Symbolism in Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven'

603 Words2 Pages

Ryan Mederos
Prof. Anthony Baker
ENC 1102
11/11/17
The Raven “The Raven,” written by Edgar Allan Poe, is truly a masterpiece. The poem was first published in 1845 of January. The poem is about a man sitting or lying in his chamber when he hears a tapping on his chamber door. From the chamber door he only hears the word, Lenore, which excites him. Lenore is brought up in the poem many times. Suddenly a mysterious raven appears to the man and watches the man as what seems to be him slowly going insane or ascending into madness. “The Raven is a wonderful work of gothic literature. It contains a perfect sum of symbolism in it as well. The first symbol that will be covered will be the raven. The raven is an obvious symbol because it is also the
Lenore is brought up several times in the story. With that being said, not much is really known about Lenore’s appearance or the relationship between her and the narrator. All that can be picked out from the poem is that the narrator seems to miss this woman, Lenore. She seems to be a nice memory for the narrator because no matter what else he tries to think about, he keeps going back to thinking about Lenore. She is a symbol of light, unlike the raven that represents darkness. She shines a light in the gothic poem as said before bringing the narrator happiness when she is brought up. The narrator even says that she is angelic like an angel in line 11. Line 11 says, “For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.” The narrator’s thoughts of Lenore midway through the poem to the end show that he isn’t a normal type of fella to remember things. The narrator doesn’t exactly say the way Lenore smiled or the way she looked, but the way she sat on velvet violet lining as said here, “But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!” It is quite an interesting way to remember someone that was loved. “The Raven” contains a lot of other symbols, but Lenore and the raven are the most important and also the most obvious symbols in the poem. The presence of Lenore and the raven bring the poem together as light and darkness collide. Lenore brings happiness to the poem or at least to the narrator. The raven brings evil and an eerie feeling to the poem that makes it truly a

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