Many students wonder what the reason is behind analyzing literature. Analyzing literature can be complicated and seem like a puzzle that cannot be solved. There is an underlying type of art when one finally learns and understands the meaning of short stories or poems. “Annabel Lee” and “The Raven” are two different poems written by Edgar Allen Poe. Now, one might ask why it should be important to know how to read and analyze literature. If one can learn how to read and analyze literature than they can learn how poets like Edgar Allen Poe have an underlying argument or meaning to the art of their writing. The next question one might have is, well why or how can that meaning be applied to my everyday life? Edgar Allen Poe’s writing is so cleverly crafted that his underlying meaning has an impact on human life itself in regards to values and morality. In this literature analysis paper we will discuss how two completely different poems have similarities in the literary element of theme. In order to have a better understanding of what we will discuss we need to first shortly summarize these two poems. In “The Raven” the writer is lamenting on his lover who has past. He sits in his lonesome and then comes a raven as if it is the answer to all his pondering thoughts of loneliness and sorrow. In “Annabel Lee” the writer discloses his love to his dear lady Annabel Lee. He diligently describes his feelings and is left in sorrow when she is taken by death. Even after
Written by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven” is a famous short poem known for the dark fantasy that it portrays. From the mindset of a first person narrative, one may experience the tale through the eyes of a haunted man who is in mourning for the death of his beloved Lenore. As this man sits in his chamber, within a dark and dreary December night, a “raven of the saintly days of yore” visits him. The raven is no ordinary bird, for it is like a ghost, silent, yet it answers every inquiry the man presents in it’s own personal way. This dark and tragic tale grabs one’s attention through the rhythmic, yet melancholy verses, through the classic references, and through the dark imagery that all play a critical role within this poem.
Through the use of an un-named narrator in his poem entitled “The Raven”, Poe darkly conveys feeling understood by many: hopelessness, lost love, and death. The poem follows the un-named narrator, as he reflects on, as well as struggles with, the realization of his lost love, Lenore. Like many, he tries to detract his overwhelming feelings for Lenore by investing his time in studying books. Despite his greatest efforts, he is unsuccessful. Much to his surprise, his solitude is interrupted by an unanticipated visitor. Throughout the poem, Poe uses imagery, tone, symbolism, and rhyme as a means of conveying his overall themes of undying devotion and lingering grief.
The poem, “The Raven,” written by Edgar Allen Poe shows the deep depression and confusion that the narrator is experiencing since the death of his beloved wife. The gloomy setting of the poem predicts the visit of the Raven, whom is a sign of misfortune, darkness, and death. Throughout the poem, the narrator is continually mourning his wife, Lenore. He secretly hopes that the Raven will bring good news regarding his wife and his future; however, the Raven informs him that he will forever remain depressed. Furthermore, Poe uses setting, strong word choice, and symbolism to illustrate the Raven as the messenger of darkness and explain the narrator’s emotional state.
In the classic poem, “The Raven”, Edgar Allan Poe explores the effects of isolation and grief. “The Raven” follows a man who laments his lost love, Lenore. When a raven enters his chamber, and repeatedly says “nevermore,” the narrator’s inner struggle with his state of mind is revealed. Through the use of imagery and diction in stanza five, Poe expresses the narrator’s fear and sorrow after losing his loved one.
Edgar Allan Poe was a 19th century American writer who is best known for his poetries and short stories.Poe wrote in many genres;however, his most famous works were written in the mystery or horror genre.According to Robert Giordano,”Poe wrote quite a few gothic stories about murder, revenge, torture, the plague, being buried alive, and insanity” (Giordano).Many of his prominent works include “The Raven,”The Fall of the House of Usher,” and ”The Tell-tale Heart.” The spectacular work of Edgar Allan Poe would be commended and acknowledged throughout history.
In the poem “The Raven”, Edgar Allan Poe expresses a current state of drunkenness, drug use, and depression as existing in a dark and dreary prison like setting, tormented by the memories of a lost love. Poe’s literary career was undoubtedly influenced by the many tragedies he suffered in his life. These misfortunes are evident in the correlation between his characters in his writings and real life events. It is clear that Poe had a problematic life from a young age; he struggled with mental illness, depression, and substance abuse including alcohol and opium use. Poe’s suffering is present in his dark, depressing, and tormented poem “The Raven”.
