page 107.)

“There is nothing but love here, Clifford,” she added, “nothing but love!” (Page 125.)

“I like that, Cousin Phoebe!” cried he, with an emphatic nod of approbation. “I like it much, my little cousin!” (Page 139.)

“Nay, pluck it,” answered Aylmer, — “pluck it, and inhale its brief perfume while you may.” (The Birthmark, page 52.)

“Carefully now, Aminidab; carefully, thou human machine; carefully, thou man of clay.” (The Birthmark, page 63.)

“It is nonsense,” murmured the Oldest Inhabitant, who, as a man of the past, felt jealous that all notice should be withdrawn from himself to be lavished in the future, —

‘sheer nonsense to waste,” etc. (A Select Party, page 76.)

“O, how stubbornly does love, — or even that cunning semblance of love which flourishes in the imagination, but [page 97:] strikes no depth of root into the heart, — how stubbornly does it hold its faith,” etc. (Rappacini's Daughter, page 125.)

“Dear Beatrice,” said he, approaching her, while she shrank away as always at his approach, but now with a different impulse, — “dearest Beatrice, our fate is not yet so desperate,” etc. (Rappacini's Daughter, page 137.)

“Madam,” said I holding the newspaper before Mrs. Bullfrog's eyes, — and, though a small, delicate, and thin-visaged man, I feel assured that I looked very terrific, — “Madam,” repeated I, through my shut teeth,” etc. (Mrs. Bullfrog, page 47.)

“And bellowing, I suppose,” said I, not that I felt any ill-will towards Fourier, but merely wanted to give the finishing touch to Hollingsworth's image — “bellowing for the last drop of his beloved lemonade.” (Page 391.)

“I cannot conceive,” observed Zenobia, with great emphasis — and, no doubt, she spoke fairly the feeling of the moment, “I cannot conceive of being so continually as Mr. Cov-erdale is within the sphere,” etc. (Page 397.)

“I wish, Mr. Moodie,” suggested I — not that I greatly cared about it, however, but was only anxious to draw him into some talk about Priscilla and Zenobia, — “I wish, while we sit over our wine,” etc. (Page 325.)

“There,” cried Endicott, looking triumphantly on his work, “there lies the only Maypole in New England.” (The Maypole of Merry Mount, page 80.)

“To think,” ejaculated the Lord de Vere, rather to himself than to his companions, the best of whom he held utterly unworthy of his intercourse — “to think that a fellow in a tattered cloak,” etc. (The Great Carbuncle, page 180.)

“Perhaps,” slyly remarked the grand-daughter of Colonel Joliffe, whose high spirits had been stung by many taunts against New England„ “perhaps we are to have” etc. (Howe's Masquerade, page 279.) [page 98:]

“As yet,” cried the stranger, — his cheek glowing and his eye flashing with enthusiasm — “as yet, I have done nothing.” (The Ambitious Guest, page 368.)

“The children,” said he to himself — and sighed and smiled — “the children are to be my charge.” (The Threefold Destiny, page 536.)

“Oh! I am stung!” cried he, “I am stung!” (The Paradise of Children, page 94.)

“Oh, tell us,” they exclaimed, — “tell us what it is.” (The Paradise of Children, page 100.)

“Go back,” cried they all, — “go back to your own home!” (The Three Golden Apples, page 113.)

“More's the pity, boy; more's the pity.” (Page 17.)

“You are wrong, — you are wrong, friend Cap; very wrong to distrust the power of God in anything.” (Page 20.)

“It's no great secret — no great secret,” returned Pathfinder. (Page 22.)

“Call him in,” whispered Jasper, scarce able to restrain his impatience; “call him in, or it will be too late.” (Page 54.)

“I ask your pardon, Pathfinder,” said the repentant Jasper, eagerly grasping the hand that the other permitted him to seize, “I ask your pardon humbly and sincerely.” (Page 57.)

“Keep well up the current, Jasper,” shouted the gallant guide, as he swept the water with long, steady, vigorous strokes of the paddle; “keep well up the current.” (Page 64.) [page 99:]

“Ay, empty your rifles, like simpletons as you be,” said the Pathfinder, who had acquired a habit of speaking when alone, from passing so much of his time in the solitude of the forest; “empty your rifles with an unsteady aim, — “ (Page 64.)

