How Does Edgar Allan Poe Use Alliteration In The Raven

The poem “The Raven” by Edgar Alan Poe can be considered one of the most famous poems in American literature. It was published in 1845, four years before its author passed away. It is arranged in eighteen six-line stanzas and narrated in first person point of view. This mysterious narrative poem uses meter, rhyme, and alliteration to produce a musical style. The theme consists of a young character that has lost his beloved Lenore and encounters a cryptic bird who refuses to fully answer his questions.

“The Raven” is considered a ballad because it is classified as narrative poetry. Furthermore, it is an example of lyric poetry since the speaker expresses his mood, feelings, and inner thought throughout the story. The arrangement of this ballad combines a trochaic rhythm with emphatic alliteration which creates very efficient internal and end rhymes (“The Raven: Edgar Allan Poe - Summary and

Critical Analysis”). The constant repetition of certain words creates a bond between the author and reader resulting in an obsessed need to continue reading.
The poem takes place in the month of December perhaps because the cold weather serves as a tool that can add mystery and doubt to the tale. The story deals with the strange aspect of physiological prosses, madness, emotion, and melancholy (Bas). Although insanity is present throughout the poem this is not an unreliable narrator. The author gives the impression that the young lover is a student because the bird lands on the Bust of Pallas or a statue of Athena who was the Goddess of Wisdom back in ancient Greece.
Poe makes it very clear that this poem is meant to be mysterious and scary; we can determine such purpose based on the word choice.

The author compares the bird to the devil and uses phrases such as “bleak December” (Poe) to describe the deep darkness in the story. Similarly, the words “Night’s Plutonian Shore” (Poe) are believed to have an important meaning behind them because the god of the underworld is known as Pluton, therefore, Poe can be telling the reader that the raven comes from the underworld (Bas). The idea might be accurate since the protagonist’s love, Lenore, died recently and perhaps this bird is bringing him a message from her. The young man asks the bird if Lenore made it to heaven but the only response he receives is “nevermore.” He continuous asking questions and is given the same response by the bid, consequently, the character becomes outraged and orders the evil bird to leave but it remains unmoved above the chamber door. Then the young man comes to the conclusion that the raven is his imprisoned soul and that his pain and sorrow will never go away

(Bas).

Baş, Hüseyin. “A Criticisim upon Edgar Allan Poe's ‘The Raven.’” Academia.edu, 8 Aug. 2016, www.academia.edu/6554627/A_Criticisim_upon_Edgar_Allan_Poes_The_Raven_. Accessed 17 July 2017.

Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Raven .” The Raven - Poe, 8 Feb. 1845, www.potw.org/archive/potw60.html. Accessed 17 July 2017.

“The Raven: Edgar Allan Poe - Summary and Critical Analysis.” The Raven: Edgar Allan Poe - Summary and Critical Analysis, 7 Sept. 2008, www.bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/the-raven.html#.WW4vuIjytPY. Accessed 18 July 2017.