“I have no desire to live since I have done Eureka. I could accomplish nothing more.”

Feeling that his major philosophical work marked the completion of his achievement · Letter to Maria Clemm, 7 July 1849

• Achievement
• Life
• Purpose

“There neither exists nor can exist any work more thoroughly dignified — more supremely noble than this very poem — this poem per se — this poem which is a poem and nothing more — this poem written solely for the poem’s sake.”

Defending the autonomy of poetry written purely for its own sake · Essay, The Poetic Principle

• Nobility
• Poetry
• Purpose

“With me poetry has been not a purpose, but a passion; and the passions should be held in reverence: they must not — they cannot at will be excited, with an eye to the paltry compensations, or the more paltry commendations, of mankind.”

Insisting that true poetry arises from involuntary passion rather than calculated ambition · Preface to The Raven and Other Poems, 1845

• Passion
• Poetry
• Purpose