Magali Coley
Dr. Wexler
Eng 495ESM
5 February 2010
Edgar Allen Poe was a literary genius, who was able to dredge out feelings of melancholy and despair, while drawing the reader deep into worlds haunted by human suffering, be it by physical, spiritual, or mental means. Of course Poe was not just a brilliant writer of Gothic horror, but he also wrote science fiction and detective stories, in addition to being a literary critic. Regardless of what he wrote, Poe was as Dr. James Wilson, Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Virginia wrote, a “man from whom issued words sweeter than honey and phrases sharper than words” (The Personality of Poe 133). Poe’s works are suffused with symbolism meant to delight his readers. “The Raven”, one of Poe’s well known poems, is full of beautiful language that pierces a man’s soul. Poe’s goal with “The Raven” was not only to entertain, but to create a poem full of sadness because for Poe “Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears. Melancholy is thus the most legitimate of all the poetical tones” (Poe The Philosophy of Composition online). The argument in this essay is that the “The Raven” brings forth this singular tone of melancholy to its readers and that Poe achieves this through literary devices such as syntax, alliteration, symbolism, allusion and imagery.
The poem has 18 stanzas made up of six lines each in trochaic octameter and the rhyming scheme is ABCBBB, with the B line rhyming with the word either “nothing more” or “nevermore,” which is what the poem is most memorable for. Poe’s usage of syntax is very harsh and dramatic, specifically his usage of dashes and white space. Stanza four, lines 22-24 read, “And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, / That I scarce was sure I heard you”–here I opened wide the door– / Darkness there and nothing more.” By using the dashes, Poe harshly transitions from the pleasant and perhaps playful tone the speaker was using, to the terrifying reality that no one was there. The white space that is left before the last line – in fact he does this to every stanza – allows readers to feel the harsh, emptiness that awaits the speaker. Poe expertly visually presents the cruel and barren void the speaker experiences with dashes and white space.
Yet another technique Poe utilizes is alliteration which is used throughout the narrative giving the poem a sing-song quality. In the first stanza “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary / Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—“ (lines 1-2) midnight, dreary, weak and weary all convey feelings of dark loneliness and despair. The words bombard the reader with negative emotions – immediately setting the tone for the rest of the poem. However, the voice or narrator is not represented as a mere sentimental fool, for he is surrounded by ancient and scholarly books. In addition, “While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping / As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door” (lines 3-4) contributes to the nervous atmosphere in the poem. The harsh syllables of the word “rapping” create the sound of an equally harsh knock on his door for the reader to hear.
Another method of creating the tone of the narrative is symbolism and allusion. For example, upon the bird’s first entrance the speaker recounts, “In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore; / Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he; / But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -” (lines 38-40). For some cultures black birds portend grief and sorrow. Many consider the raven as an omen of death. People quake with fear when a raven crosses their path or sits outside their home, squawking loudly on a cold day. To further build on the sense of doom, the narrator demands of the bird “Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore– / Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plitonian shore!” (lines 46-47). In these lines Poe alludes to Pluto who is the Greek and Roman god of the underworld. This reference to the infernal regions brings forth feelings of morbidity which successfully falls into Poe’s intended tone. Poe masterfully utilizes both symbolism and allusion and furthers emotional melancholy.
Lastly, Poe’s most powerful weapon in achieving his singular effect on a human being is the clear and precise imagery he creates in the reader’s inner eye. For instance the speaker says, “Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December; / And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor” (lines 7-8). The month of December paints vivid pictures of cold winters and frosted windows. Of lonely, dried branches void of life and color. One can feel the cold crisp air of this dark, dead month on the face and hands. Furthermore, the “dying ember” the remains of his once source of warmth is no longer there to protect him from the harshness of that month. In addition, the mention of the ghost, again, brings up the idea of death, the underworld, and its inevitability. In lines 13-14 “And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain / Thrilled me–filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;” paints the picture of a room that has no sunlight, no hope; everything is dark and macabre – like a vampire’s den. This darkness brings a chill to the reader’s bones emphasising a dread of being left alone, without possibility of ever seeing a loved one…evermore. Poe is clearly a master at painting pictures in the readers mind.
Poe’s chosen literary devices play upon human’s natural fear of death and darkness; the fear of the supernatural and of what lies in the afterlife. The dread of being left alone and most importantly not knowing if one will ever be re-united with a loved one. Poe’s ultimate goal of evoking these emotions from the reader were not just merely to cause depression, but to create such an intense feeling that the soul reaches nirvana. As Gerhard J. Joseph wrote in the The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, “For Poe […] the cultivation of exquisite tonalities is not an end in itself but rather a strategy to facilitate the ascent towards heavenly Beauty” (419). After reading this marvelous narrative there is no question why Poe is hailed as one of America’s finest poets.
Works Cited
Joseph, Gerhard J. “Poe and Tennyson.” PMLA 88.3 (1973) : 418-428. Print.
Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Philosophy of Composition.” Bartleby.com. Web. <http://www.bartleby.com/109/11.html>.
Wilson, James Southall. “The Personality of Poe.” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 67.2 (1959) : 131-142
Really great analysis- you have a lot of evidence to back up your claims and excellent sources.
I shall quote thee:
“The poem has 18 stanzas made up of six lines each in trochaic octameter and the rhyming scheme is ABCBBB, with the B line rhyming with the word either “nothing more” or “nevermore,” which is what the poem is most memorable for. ”
Ah- did you figure that out or look it up? Either way I am so jealous- I can never decide on the meter etc. I always second guess myself on where the accent really is and was glad to read in the Deutsch book that that is a common problem. Scansion is one of my weakest areas- this is the detailed analysis of poetry line by line to determine the metrical pattern. It uses fancy terms of musical prosody- like trochaic tetrameter and the more familiar iambic pentameter. These are determined based on a reliable pattern of stressed and unstressed symbols. The author admits that it can be a confusing business- and is reliant on context and even then can be debatable (Deutsch 159).
The theme of death is something that every single human being has in common- we are not all men- or all women- but we all must die. Hmm… maybe that will be my inspiration for my poem. Hey- thanks for the inspiration.