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The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

Decent Essays

In this poem, the speaker is distraught over the death of his love, Lenore. He tries to ease his pain by distracting himself with a book of poems; “The Forgotten Lore” but is interrupted by "a tapping at [his] chamber door" (5) and finds "darkness there and nothing more." (24) He was visited one night in his bedroom by a raven that only knows the word 'Nevermore.' However, the gentleman is unaware of the bird's limited vocabulary and proceeds to beg and plead with the bird to answer his questions about Lenore and her death, but the bird continues to respond one way. Being so grief stricken over the loss of his love, the narrator takes the bird as a prophet, and is convinced by the end of the poem that he will never again see or hold Lenore-even in the afterlife. Through this poem, Poe uses symbolism, imagery and tone, as well as a variety of poetic elements to enforce his theme of sadness and death of the one he loved. Poe uses imagery and symbols to epitomize his poem. Two central images for the focus of this poem are light and darkness, creating two different worlds. For example, Poe uses Lenore, his love to exemplify this image of light by referring to her as the “rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore,” (11) as well as those angels she has now joined. Another image of light would be the lamplight the narrator uses to light his chamber, his sanctuary from the darkness of the outside. To portray this other world filled with sadness and despair the author

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