Have you ever felt the chills rush up your spine and your body ache from the gruesome words of a book? In Edgar Allan Poe’s writing, he sets a deep and dark mood leaving the reader with a curious mind and uncomfortable feeling. As intriguing and inquisitive as the writer seems, his writing shows a completely different side of himself, leaving the reader wanting to read more and find out the true message that is being portrayed. In “The Raven,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” and “The Raven and the Philosophy of Composition,” all written by Edgar Allan Poe, there is a concurring somber mood set and idea of symbolism that is shown.
Furthermore, Edgar Allan Poe was a writer who led the mass population to a scare through the moods in his writing. One of the moods used is melancholic, meaning that Poe’s work is very somber and gloomy. In “The Raven and the Philosophy of Composition,” Edgar Allan Poe explains his thoughts on mood, “My next question referred to the tone of its highest manifestation-- and all experience has shown that this tone is one of sadness.... Melancholy is thus the most legitimate of all the poetical tones” (Poe 153). Not only did people believe that Edgar Allan Poe wrote outrageous and gloomy tales, even Poe himself believed that writing about sadness was the most real someone could get when it came to understanding poetical tones. In “The Raven,” the mood is set to be sad because the narrator has lost his beloved Lenore and longs for their relationship to be born again, “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, over many a quaint
…show more content…
and curious volume of forgotten lore… From my books surcease of sorrow--sorrow for the lost Lenore” (Poe 438). Once again, Poe strives for the mood to be set in a dark and gloomy place, leaving the reader curious. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Poe uses the illusion of death to bring a sense of melancholy throughout the poem. Final breaths are being taken in the abbey, “There was a sharp cry-- and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterwards, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero” (Poe 434). Suspense is used to set the mood and leave a question pondering in the mind of the reader. Sadness is shown all throughout Poe’s work because ultimately that draws the reader in and lets them feel with emotions instead of just reading the lines. As well, not only did Edgar Allan Poe use a sense of mood in his writing, he also incorporated symbolism. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” a man who goes by the name of Prince Prospero, attempts to avoid the plague which is known as the Red Death. Just as soon as soon as sickness has started to spread throughout the people, “The ‘Red Death’ had devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its avatar and it’s seal-- the redness and horror of blood...The scarlet stains upon the body” (Poe 428). Edgar Allan Poe symbolizes the Red Death, to his own encounters with tuberculosis. He describes in detail how dark and bloody it all was, leaving the reader with questions of what he had to go through with people who were dearly close to him. Also, in the poem “The Raven,” the bird of ill omen is propped upon the chamber door, answering the narrator’s questions but always giving the same answer over and over. Dull and repetitious the raven is, “Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, it shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore-- ‘Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore”’ (Poe 442). The repetition of the Raven always saying nevermore to his questions symbolises how something as simple as the repetition of one word can lead a person to the depths of their mind and drive them crazy. In “The Raven and the Philosophy of Composition,” Edgar Allan Poe symbolises the raven using the word nevermore, “I had now gone so far as the conception of a Raven--the bird of ill omen monotonously repeating the one word ‘Nevermore’ at the conclusion of each stanza, in a poem of melancholy tone, and in length about one hundred lines” (Poe 153). The use of the word nevermore is used in at least almost every stanza as a writing tone of repetition and symbolism in Poe’s own life. In many cases, Edgar Allan Poe connects his life tragedies to symbolic figures giving his pieces of literature a hint of mystery. Throughout Edgar Allan Poe’s life, he was given some of life’s hardest situations and he took those and turned them into creative writings.
In “The Raven,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” and “The Raven and the Philosophy of Composition,” all written by Edgar Allan Poe, an ongoing mood is always set. Symbolism plays a big role along with a melancholy tone that Poe tries to carry throughout his
works.
In,”The Raven”, Poe utilizes diction, syntax, and rhymes to convey his theme of depression towards his lost love, Lenore. The raven flew into Poe’s home uninvited and stayed perched on his chamber door. In the story, the raven symbolizes the undying grief he has for Lenore.
Authors use various styles to tell their stories in order to appeal to the masses exceptionally well and pass the message across. These messages can be communicated through short stories, novels, poems, songs and other forms of literature. Through The Masque of the Red Death and The Raven, it is incredibly easy to get an understanding of Edgar Allen Poe as an author. Both works describe events that are melodramatic, evil and strange. It is also pertinent to appreciate the fact that strange plots and eerie atmospheres are considerably evident in the author’s writings. This paper compares and contrasts The Masque of the Red Death and The Raven and proves that the fear of uncertainty and death informs Edgar Allen Poe’s writings in the two works
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” follows the story of a young man who is sadden by the death of a woman named Leonore. As the reader advance through the poem, the main character is getting more and more emotionally unstable. He is clearly suffering from some kind of mental illness most likely depression. The narrator is in first person, we are living the poem through the eyes of the main character. (He compulsorily constructs self-destructive meaning around a raven’s repetition of the word 'Nevermore ', until he finally despairs of being reunited with his beloved Lenore in another world. Just because of the nightmarish effect, the poem cannot be called an elegy.) Poe use vivid details to describe how the narrator is gradually losing his mind.
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,” (“The Raven” 1). “The Raven” arguably one of the most famous poems by Edgar Allan Poe, is a narrative about a depressed man longing for his lost love. Confronted by a talking raven, the man slowly loses his sanity. “The Haunted Palace” a ballad by Poe is a brilliant and skillfully crafted metaphor that compares a palace to a human skull and mind. A palace of opulence slowly turns into a dilapidated ruin. This deterioration is symbolic of insanity and death. In true Poe style, both “The Raven” and “The Haunted Palace” are of the gothic/dark romanticism genre. These poems highlight sadness, death, and loss. As to be expected, an analysis of the poems reveals differences and parallels. An example of this is Poe’s use of poetic devices within each poem. Although different in structure, setting, and symbolism these two poems show striking similarities in tone and theme.
