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The Raven By Edgar Allan Poe

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The chilling yet long-revered short stories and poems of Edgar Allan Poe make use of many literary elements popular at the time. Using many Gothic elements throughout the duration of his stories and poems like catalepsy, the idea of Dopplegängers, and entrapment, he caught the attention and interest of his readers almost instantly. However, he mainly utilizes literary devices, such as symbolism, along with the theme of visions, omens and portents throughout his writing to convey an atmosphere of mystery and suspense; The Black Cat proving most successful by highlighting these themes to add descriptions and connections to the story. Throughout the aforementioned short story, Poe uses symbolism and the theme of visions to convey an atmosphere …show more content…

Poe uses symbolism to add additional connections to outside sources, like the use of mythology in The Black Cat. In the poem, the reading narrator jolted when he heard a knock on his door and went to check it, only to find his threshold empty; however, the knock sounds again and when he checks it, a Raven entered his room and “perched upon a bust of Pallas” (Poe 2). The mention of Pallas relates to the Greek goddess of wisdom, Athena, and continues throughout the poem to make other allusions to Greek mythology. But the Raven itself symbolizes the grief that the narrator felt for his lost loved one, Lenore, and the fowl resting on the bust of the goddess of wisdom might symbolize that if the narrator would acknowledge his grief, he could move forward to overcome it. When the Raven entered his room, the narrator, though surprised, began to talk to it, not expecting any response. The Raven surprised him when it spoke one word, ““Nevermore””, but later grew frustrated at the lack of any other response (Poe 2). The single word spoken by the Raven foreshadows the idea that the narrator would ‘nevermore’ have the burden of his own grief if he acknowledged it. Therefore, symbolism and the theme of omens help to convey an atmosphere of mystery and suspense in the poem The

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