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Lost Love in The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe Essay

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Edgar Allan Poe tells the story of a bereaved man who is grieving for his lost love in the poem, “The Raven.” During a dark and gloomy night, the man hears a knock at his door. Hoping that it is Lenore, his dead lover, coming back to him, he goes to open the door. Unfortunately, he is only met with emptiness and disappointment. Shortly after, a raven flies into the room through the window and lands on the bust of Pallas. The man begins to converse with this dark and mysterious bird. In response to everything the man says, the raven repeats one dreadful word: “Nevermore.” The symbolism of the raven being connected to death, and the man’s interaction with the dark bird reveals to readers that he is going through the stages of dying. …show more content…

Beyond that, however, the man is also dying. The stages of dying, as previously stated, are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Individuals dying do not have to go through these stages in this order, though acceptance is usually last, and not every stage is always fulfilled. Characteristically, the main character does not go through his process of dying in this exact order, and it is also unclear whether or not he accepts his death at the end of the poem. At the start of the process, the man is in denial of his death. He hears a knock on the door, and his immediate thoughts go to Lenore’s death. He then tries to quell his emotions by reminding himself, “Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door/ Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door/ This it is, and nothing more” (16-18). He repeats over and over that it is just an average late-night visitor and not death coming for him. Luckily, when he opens the door, he is only greeted by the emptiness of the night. The man notes, “Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning (31). The man goes back into room with his soul intact, death is not at his doormat just yet, but he still has yet to accept the coming of his end. The progressions of the next stages are aided by the raven. As the man continues to interact with the raven, he becomes increasingly interested

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