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Stephanie ShieldsProfessor HamiltonEnglish 12015 December 2016Edgar Allan PoeThe RavenEdgar Allan Poe was a writer in the 1800s who was popular for his poems that were known to consist of mystery and horror. These works usually followed the themes that were popular in that time, along the lines of the death and mourning of loved ones. An example of these themes shown in Poe’s writing is in “The Raven,” which is meant to symbolize a mournful and never-ending remembrance and the theme of isolation. This is to be shown through the raven bird itself. The narrator cannot tell if the raven is real or a figment of his imagination. The poem’s narrator is a grief stricken young man, mourning the loss of his love, Lenore. He attempts to lessen his grief through pondering “many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,” (2) but he is distracted by an apparent talking raven bird who keeps repeating “Nevermore,” a reference to the fact that he will never be able to be with Lenore again. By the end of the poem, the narrator appears to realize that the raven is actually his own sorrow imprisoned and tortured soul. As such, Thomas Mabbot states:The subject is of universal appeal, for every mature person has lost someone beloved, and even for the firm believer in immortality death is a separation from the living. Poe himself said that hispoem was emblematic of undying remembrance. (2)Mabbot views the main theme of The Raven as death and undying remembrance, which is never forgetting or never moving on and always being full of sorrow. He believes the poem focusses on the mourning, rather than just the death. It is true that this theme is very apparent throughout the poem, which is shown through the quote “Nevermore,” as Poe will never see his love again. The death and mourning of a beautiful woman is a common theme of many of Poe’s works. In this poem, Lenore symbolized the beautiful woman who has passed away. Throughout the poem Poe is grief stricken due to losing his beloved Lenore, which causes him to become mentally unstable. Emily Burrell states:“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe seems to be about the pain of the loss of a loved one.? Throughout the poem, the speaker is reminded of his love Lenore. When he hears the knocking on his door, the speaker actually hopes it is his lover that has come back from the dead.??He believes he hears her name when he opens the door.?The speaker even asks the raven if it would bring him Lenore back from the dead.? He truly believes that this raven has come as a messenger, and as a way of?connecting to the dead.?(1)Burrell talks of the main character hallucinating, for example, the raven bird knocking at the door, and himself whispering Lenore and pretending it was Lenore herself. Thought Mabbot and Burell have valid points regarding the underlying themes of the poem “The Raven,” it could be stated that the main motif would be romance and love. Through his many life experiences in dealing with women, relations with peers or colleagues, his financial habits, etc. he was seemingly driven by his obsession with love. In fact, many scholars have attempted to analyze this author’s true personality and without exception, each has concluded that love is the underlining factor of Poe’s work. The themes of mourning, and death of a beautiful woman, or even the theme of madness would not even occur if Poe wasn’t writing about love. ? The character talks about Lenore with so much love it is almost obsessive, “From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—?For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore” (Line 10-11). Out of romance, he calls her a rare and radiant maiden named by the angels. In fact, Poe was so in love with Lenore that it brought him to the brink of insanity, as previously stated. When Poe heard someone at the door he assumed it was his wife who had come back from the dead, which is the only he thing he really wanted. He said, “And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”?This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”—?Merely this and nothing more”?(2).After Lenore passed away, the speaker most likely became very lonely. He loved Lenore so much and when she passed away he was alone and imagining situations that did not occur. At the end of the poem he was getting aggravated of the raven being there, he says: Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!???? Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!?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! ( )Even though the raven was a hallucination the whole time, he was telling the bird to go away, so he could continue being alone. If Poe’s poems were about love, they usually connected to the common theme within his works where he writes about the death of woman who was young and beautiful. He writes as if they passed away just to leave him to mourn and live in his own sorrow. He most likely got most of the inspiration for these powerful poems and tales by the horrible death of his wife in real life, Virginia Clemm, who passed away at a very young age. The speaker of the poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe was dealing with losing the love of his life. Because of this, he became obsessive with this loss, which brought insanity upon him. He also became very isolated after his wife’s death, a most likely manifestation of grief. The author himself relates his somber experiences and personal struggles in his works. As a result, while some consider the central theme of “The Raven” to be undying remembrance and mourning, others state that the theme is the loss of sanity. However, given Poe’s unique and polished writing style, it should be considered that the central theme driving his creativity is the passion for love. Works CitedPoetry Foundation. Edgar Allan Poe, 2016, Write Read. The Raven: a symbol of grief, 2016. Olive Mabbot (and E. A. Poe), “The Raven,” The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe – Vol. I: Poems (1969), pp 350-374 ................
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