What Does Bradstreet Represent In The Raven

In Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, he uses symbols to describe and allude to death. In the poem, he mourns the death of his young love, his wife, referred to here as Lenore. The most obvious symbol is the raven. The raven comes into the poem and begins to tear away at his psyche. The power inflicted upon the narrator by the raven is symbolic; the raven’s darkness symbolizes death, and so death turns into, not only an idea for the narrator, but an intruder constantly reminding him of his eventual demise. In ancient times, people believed that ravens were the messengers of the god of death as well as the omen of terrible things that are yet to happen. If the raven comes to someone’s house, then death has come to someone in that house. “Quoth the

raven, ‘Nevermore.’” [1] Poe uses the raven to express the devil’s message to the sad man. He shall “nevermore” see Lenore again. Death is ruthless in its teasing. “‘Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!… Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!’” [1] Poe referred to the raven’s dwelling place as “Night’s Plutonian Shore” in his poem. To him, the raven is a messenger from the devil, and so it also lives in the underworld. Pluto is the Roman god of the underworld, and Pluto’s shore would, naturally, be the underworld. Combined with the word “night”, a complete picture of of death and nothingness is drawn. The narrator wishes to see Lenore again in the afterlife, but the raven mocks him by saying “Nevermore”, telling him that he shall never see her again, in his life or the afterlife. The poem shows the absolute grief, despair, and devastation that Poe, or the narrator, feels over the death of their loved ones.
In Poe’s other poem, Annabel Lee, Poe again explores the theme of death. The narrator is obsessed with how and why Annabel Lee died, and who he can blame for it. Both Annabel Lee and the narrator were children, but they “loved with a love that was more than love /…/ With a love that the winged seraphs of Heaven / Coveted her and me.” [2] The narrator believed that the angels envied them so much that they sent down a wind that chilled Annabel Lee and killed her. “The angels, not half so happy in Heaven, / Went envying her and me - / Yes! - that was the reason (as all men know, In this kingdom by the see) / That the wind came out of the cloud by night, / Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.” [3] He is in grief and haunted by her death, and thinks that it was unjust that she should have been taken from him so abruptly, when they were still only children. Poe’s poem’s setting has Gothic elements. The kingdom by the sea conjures up a hazy, romantic atmosphere, but is darkened by the image of a “sepulchre there by the sea.” The narrator believes that him and Annabel Lee’s love can outlast all opposition, from the jealousy of angels to the physical barrier of death. He longs to meet her again in the afterlife.
The possibility of death, in Anne Bradstreet’s Upon the Burning of our house, is accepted with open arms. Bradstreet demonstrates her Puritan beliefs in her poem. She believes that everything on earth is mortal, and she does not, or at least, should not, be attached to earthly matters. “Adieu, Adieu, all’s vanity. / Then straight I’gin my heart to chide, / And did thy wealth on earth abide?” [3] Hence, when her house is burning down in flames, and everything she possesses is turned to dust and nothingness, she turns to God, and asks for strength. “And to my God my heart did cry / To strengthen me in my distress.” [3] She believes that her God has the right to give and take, and the burning down of her house is God’s demonstration of that. Bradstreet believes her God owns her house and her soul, and that her house was not hers, but his, and God could take it when he desires because he controls the house and her life as well. “That laid in goods now in the dust. / Yea, so it was, and so ’twas just. / It was his own, it was not mine”. [3] If death came to claim her someday, she would lay down and accept it, because to her, her life is not hers, but God’s, and he alone has the right to lay claim to her life.
Emily Dickinson personifies death in her poem, Death. “Because I could not stop for Death, / He kindly stopped for me.” [4] Death is not a frightening man, but rather, a gentle guide who leads her to her grave. The narrator is not afraid when Death picks her up and places her gently in his carriage. Instead, she sees it as a kindly act, as she did not have time to stop for him. “We slowly drove, he knew no haste, / And I had put away / My labor, and my leisure too, / For his civility.” [4] It is because of his kindness that the narrator so calmly gives up her life, represented by putting away her “labor” and “leisure”. Moving on to the fourth stanza, it grew cold, “The dews grew quivering and chill”, and the narrator could not keep warm, “For only gossamer my gown, / My tippet only tulle”. [4] Yet, the image is not sinister. In the last stanza, we see that the narrator has indeed achieved immortality. “Since then ’tis centuries, and yet each / Feels shorter than the day.” [4] Centuries have passed since the day she died, yet it feels no longer than a day for her. The narrator realized that death was not just death, but also immortality, for she “surmised the Horses’ Heads / Were toward Eternity.” [4]
In Eldorado, Edgar Allan Poe again explores the theme of death. A gallant knight searches endlessly for Eldorado, but he cannot find it. He grows old, and melancholic because he has spent all his time searching for it, with no results. He met a pilgrim shadow, and asked for the whereabouts of Eldorado. The shadow told him he would find it “‘Over the Mountains / Of the Moon, / Down the Valley of the Shado, / Ride, boldly ride, / If you seek for Eldorado!” [5] In the first stanza, the knight is at the height of his life, as he is described as a “gallant knight” who is “gaily bedight”. He believes that Eldorado exists, and that he will find it. In the second stanza, he is old and yet to find Eldorado. He begins to suspect that he will never find it. In the third stanza, he asks the pilgrim shadow for advice, much like the narrator in “The Raven” who asks the raven whether he will see Lenore ever again. In the last stanza, the pilgrim shadow advises him to follow his dreams into death. With each stanza, Poe furthers the idea that death is the inevitable end to life, and despite the knight’s determination, his efforts are in vain, and everything leads to death.
The differences between the poems of Edgar Allan Poe, Anne Bradstreet, and Emily Dickinson lie in the way they describe and look at death.

