When a madman appears thoroughly sane, indeed, it is high time to put him in a straight jacket.
Edgar Allan PoeTell me truly, I implore-- Is there-- is there balm in Gilead?--tell me--tell me, I implore!
Edgar Allan PoeLet us dismiss, as irrelevant to the poem per se, the circumstance ... which, in the first place, gave rise to the intention of composing a poem that should suit at once the popular and the critical taste.
Edgar Allan PoeThe word "Verse" is used here as the term most convenient for expressing, and without pedantry, all that is involved in the consideration of rhythm, rhyme, meter, and versification... the subject is exceedingly simple; one tenth of it, possibly may be called ethical; nine tenths, however, appertains to the mathematics.
Edgar Allan Poe