Edgar Allen Poe was one of the greatest writers of the nineteenth century. Perhaps he is best know for is ominous short stories. One of my personal favorites was called The Raven. Throughout his works Poe used coherent connections between symbols to encourage the reader to dig deep and find the real meaning of his writing. Poe's work is much like a puzzle, when u first see it its intact, but take apart and find there is much more to the story than you thought. The Raven, written in 1845, is a perfect example of Poe at his craziest. Poe's calculated use of symbolism is at his best in this story as each symbol coincides with the others. In The Raven, Poe explains a morbid fear of loneliness and the end of something through symbols. The symbols not only tell the story of the narrator in the poem, they also tell the true story of Poe's own loneliness in life and the hardships he faced. Connected together through imagery they tell a story of a dark world only Poe Knows exists.
(Poe 840). “The Raven,” is an insight of the experiences Edgar Allan Poe suffered from because of his treacherous
“The Raven” is a magnificent piece by a very well known poet from the 19th century, Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was well known for his dark and haunting poetry. Along with writing poetry, Poe was also recognized for his Gothic-style short stories. “The Raven” is one of Poe’s greatest accomplishments and was even turned into recitals and numerous television appearances. “The Raven” tells a story about an unnamed narrator whose beloved Lenore has left him. A raven comes at different points throughout the poem and tells the narrator that he and his lover are “Nevermore.” Poe presents the downfall of the narrator’s mind through the raven and many chilling events. By thorough review and studying of Edgar Allan Poe’s work, one can fully understand the single effect, theme, and repetition in “The Raven.”
Image a family. Now imagine the parents divorcing and never see the father again. Then imagine the mother dying and leaving three kids behind. All of which get taken in by someone. The two year old is given to a family, with a loving mother and caring father. Edgar Alan Poe did not have to imagine this, this was his childhood. Poe’s difficult youth was a heavy contributor to his perspective that pain is beautiful. Poe illustrates many things in “The Raven”, one of his most well-known pieces. “The Raven” is about a depressed man who lost his lover Lenore. The speaker states “’Tis the wind and nothing more!” (Line 36) in his delusional state to help himself cope with his loss. In “The Raven” Poe uses irony and complex diction. This helps Poe create his theme of the human tendency to lie to one self to feel better.
Edgar Allan Poe?s ?The Raven? is a dark reflection on lost love, death, and loss of hope. The poem examines the emotions of a young man who has lost his lover to death and who tries unsuccessfully to distract himself from his sadness through books. Books, however, prove to be of little help, as his night becomes a nightmare and his solitude is shattered by a single visitor, the raven. 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 loves.
The Raven, by Edgar Allen Poe, is instead from the latter end of the Romantic era. This narrative poem recounts a scene in which a raven visits a mourning, distraught lover, who serves as the narrator. Both of these works display dramatic presentation, symbolism, and a great sense of emotional power to create a frightening scene. Poe and Fuseli each infuse their works with dramatic energy.
Edgar Allen Poe was an English short-story writer whose work reflects the traditional Gothic conventions of the time that subverted the ambivalence of the grotesque and arabesque. Through thematic conventions of the Gothic genre, literary devices and his own auteur, Edgar Allan Poe’s texts are considered sublime examples of Gothic fiction. The Gothic genre within Poe’s work such as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, and The Raven, arouse the pervasive nature of the dark side of individualism and the resulting encroachment of insanity. Gothic tales are dominated by fear and terror and explore the themes of death and decay. The Gothic crosses boundaries into the realm of the unknown, arousing extremes of emotion through the catalyst of disassociation and subversion of presence. Gothic literature utilises themes of the supernatural to create a brooding setting and an atmosphere of fear.
Edgar Allan Poe has a unique writing style that uses several different elements of literary structure. He uses intrigue vocabulary, repetition, and imagery to better capture the reader’s attention and place them in the story. Edgar Allan Poe’s style is dark, and his is mysterious style of writing appeals to emotion and drama. What might be Poe’s greatest fictitious stories are gothic tend to have the same recurring theme of either death, lost love, or both. His choice of word draws the reader in to engage them to understand the author’s message more clearly. Authors who have a vague short lexicon tend to not engage the reader as much.
In Poe’s own life no durg could ever fully numb him to the pain of all his loses. His only true solace from his despair was in literature and his writings. Poe believed that visual art allowed the spirit to transcend the plane of reality to which it was stuck. In the Raven the narrator closely resembles Poe in this aspect. The narrator spends many a night reading long forgotten literature in an attempt to forget his own troubles after his loss. This is explained beautifully by Poe with the line “Eagerly I wished the morrow;- vainly I had tried to borrow, / From my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost Lenore.” (Poe 9-10) No matter how hard he tries; however he can shake the crushing despair that has a firm grip on his emotions. One dreary night the narrator gained an unsuspecting visitor. This visitor came in the form of a raven that flew into his window. The raven torments the man reminding him of his insecurities, his flaws, and his loss. The raven accomplishes all these things by rhythmically answering his pleas with but one word, to quote the raven “nevermore.” Just like the narrator will nevermore see the face of his dead love, he too will never be free from his despair. For as long as the man lives much like Poe he
Edgar Allen Poe’s poem, “The Raven” uses poetic devices to create the mood through the use of language, rhyme and repetition, alliteration, as well as through the speaker’s despair.
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...