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Figurative Language In Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven

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In the 19th century, many literary works tended to avoid dark themes and ideas. Edgar Allen Poe, the author of “The Raven”, subverted that in one of the most darkest poems of all time. “The Raven” is a poem about a man who is thinking about his long lost lover, Lenore. We never know what had happened to her. Suddenly a raven appeared at the man’s window, and in trying to converse with the raven, the man’s sanity begins to slip. The poem’s horror and darkness are helped by the poem’s speaker , the tone, and the figurative language.
The speaker is one part that makes “The Raven” such a dark poem. The speaker in the poem is struggling with the loss of his lover, Lenore. It is clear that the loss has taken a heavy toll on him, as his word choice …show more content…

When the Raven comes, the tone does not get any better. Instead, due to the speaker’s mental state and the Raven’s repetitiveness, the tone in the speaker’s voice starts to become more frantic and unhinged. This is best shown in one of the last things the speaker says, “‘Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!’ I shrieked, upstarting— / ‘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!’” (The Raven 97-101). The tone has changed from sadness in the initial part of the poem to fear and anger. Because of the Raven only saying “Nevermore” in response to the speaker’s questions, his sanity starts to crumble, and he demands the Raven to leave and never come back. It shows how frightened he is of the raven. The tone of the poem is what makes “The Raven” a dark poem.
Finally, the figurative language is what defines “The Raven” as one of the darkest poems in literature. Repetition is utilized in the poem by the Raven, as the word “Nevermore” is the only thing the bird ever says in the poem. As the raven responds “Nevermore” to all of the speaker’s questions, the speaker starts breaking down and starts shouting at the bird in fear and anger. The usage of repetition is crucial

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