1.26.2008

"Diddling" -- Poe

"What constitutes the essence, the nare, the principle of diddling is, in fact, peculiar to the class of creatures that wear coats and pantaloons. A crow thieves; a fox cheats; a weasel outwits; a man diddles. To diddle is his destiny. "Man was made to mourn," says the poet. But not so:–he was made to diddle. This is his aim–his object- his end. And for this reason when a man's diddled we say he's "done.""

from -- http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/eapoe/bl-eapoe-diddling.htm

1 comment:

Yoyo said...

Poe's use of "diddling" is not quite the same as Faulkner's, huh?