Edgar Allan Poe Grief And Grief

1324 Words3 Pages

Poe In His Misery

Edgar Allan Poe was a man who unfortunately was born into a life full of morbidity and grief. The stories and poems that he created reflect the experience he has with agonizing situations, in which Poe’s dark side developed; his evil reasoning and twisted mentality allowed Poe to develop extremely vivid and enthralling stories and works. Due to not only his family members but also his wifes to passing from tuberculosis, morbidity and grief is present in almost every work that Poe created. From major works such as “the Raven”, “Black Cat”, “Annabel Lee”, and the Tell- Tale Heart, Poe utilized themes such as death, premature burials, body decompositions, mourning, and morbidity to enhance his point an the image he attempted to convey.
In the Poem, “The Raven”, Poe chooses the theme of morbidity and grief to depict a story that reflects depression. In order to exemplify the story through depression and morbidity, Poe uses symbolism to really have the reader understand his twisted mentality. For example, Poe uses the word Pluto in numerous of his poems and tales; the word Pluto, is derived from a Roman Greek god Hades. This symbolic meaning should right away warn the reader that grief and agony is yet to arrive. Moreover, by mentioning “night” and “midnight” throughout the poem shows the Poe is using that word as a symbol for death. When beginning the poem, Edgar created a background in which a man is sitting and pondering in his library. After hearing a sudden knock on the door, the man approaches the door and realizes there is no there to greet him. However, a shiny black raven shows up at the men’s window and inflicts feelings of negativity, agony, and grief that later on in the poem overcame the narra...

... middle of paper ...

...ue a disturbance notification from the neighbors. The narrator chats up the police, but is not able to get the morbidity out of his mind because of the killing. This leads to the man hearing that same particular thumping sound. Convinced that the police will hear the old man’s heart, he goes into a state of delirium and digs up the floorboards to show what he has done. Poe once again provides the reader with a tale that exemplifies morbidity and grief that leads an individual to loose his mind.
All of these poems and short stories show how grief and morbidity can drive a man mad. Just like the characters he depicted in his stories and poems, Edgar Allan Poe eventually went insane and ended up dyeing. Due to the unfortunate events Poe endured in his life, he fell into a fascination for sick and demented stories that revolved around the theme of grief and morbidity.

Open Document