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Compare And Contrast The Raven And The Tell Tale Heart

Decent Essays

Edgar Allen Poe, although considered an outstanding author and poet, struggled with pain and death which he had endured throughout his lifetime. These experiences are reflected in his writings. For instance, “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” which are both independent stories of Poe with distinct storylines shared a few commonalities. This includes the presence of death, the literary use of repetition and a late-night setting. In “The Raven”, the narrator has lost his wife and is desperate to reunite with her. When the raven first appears on top of his door, he hopes that it has come to bring him back his Lenore or to take him to her. The death of his loved one, Lenore, within the short poem leaves the narrator in a desperate and melancholy state. It reaches the point where he begins to grow frustrated when the bird doesn’t answer his questions about his deceased lover. In the text, it says “From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore.” This quote shows the aftermath and effects of death especially when it leaves you without a loved one. Similarly, in “The Tell-Tale Heart”, a life is also taken away. In the short story, the narrator seeks to commit murder to free himself of the old man’s “evil vulture eye.” He describes it as, “the eye of a vulture- a pale blue eye, with a film over it” and while it is not specific whether the man was simply blind or had a fake eye, the narrator was paranoid. His paranoia drove him mad although he claimed not to be and

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