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Edgar Allan Poe Influence On The Raven

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The events in people’s lives shape and influence the way the they think. They are later defined by the way they act, with every action having a reaction. For writers, it can and will affect the story. One can look at the story and sometimes see the author’s life. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” was influenced by what was happening currently in his life with the characters, all the way to the setting. The and later his works were with the core principles of the aesthetic and decedent movements. As “The Raven” was based on his wife’s eventual death. In 1842 Poe’s wife Virginia was diagnosed with tuberculosis at the age of 19. The same disease took his adaptive mother from him. Virginia thought that because of her sickness, that Poe became a …show more content…

The Raven who never says anything other than “Nevermore”. In turn doesn’t have much a personality, but symbolizes the narrator’s grief. However, The Narrator gets wisdom through the interaction with the Raven. The main reason for why the raven stays in because the narrator can’t let the memory of Lenore go. Then we have Lenore, though never physically in the poem she has a huge present in the poem. As her death is the main reason behind the poem. The narrator describes her as “rare and radiant maiden” (Line 11). The narrator asked the raven if she was in heaven the bird replied with “Nevermore”. As Poe the narrator, and Lenore is his wife Virginia. The parallels between the story and Poe’s life are very relevant. Poe who can’t get past his sorrow and grief that his wife is dying. Virginia who’s not dead yet, but knows she’s going to die and can’t stand to see her husband suffer the way he …show more content…

The movement really favored the brain in brain vs body. They would rather focus on intellectual satisfaction, rather than satisfaction for the body. The body was high maintenance and keep you away from the intellectual peruses of the brain. Poe falls under this movement is because of one his core principles. That the death of beautiful girl is the most poetic statement. Beauty in this movement was the most important thing to accomplish. “When, indeed, men speak of Beauty, they mean, precisely, not a quality, as is supposed, but an effect…” (philosophy of composition). The art doesn’t need a social argument, nor does it need to fit with some morality. Just Style, wit, language appearance, and fashion. The decadent movement is considered the gothic age of literature, and a considered a later generation of the aesthetic movement. Poe is considered the grandfather of the decadent movement. To get away from the ideals that art was limited to society. Where dark themes such as death, supernatural phenomena, etc. Disregarded the world are them and formed their own world. In “The Raven” the story takes place in one room. Where the narrator has lost his lover. Where his longing and sorrow for Lenore, he finds truth and madness over a dead beauty.

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