The Raven Literary Devices

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” uses multiple types of literary devices such as

Theme, Repetition, and Rhyme Scheme. The way that Poe uses these literary devices

In his poem “The Raven” is to make the poem more interesting, by incorporating a

Raven into his poem.

The overall feeling of this poem is eerie, because of the way that Poe uses a

sort of dark tone to the poem. The narrator is by himself, alone in his apartment

feeling sad about the lost of his wife Lenore. Throughout the poem he thinks the

rapping, tapping, and the rustling of the curtains could be the spirit of Lenore.

“Critics have pointed out other literary antecedents for Poe’s raven, including the

biblical account of the ravens feeding Elijah in the wilderness and

hamlets’ call,

“come, the croaking raven doth bellow for revenge.” Poe’s bird is at once a literal

and a symbolic presence, a visitor from the dark external world and an emblem of

the darkness of grief within the speaker’s soul” (Thematic Analysis of “The Raven”,

46).

Throughout Poe’s “The Raven” there were multiple times that he used

repetition in his poem. An example is: “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I

pondered, weak, and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten

lore” (ln 1,2). It gives a sense that the narrator is in a dark and dreary mood because

of his loss of Lenore, he’s hoping that her ghost or spirit is the one tapping at the

door. Poe is and intriguing poet because unlike other poets he literally uses

repetition in nearly every single one of his stanzas. A quote from “The Raven”

showing some repetition: “It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name

Lenore clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore quoth the

Raven “Nevermore” (ln 93, 94).

The final literary device in Poe’s “The Raven” is Rhyme scheme, just like

Repetition Poe uses Rhyme scheme frequently in his poem. There are two unique

internal Rhyme schemes in “The Raven” the first one is in the first line of

each

stanza, and the second one is in the third and fourth line of every stanza. Heres an

example of rhyme scheme in “The Raven”: “But the Raven, sitting lonely on the

placid bust, spoke only that one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.

Nothing further than he utterer- not a feather then he fluttered” (ln 55, 56, 57). The

Scheme can quicken how fast the poem is read, intensifying the anticipation or it can

Cause you to slow down how quick you read it and make you linger over the

rhyming words. An example of external rhyme scheme is: “But the Raven, sitting

lonely on the placid bust, spoke only that one word, as if his soul in that one word

did he outpour. Nothing further than he utterer- not a feather then he fluttered”

(ln 55, 56, 57).

Poe used all these literary devices such as, Theme, Repetition, and Rhyme

Scheme to give the poem an eerie effect and a dark theme to this poem. The Ravens

Visit to this grieving lover caused the narrator to fall deeper into the darkness that

Was the theme.