In his poem “The Raven”, Edgar Allen Poe uses a variety of rhetorical devices that enhance and help add interest to his writing. In the poem, Poe is relatively isolated from the rest of the world, choosing to live within darkness as a means to escape his fear of his surroundings. He sets a melancholy tone to relate his setting to his own feelings about the world. Poe addresses his loneliness with comfort, mirroring his own situation with “each separate dying ember [which] wrought its ghost upon the floor” (8). He lives alone in his home, choosing to keep not only himself, but any item he can place under his control, separate from the outside world. Poe continually discusses darkness and uses somber, depressing words to make his tone apparent: “Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, … The silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token” (25, 27). The raven, or “the bird of ill omen” (“The Philosophy of Composition” 5), further enhances this tone. Poe contrasts the raven’s movements with the rest of the poem, as it “flirts and flutters” (37) its way into his house. It is a metaphor for the part of Poe’s mind and soul that craves release into the outside world, away from the suffocating grasp of his home. The raven ends each of his statements with “Nevermore” (Poe uses this word as his refrain), which invokes Poe’s fear of change and of removal from isolation. Poe illuminates this fear in his lines, “Leave my loneliness unbroken! – quit the bust above my door! / Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!” (Poe 100-101). When interacting with the raven, Poe becomes paranoid, and the fear within him arises; he becomes defensive and emotional, and attempts to convince himself that his isolation is a satisfactory way of living. He uses pathos, or the use of emotions to support an argument, in his attempt to justify his choices. Poe’s use of rhetorical devices adds interest to his writing: he uses tone, metaphor, refrain, and other tools to support the ideas he chooses to convey.
Your analysis that Poe is in an emotional state of isolation and loneliness was very interesting and, ultimately, beneficial to read. This is mainly because my perception of Poe's emotional state was completely different. I viewed him as heartbroken and distraught over the death of Lenore. But regardless of our differing opinions on his emotions, I loved your analysis of Poe's usage of the raven as "a metaphor for the part of Poe’s mind" that craves something different.
ReplyDeleteThe utilization of the Raven as type of conscience was a completely new idea for me to consider. I like it a lot. Do you suppose that Poe intends the reader to think that the protagonist was dreaming the entire time and imagined the raven? After all in the first stanza it says, "Once upon a midnight dreary... while I nodded, nearly napping." I think you could make the argument that the entire poem was a dream and that the raven was Poe's conscience.
And if the raven is the part of Poe's mind that is trying to get him to change his behavior and move on with his life, what does Poe's violent and fearful reaction that you quoted mean regarding whether or not Poe is right or wrong and should change?
Hey and why is the blog post time incorrect. It says I responded at 3:39 PM. It is 6:39 PM. Does blogspot operate on West Coast time? Because it's like that on my blog too.
ReplyDeleteHi Emma!
ReplyDeleteI really found your discussion of the Raven's movements contrasting with the rest of the poem very insightful. I talked about the Raven's composure in relation to the protagonist, but overlooked how the Raven was very unlike the gloomy tone of the entire piece by "flirts and flutters" (37).
It seems though, that between the protagonist and the Raven, by the end of the poem, the protagonist is very dissimilar to Poe himself. Poe seems to deem himself, as you discussed as very in control, and by the end of the poem the protagonist is very frantic shrieking "Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore" (94). I would be interested to hear your thoughts (Emma and Mike) on why Poe would depict such a frantic character rather than one of total composure like Poe himself?
To be honest, I actually assumed that the protagonist and Poe were the same person. For whatever reason I didn't consider the separation between the two. However, it does bring about an interesting point: is the protagonist a reflection of Poe, or is he creating a man that contrasts himself? Does the raven reflect a realization that Poe faced earlier in life, or does he still face the same, internal issues? Is his composure truly a facade of a distraught, problematic life?
ReplyDeleteI kind of went off on a tangent, but still, tidbits to think about =]
On a different note, I really like Mike's idea of whether or not the entire poem is merely a dream. It could be like that Christmas story about Scruge (excuse my butchering of his name), who is led to realization by his conscience in a dream. The dream state being the time where we rely on our inner mind to direct us, Poe (or the protagonist) is completely vulnerable while he dreams. This could be why his reaction is, as Claire commented, frantic and without any composure whatsoever.
And I really enjoy this blogging thing, I feel much more technologically relevant than if this was all handwritten.
ReplyDeleteThe raven, as I have seen it, is not so much a character as it is a reality. Poe loved a lady whom he had grown up with, but when she died he entered a state of numbness and mourning. This mentality and emotional standpoint is what inspired multiple other works by him, including Bells, a poem about seasons of life.
ReplyDeleteI think, in the same way he wrote Bells about happy and sad seasons, loving and lonely, he might very well be doing the same in the Raven. We know multiple things:
1) Poe cannot feel any emotions for himself, if at all
a.) This is seen when he recalls that the events were all happening on a bummer day, when he was reading a sad book so he could feel sad, i.e. if he could feel at all. but he mentions that he cannot.
2) Poe has nobody
a.) Lenore, as he calls her (actually a fictional character used as a pseudonym), has just died, and Poe had been disowned by both his birth-parents (at birth) and his adopted father, shortly after his adopted mother had died (where the "Allen" comes from). Poe had NOBODY
b.) Also seen when he opens the door to find "darkness there, and nothing more"
3.) Poe has nowhere to go.
a.) this comes from the same place as the only just previously mentioned one. "darkness there, and nothing more..." He had only this dark, foreboding room in which he had been lamenting for some time now.
Having now expressed these things now, we can also say that since Poe knows nobody, has nobody, wants now nobody, the raven cannot possibly represent anybody. Poe is lonely, but that doesnt mean that, although he converses with it, the raven is a person or character. Nay, instead I believe it might be more of a realization or reality of what Poe must face. The raven flies in and stoops above the doorframe of the only mentioned door. This means it is the only door out of which Poe may escape, as well as through which people may come. This could mean one of two things: the first being that Poe cannot leave his chamber through that door now, since it is guarded by this ghastly raven. However, Poe has made a note as to say that there is to place to go outside of his door. That being said, the only thing he might care about the door is that a person may come through it. However, the raven now guards it, meaning he will never see company protrude the doorway. This is an incredibly deep way of saying "Poe realizes that nobody else can come into his life, and there is no reason for him to insert himself into someone else's, since it will only cause more heartache and pain..."
I hope you guys don't mind my comment being incredibly lengthy...
I also hope you don't mind me posting a comment amidst what appears to be a ruther personal array of comments...
enjoy my breakapart of what the raven is!