Island of the Fay e-bog

The scenario of this work is atypical for Poe. The narrator begins his tale by commenting that "e;the higher order of music is the most thoroughly estimated when we are exclusively alone."e; Only then, he states, can its "e;spiritual uses"e; be fully appreciated. "e;But there is one pleasure still within the reach of fallen mortality--and perhaps only one--which owes even more than does music to the accessory sentiment of seclusion. I mean the happiness experienced in the contemplation of natural scenery. In truth, the man who would behold aright the glory of God upon earth must in solitude behold that glory."e; The narrator explains that the presence of any other form of life other than "e;the green things which grow upon the soil and are voiceless"e; is "e;at war with the genius of the scene."e; The "e;dark valleys,"e; the "e;grey rocks,"e; the "e;waters that silently smile,"e; the "e;proud watchful mountains"e; are "e;the colossal members of one vast animate and sentient whole...whose life is eternity; whose thought is that of a God; whose enjoyment is knowledge; whose destinies are lost in immensity; whose cognisance of ourselves is akin with our own cognisance of the animalcule which infest the brain--a being which we, in consequence, regard as purely inanimate and material, much in the same manner as these animalcule must thus regard us."e;