Danielle Boehler Mrs.

Mazany AP Literature March 18th, 2014 Poetry Paper: The Raven by: Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, and poet that is best known for his tales of mystery and macabre. A famous poem by Edgar Allan Poe that follows his popular theme of death and darkness is The Raven. The poem is about a man who is grieving the loss of his lover. The fact that the story focuses on a raven also adds to the negative emotion of the poem and in a way, symbolizes death. The poem possesses a melancholy tone that remains constant throughout the entire piece. In this work Edgar Allan Poe uses the Raven to illustrate the main character's grief-stricken madness. As he grieves over the loss of his wife, the raven presents itself and acts as a reminder of his loss and a symbol of death. An abundance of poetic aspects such as the theme, symbols, and alliteration along with rhyme scheme help to strengthen the over-all meaning of the poem. Madness, love, and men in the natural world are the most prominent themes in the poem. The speaker of "The Raven" appears to have had a rough past. The reader can infer that there is a great possibility that the speaker is insane, or rapidly developing a mental illness, as he is talking to a bird. The developing madness can be seen in line 25: Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing/ Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. The fact that the speaker is talking to a bird and believes the bird is talking to him represents the insanity the speaker is developing due to the loss of his beloved Lenore. Love is another major theme in the poem. The speaker in The Raven is deeply in love with a woman

Boehler 2 named Lenore. The only thing in the world that he has such a great desire for, he absolutely cannot have. The line, Wretch, I cried, thy God hath lent theeby these angels he hath sent thee/ Respiterespite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore, shows how intensely the speaker cared for Lenore and how haunting the memory of her is to him. Even though Poe never even uses the word love directly, it still dominates the poem.One of the most evident themes of the poem is men in the natural world. Many of the things the speaker faces at night have to do with the natural world. He imagines natural forces surrounding his peaceful, civilized room, just waiting to break in. The outside world, the dark night, and sound of the wind, are all threatening and uncomfortable to him. Then nature proceeds to break in, in the form of an arrogant, talkative raven. This confrontation brings the conflict between man and nature to the attention of the reader. Aside from the theme, symbols are equally as important in developing the plot and keeping it moving at a reasonable pace (Theme of The Raven). Nepenthe, mentioned in line 83 is a symbol that is crucial to the poem. Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore! This is an allusion to a mythological drug that was taken to forget grief. Nepenthe occurs to the speaker in a hallucination. He envisions the room filling with some sort of perfume, and believes that God himself has decided to help him forget his misery and take away his sadness. The raven also possesses grave importance as a symbol throughout the piece. In Lines 38-40, the raven makes a grand entrance. Poe puts an excessive amount of emphasis on the way the bird comes into the room. The image he portrays is similar to that of a king or a queen walking into a throne room. He mentions that the Raven is "stately" and "mien" and its attitude and actions are like that of a "lord or lady." In Line 48 Poe brings in the famous line: Quoth the Raven, Nevermore. This repetitive refrain is what tears apart the speaker, and transforms him from sad and nervous into a shuddering wreck. When the

Boehler 3 bird says the phrase in the beginning, the narrator believes it is amusing nonsense. After a while, it starts to appear to be a horrifying prophecy to him. Other devices in the poem such as alliteration and rhyme scheme work together to deliver a powerful message (Literary Devices in The Raven). In lines 10 and 13, Poe uses soft "s" sounds with soft "c" sounds to convey a hissing kind of dark mystery that fits the mood of the poem perfectly and defines alliteration. Along with the hiccupping rhyme scheme and the eerie refrain, that particular alliterative device occurs over and over again throughout the poem. Line one, Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, is another example of alliteration in The Raven because of the redundant w sound. While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, is another one of the many examples of alliteration that can be found throughout the piece. The most radiant use of alliteration occurs in Stanza 14, where the "s" sound is repeated in "denser," "unseen," "censer," "swung," and "Seraphim," all in just two lines. The poem depends on alliteration as well as rhyme to move it along and to make it seem lyrical. There is not a stanza that does not contain some use of alliteration as well as internal rhymes such as: And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting. All of these devices combined create an in depth, astonishing poem that flows elegantly like a song or nursery rhyme (Delaney). Poes use of themes, symbols, and alliteration along with rhyme scheme prove to develop the plot of the poem and make it a complete, well written piece. The poem represents a person who dwells on grief and is the cause of his own mental anguish. The speaker becomes irrational as the poem continues knowing that no matter what he asks the raven, the answer is "nevermore." At this point it is not evident if the bird is actually there or if it is a figment of the imagination created by the speaker. Symbols, theme, alliteration and rhyme are just a handful of

Boehler 4 the poetic devices that Poe has perfected in order to create masterpieces such as The Raven (Teachers First)

Boehler 5 Works Cited

Delaney, Bill. "Poetic Devices Used in the Raven." ENotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar 2014. <http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-poetic-devices-used-raven-463352>. "Literary Devices in The Raven." Yahoo . N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar 2014. <http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090324120417AAFyebH>. "Teachers First." Interactive Raven. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar 2014. <http://www.teachersfirst.com/lessons/raven/st3.cfm>. "Theme of The Raven." Yahoo Answers. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar 2014. <http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080718202434AANjYwm>.

Boehler 6