A few of my words on "A Few Words on Secret Writing"

When I read "A Few More Words on Secret Writing" it made me think that there really is no such thing as "secret" writing. Poe seems to think that there will always be someone who will be able to figure out a cipher. Also, Poe points out that the key to solving these ciphers "is found in the general principles of the formation of language itself, and thus is altogether independent of the particular laws which govern any cipher, or the construction of its key." It seems that if the solution is in "the formation of language," then we all have the ability to solve a cipher. While he does point out that "to those skilled in deciphering" these puzzles are easy to solve, it seems like it is possible for anyone to possess these skills.

Poe reiterates this idea at the end when he says that if you want to find "rules for the solution of cipher," we will be disappointed: "Beyond some hints in regard to the general structure of language...he will find nothing upon record which he does not in his own intellect possess." Some may argue that Poe's work is cryptic, but if we look to the "formation of language" as he suggests, then we may able to decipher what he is trying to say. As Poe points out in this essay, the "difficulty of reading a crytographical puzzle is by no means always in accordance with the labor or ingenuity with which it has been constructed." We are not aware of how the puzzle or its key was constructed, so that is not where the difficulty in solving it lies.