Edgar Allan Poe Literary Analysis

How does an author individually create one of the most distinguished verses in all of english literature: “Quoth the Raven, nevermore”? In the short stories The Cask of Amontillado and The Tell-Tale Heart, along with the poems Annabel Lee and The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe develops a unique writing style and the genre of Gothic Fiction through the use of certain literary devices. His gothic, doleful works were most likely influenced by the death of his parents when he was only three, and the demise of his young wife, Virgina, at the age of 24. These events are clearly portrayed or alluded to in both his poems and stories. Likewise, they are conveyed differently in his short stories compared to his poems. Nonetheless, Edgar Allan Poe uses complex

In this poem, Poe continuously refers back to Annabel Lee in order to convey the narrator’s longing for her. For example, Poe states, “...neither the angels...nor the demons...can ever dissever my soul from the soul of the beautiful Annabel Lee,” (Stanza 5). In this quote, Edgar Allan Poe demonstrates the narrator’s undying connection and longing for his “beautiful” Annabel Lee. This can be observed when the narrator claims that death, represented by demons and angels, will never divide the couple’s souls and love. Furthermore, in the poem The Raven, the narrator, grieving the loss of his love Lenore, encounters a Raven, who enters the chamber only to exclaim the word “nevermore”. In fact, it is the repetition of the phrase, “quoth the Raven, ‘Nevermore’,” (Stanza 8) that is used to create a web of symbolism throughout the story. The repetitive syntax Poe uses from stanza to stanza, specifically the word “nevermore”, illustrates the permanent burden of the Raven’s presence which represents the narrator’s longing for Lenore, who is deceased. Therefore, this use of syntax develops the meaning behind the peculiar story and its theme regarding the lasting dolor one feels upon the demise of a loved