poe

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In each poem the author uses the literary devices of personification, description, and dialogue to develop their subject or theme. The imagist poems, although all very short and to the point, use a literary device to help the poem develop overall. Edgar Allen Poe uses the devices to show the slow progression of the speakers descent into madness and insanity. Throughout “The Raven”, Edgar Allen Poe depicts the speakers slow decent into madness through onomatopoeia, personification, and dialogue. As the speaker nears slumber one dreary night, something seems to wake him up and draw his attention to his door, where a tapping coming from the door. The noise seemed to be tapping, yet it was near midnight and the speaker did not expect any company. Although he had almost fallen asleep he believes that the person tapping at the door might be his lost love, Lenore, so he decides to answer the door yet when he does there is “darkness there and nothing more” (24). The onomatopoeia of the tapping begins his descent into madness and continues through the whole poem, ultimately leading to him going insane at the poems end. Yet once he opens the door he stares “deep into that darkness peering” (25). At this moment Poe sets the eerie mood by having the speaker open the door to nothing, although the tapping still keeps him awake. After closing the door and walking back to his bed, the speaker hears the tapping again, but louder and coming from his window lattice. He walks to his window and opens it to find a “stately Raven of the saintly days of yore” (38). The speaker sees the raven as almost royalty from a time long ago. As the raven walks into the room the speaker’s sadness turns into a smile, foreshadowing his future lunacy. After opening the... ... middle of paper ... ... way. H.D. uses great description when describing the pear tree in “Pear Tree”. She describes the silver pedals as the wind blows them from the tree into the air “higher than my arms reach” (3). While the petals float into the air H.D. describes what soon follows the leaves falling off the tree, the delicious pears that will soon ripen. Throughout each imagist poem, the authors use different literary devices to develop their own subject. By using onomatopoeia, description, and dialogue each poet argues their subject or theme. Although each poet does not write about the same subject or theme they each use the literary device effectively to help support their poem. By using each literary device in different context the poets show the many different styles when writing poetry. Each poet uses the literary devices efficiently to help their overall message in each poem.

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