“How beautiful!” she exclaimed, unconscious of speaking, as she stood on the solitary bastion facing the air from the lake, and experiencing the genial influence of its freshness pervading both her body and her mind. “How very beautiful!” (Page 112.)

“Can this be so, Sergeant?” said the guide, whose meek and modest nature shrank from viewing himself in colors so favorable. “Can this be truly so?” (Page 135.)

“Walk in, Sergeant, walk in, my good friend,” said old Lundie, heartily, as his inferior stood in a respectful attitude at the door of a sort of library and bedroom into which he had been ushered; “walk in, and take a seat on that stool.” (Page 142.)

“I protest, Major Duncan, I protest,” cried Muir, hurrying back towards the stand, with both arms elevated by way of enforcing his words, — “I protest in the strongest terms,” etc. (Page 166.)

“Come nigher, we are friends,” said the trapper, associating himself with his companion by long use, and probably through the strength of the secret tie that connected them together; “we are friends,” etc.

“Mischief,” deliberately returned the squatter; but with a cool expression of defiance in his eye, that showed how little he was moved by the ill-concealed humor of his children, “Mischief, boy; mischief!” (Page 100.)

“Come on, friend,” he said, waving his hand as he observed the stranger to pause a moment, apparently in doubt, “Come on, I say.” (Page 111.)

“Asinus excepted,” muttered the Doctor, who by this time was discussing his portion of the hump in utter forgetfulness of all its scientific attributes. “Asinus domesticus Americanus excepted.” (Page 115.) [page 100:]

“It seems to me,” said Dr. Battius, speaking with the sort of deliberation and dignity one is apt to use after having thoroughly ripened his opinions by sufficient reflection, “it seems to me a man but little skilled in the signs and tokens of Indian warfare, especially as practised in these remote plains, but one who, I may say without vanity, has some insight into the mysteries of nature; — it seems, then to me,” etc. (Page 148.)

“Lie down, you old villain,” exclaimed Leather Stocking, shaking his ramrod at Hector as he bounded towards the foot of the tree, “lie down, I say.” (Page 37.)

“Draw up in the quarry — draw up, thou king of the Greeks; draw into the quarry, Agamemnon, or I shall never be able to pass you.* (Page 38.)

“Cover thy poll, Gaul, c6ver thy poll,” cried the driver, who was Mr. Richard Jones; “cover thy poll, or the frost will pluck out the remnant of thy locks,” etc. (Page 38.)

“A twelve-pounder!” echoed Benjamin, staring around him with much confidence; “a twelve-pounder!” (Page 73.)

“Reach me the scissors,” said Mr. Jones when he had finished, and finished for the second time, after tying the linen in every shape and form that it could be placed; “reach me the scissors, for there is a thread.” (Page 83.)

Die Einkleidung dieser Ideen (Hoffmann's Vision auf dem Schlachtfelde zu Dresden) ist indessen offenbar beinflusst von dem Traum des Franz im fünften Akt der ‘Rauber’, wie denn überhaupt die Rauber, wahrscheinlich schon seit Hoffmanns Jugendzeit eine nachhaltige Wirkung auf sein Phantasieleben ausgeübt haben; such in den rollenden Worten der Vision glaubt man einen Nachhall von Schillers Sprache zu vernehmen,

Schillers ‘Geisterseher’ wird zwar in den Briefen nicht erwahnt, aber wir wissen aus spateren Bekentnissen, wie stark das Buch gerade damals auf seine Phantasie gewirkt hat.

“Sie haben uns,” sagte er, indem er ihm zugleich einige Goldstücke in die Hand drückte, “sie haben uns aus den Handen eines Betrügers gerettet.” (Page 254.)

“In der Tat,” rief der Prinz mit einer Miene zugleich des Verdrusses and der Verwunderung, indem er mir besonders einen bedeutenden Blick gab, “in der Tat,” rief er aus.” etc. (Page 260.)

“Ihr Trauring!” rief der Prinz mit Befremdung. “Ihr Trauring!” (Page 277.)

“Das wir unter einander da so glücklich sind,” hub end-lich der Greis an, der allein unter uns alien den Unbekannten nicht zu bemerken oder sich doch nicht über ihn zu verwundern schien: “Das wir so glücklich sind,” sagte er, etc. (Page 280.)