Were I called on to define, very briefly, the term Art, I should call it the reproduction of what the Senses perceive in Nature through the veil of the soul. The mere imitation, however accurate, of what is in Nature, entitles no man to the sacred name
Source: Marginalia, in Southern Literary Messenger (Richmond, Va., June 1849
-- Edgar Allan Poe, (Jan 19 1809-1849), US poet, short-story writer; He is famous for his mysterious, macabre stories and poems, e.g., The Gold Bug, 1843 and The Raven, 1845.