Edgar Allan Poe Figurative Language

Introduction:

Edgar Allan Poe was best known for his poetry and shot stories that were sometimes shocking, mysterious and macabre. His past and present having significant relevance in all his poems including the ones that are to be discussed.

Edgar Allan Poe's mother passed away when he was extremely young, and his biological father had effectively deserted him. He was then adopted by the John Allan family, where Poe became exceptionally attached to his adoptive mother, however, Poe and his adoptive father had a rather tempestuous relationship. In 1829 he had been isolated from both his guardians and was doing a stretch in the military. His foster mother passed away early that year – and without a doubt this hurt the twenty-year-old Poe an

extraordinary amount. It was the second time in his life he'd needed to manage a mother's demise.
Years passed and he befriended Lucy Holmes, to which Poe wrote poems within her autograph book including the poem Alone. I believe that the poem Alone written in a young lady’s autograph book was probably intended to be highly personal and expressive piece.
Poem 1
The poem Alone is twenty-two lines and comprises of eleven rhyming couplets. Meter in the sonnet is differed skillfully in order to boost the effect of every line and shows a dramatic shift after the twelfth line. The initial twelve lines are portraying solely the narrators disposition however, from line thirteen something external to the storyteller is being depicted. The poem goes from the writer’s inward perspective to describing something external. What is being described is unknown until the last two lines, where it is revealed.
Within the first two lines the narrator sets an important theme of the poem, describing how he is different from other individuals. The narrator feels this way primarily due to him seeing the world differently, which in turn is altering his emotional life. This is especially shown in how Poe incorporates all four elements, which is a brilliant use of metaphors. Fountain shows the presence of water, sun the presence of fire, mountain the presence of earth and the storming sky shows the presence of air. Meaning that he sees the demon in all aspects of his life.
There are many ways this poem can be interoperated, especially that of the ‘demon’. I believe that this demon manifested through the tragic deaths Poe had faced in his life. His adopted mother had died, leaving him and so for the second time in his life a mother left him. With both father figures being a negative influence, his biological father leaving his birth mother and then his adoptive father having an extramarital relationship. Both mothers suffering a great deal in the hands of their husbands. Therefore, the ‘demon’ could in fact be a hostile father figure.
Poem 2
A Valentine is a unique poem of Poe’s and he uses an array of literary techniques including similes and metaphors. Line 17 to 19 uses a simile effectively to describe the letters within the poem like Portuguese traveler Fernao Mendes Pinto who had earned a reputation as an exaggerator of his travel tales, bluntly a liar. Poe drew this comparison in the reference to the hidden name of his lover within the poem, Frances Sargent Osgood, which ‘lies’ in the poem. In a way that is not scrambled nor random but in a natural order. A metaphor that also hints to the reader of the hidden name within the poem is the line “Search narrowly the lines! – they hold a treasure” implying that his beloveds name is the treasure. The riddle that is hinted throughout the whole poem is the main feature of the poem as not only does the poem compose a riddle it expresses the romantic words of Poe. By taking the first letter from the first line, the second letter from the third line and so on the name that is spelt out is Frances Sargent Osgood, who was both a great poetess and Poe’s secret lover.
Poem 3:
Using figurative language, including metaphors, personification, and symbols allows Poe to create a sonnet against science.

"Sonnet - To Science" is a writers mourn over the risks of scientific advancement and its negative ramifications for poetry and imagination. Living through the European Industrial Revolution and seeing the changes that came along with it influenced Poe to write this poem as an artistic rebellion to these changes. The writer then calls science a vulture, and this analogy builds up the association amongst science and nature, as science is not only an animal, but a scavenger, who “preyest…upon the poet’s heart”. "Poet's heart", in this line, is a symbol for imagination and creativity, which exists in a writer's heart, however it could likewise be an image for poetry itself, which Science metaphorically devours through the use of logic. Poe’s sonnet expresses his blatant disapproval and rejection of science and its dogmatism, regarding it as mundane and stagnating. For him, science is a predator or, similar to a vulture, a carcass eater, and it has injured his creative ability with "dull realities." He then goes on to compare humanities willingness to abandon their creative souls to the forced banishment of Hamadryad, Naiad nymphs and Diana in Greek and Roman mythology. Poe, however, does not wish to eliminate science but rather for it to leave him and his poetry alone, so he can “seek for treasure in the jewelled skies… / …with an undaunted

wing”.

There is no doubting that Edgar Allan Poe had a natural gift in the way he crafted his poems.

He was known for his unique and often gothic writing with a recurring theme of death and lost love. Within his poem Sonnet – To Science he describes science as a hindrance to the imagination however, I believe there is much beauty in science and if he were able to experience this his outlook would be different. All his poems show aspects of his life, from his beliefs and values to his pains and tribulations. I personally believe that through the many trials that Poe had faced in his life had re-shaped his thinking, therefore allowed him to produce poems that are

unparalleled.