“The Raven” and “Annabel Lee” are both poems that handle grief very differently as they lose their loved ones. Although “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee” have many similarities both narrators talks about how differently they handle grief. In “Annabel Lee” the narrator stated, " of my darling, my darling, my life and bride, In her sepulcher there by the sea- In Her tomb by the side of the sea". In the quote, the narrator lies down with her in her tomb. Since he loves her so much he lies down with her in her tomb. In the poem “The Raven” the narrator stated, “Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”The narrator wants the raven to leave, but it continues to sit there. Also, the narrator’s wife dies a raven flies into his room for the raven is a symbol of his wife's memory. His wife's memory haunts him and he wants to get his mind off of her.In “Annabel Lee” when Annabel dies the narrator lies down with her in her tomb. Since he loves her so
In “The Raven” the narrator is mourning the loss of his loved one. When the narrator meets the raven, he inquiries about the fate of his loved one. In the last few stanzas of the poem the narrator asks the raven if Lenore is in paradise: “Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore” (93-94). The narrator questions the raven because he wants to know if he will ever be reunited with his beloved Lenore. The speaker is so consumed with the uncertainty of the afterlife and the fate of his Lenore causes him to slip into deep depression. The fact that the narrator chose to fall into depression shows Poe’s outlook on the fate of loved ones in the afterlife. Instead of being depressed the narrator could have been pleased with the raven’s answer because it still left the possibility for the two lover’s souls to meet in the afterlife. Edgar Allan Poe has a much more positive outlook on life after losing a loved one in the poem “Annabel Lee”. In the poem the narrator has lost the love of his life to sickness. The speaker is convinced that he will be united with her again in the afterlife and that their souls will be reunited. Near the end of “Annabel Lee” the narrator claims, “And neither the angels in Heaven above Nor the demons down under the sea Can ever
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most well-known authors in the world. He has wrote many poems,and short stories from: Annabel Lee, The Black Cat, and The Raven.Sadly, with all of his successful stories, Edgar Allan Poe was an alcoholic.Most of the money he made, which was only three hundred dollars his whole life,was spent on alcohol. His life was rough starting out due to tuberculosis that killed: his mom, his brother, adoptive mother, and his first wife Virginia. Since mostly everyone he ever loved was now dead because of a disease he lived a lonely life. He chased women and faced multiple heartbreaks yet, the most heartbreaking part of his life was the way he would die. Poe had disappeared for six days without a trace, he later turned up drunk
Poe’s philosophy is depicted in “Annabel Lee” and “The Raven”; a man of dark and depressing poems who was influenced during his hard, emotional, life to write. His poems describe the mental and emotion devastations a person’s state of mind can reach. Despite his hard life and mysterious death he faced, the speaker can recognize his struggles through his life to become successful with his literary works.
The poem “The Raven” was published in 1845, after his mother had died and around the time his wife was dying. The poem “Annabel Lee” was published in 1849, after Poe’s wife had already passed on. It believed that “The Raven” is about Poe’s late mother ( or late foster mom ) or Poe’s dying wife. It is also believed that “Annabel Lee” is about Poe’s late wife Virginia. In “Annabel Lee” in lines 38/39 the speaker says “And so all the night-tide I lie down by the side of my darling - my darling - my life and bride”, which leads readers to believe that Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” is about his deceased wife virginia. In “The Raven” in lines 93/96 it says “Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, it shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore”, in these lines the speaker id asking him he will be reunited with a departed loved one. This leads me to think that Poe wrote this poem for either his mother or his wife. The themes of these poems tie together with the reasons they were written. The theme of “Annabel Lee” is love and loss, this is because the speaker is talking about how he has lost his beloved wife. In line 9 of “Annabel Lee” it says “But we loved with a love that was more than love” and in lines 25/26 it says “The the wind came out of the cloud by night chilling and killing my Annabel Lee”, in these lines the speaker is talking about how he loved Annabel Lee and that she had been struck with a chill and it killed her. “The Raven” has two themes. The themes of “The Raven” are love and loss as well as sanity versus madness. In “The Raven” the speaker has lost a loved one by the name of Lenore, this contributes to the love and loss theme. Also in “The Raven” the speaker repeatedly asks a raven questions and the raven
When studying Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven and Annabel Lee, the reader is struck by many similarities and differences. Both focus on the sorrow and loss of losing a loved one. Both deal with the heartache and grief associated with the search for understanding why the loss occurred. Both have an almost gothic, sad, unearthly feel to them. However, while the theme of The Raven and Annabel Lee is very similar, Poe uses a very different tone in the two poems to portray his feelings. The difference in tone produces a very different mood when one reads the two poems.
First, in “The Raven” the narrator is suffering from the loss of his true love named Lenore. He tries to distract himself with an old book that way he can forget his love Lenore. He dwells in his own sorrows and tries to
Although now seen as the father of the modern horror story, Edgar Allan Poe was previously viewed as a drunken failure. Within Poe’s writings much of his own life riddled with guilt, anxiety, alcohol, depression and death shines through resulting in works that appear unrelated yet once dissected prove similar. This is true for Poe’s works “The Raven” and “The Black Cat”. Poe’s examples of gothic fiction share the use of the color black and a rapid digression of the narrator 's sanity while seemingly unveiling Poe’s internal pain. Despite these similarities, Poe’s works also differ immensely. “The Black Cat” focuses around death while “The Raven” is fixed around discovering the reasoning for a bird 's arrival. Moreover, gothic themes seen within “The Raven” do not necessarily remain constant when compared to “The Black Cat”.
The gothic nature of “The Raven” gives the poem a much darker and negative tone, compared to “Annabel Lee,” which expresses the sorrow the narrator feels after his loss. Poe uses words in “The Raven” that makes the narrator appear weak, helpless, and desperate to know if he will see his wife, Lenore, again in the afterlife. In the early stanzas of the poem, the narrator hears a tapping at his bedroom door; he then reveals who he believes is trying to come into his room when he states, “And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?” \ This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!” - \ Merely this and nothing more” (Poe, 28-30). This quote is an example of how Poe sets the tone of the poem when the speaker whispers into the darkness, calling for his wife who he knows is deceased. This reveals to the audience that the man is not yet at peace with the reality that his wife is no longer with him. On the other hand, in “Annabel Lee,” Poe sets a more hopeful tone by exhibiting how the narrator feels about his deceased wife. Near the conclusion of the poem, the narrator