What Does Lenore Symbolize In The Raven

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The symbolism used in “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe suggests that the speaker wants to escape his sorrow and join his lover Lenore. As the poem continues, the symbols also hint because of his lover’s eminent death, the speaker is losing his mind. In “The Raven,” Poe is going though many different emotions, and one of the big emotion that he is experiencing is trying to escape his sorrow. In the poem, the speaker is trying to find any way to escape “Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore; Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore.” In this line, Poe talks about nepenthe, and the speaker desires nepenthe to help forget about his life, sorrow, and the absence of Lenore. Essentially, using nepenthe will provide his escape from sorrow. Also in the poem he claims his soul is in sorrow and with the distant it will try …show more content…

After he says this, then the seraphim enter “…the air grew denser perfumed from a censer” and “Swung by Seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor.” The seraphim’s entrance symbolizes Lenore being called to heaven, and he realizes that she will die or has died. The speaker realizes he will be forced to live with the sorrow of Lenore’s passing and the raven will be there reminding him of what happened to his beloved Lenore forever. When the raven won’t leave, the speaker becomes and angry and yells at the Raven “Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore! The speaker continues raving at the bird and says “Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! Leave my loneliness unbroken!” —quit the bust above my door! Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!” The speaker desperately wants the raven to leave and not to come back because if the raven leaves, he believes that he may have a chance of being with

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