For Puritan writers, death was not necessarily desirable, but faced with an unfaltering sense of devotion towards their God. Bradstreet demonstrated this sentiment in her poem, as she describes her life as not her own, but God’s. Much like her house that was burned down by God’s will, her life is also God’s to give and take. If God decides to take her life, she would willingly accept it, for she knew that she would find joy and happiness in her Creator’s arms. [3] For Gothic writers, Edgar Allan Poe in particular, death is haunting and cruel, and leaves him with inexplicable grief. His life was plagued by deaths of women he loved and admired, all of whom were struck by deadly illnesses and died swiftly and suddenly. His wife contracted tuberculosis, “the disease that had already claimed Poe’s mother, brother, and foster mother.” [6] His grief is reflected in his poems, as many of them have a recurring theme of young, beautiful women who were taken from the narrators, much before their time. He also explores the idea of an afterlife in his poems. In The Raven, the narrator asks the raven if he will ever see Lenore again, only to have the raven say “Nevermore” to him over and over again. In Annabel Lee, the narrator believes that his and Annabel Lee’s love for each other were so strong that it surpasses the jealousy of angels and the physical barrier of death, hinting that he believes they will meet again in the afterlife. In Eldorado, the knight follows his dreams into death, and the afterlife. Death in Gothic writing is different from the Puritan’s look at death. Death is not accepted with open arms, and it is focused on the grief that is caused by death. In the two hundred years between Puritan poets and Gothic writers/poets, perceptions of death had changed from a quiet acceptance to a loud rejection of it. Rather than

attributing untimely deaths to God’s will like the Puritans did, Gothic writers rejected the idea, and freely expressed their grief over their loved ones’ deaths. For American Enlightenment writer Emily Dickinson, death was calm and timeless. Her life was lived the same way, quiet and unassuming. She was not concerned with publishing her works, but chose instead to “share them privately with family and friends.” [7] In her later years, Dickinson “increasingly withdrew from public life.” [7] This kind of quietude and unassuming attitude is reflected in her poem, Death. In her poem, death was not frightening, but kind, and courteous. It led her to her grave, where she achieved immortality through her death. Time did not matter, and neither did earthly problems. This is very different from both Gothic poems and Puritan poems on death. Death was not looked upon with great grief, nor humble servitude, but with quiet acceptance that it is the inevitability of life.