QUOTH THE MAVEN

To use Richard Eder’s own words in his review of “Edgar A. Poe,” one wonders why his critique was written at all, particularly as it diminishes Poe’s poetry.

It is fashionable for contemporary reviewers to downgrade style when it is wrapped in Victorian euphony, as Poe’s work certainly is: a contrast to much of today’s brittle, unmelodic formulations that pass as verse.

But if Poe did not embarrass his great contemporary Victorian poets whose music and taste go unquestioned, what is the real purpose in quibbling over the literary rank of a genius who inspired other artists in many fields, and still impresses with his music and evocative images?

ROBERT J. ADAMS, LONG BEACH