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What Does The Raven Symbolize

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The Raven “The Raven” is a poem written in the 1800’s by Edgar Allan Poe. The setting pulls the reader into a heavy, dark ambience: the fire had “dying embers” and the only light was a single lamp. “Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, / And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. / Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow. / From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore…” (Poe, lines 7-10) The poem is brimming with symbolism and feelings of deep mourning. The embers are a metaphor for the life that was lost and the fate of the narrator. When the raven appears it is described as “grim” perhaps leading the reader to believe that the Raven symbolizes a bad omen. The Raven has an overwhelmingly sad tone with repetition of the words “evermore” …show more content…

Internally the narrator knows that Lenore is gone forever, a concept that he is unable to accept and drives him into a deep loneliness, “Other friends have flown before— / On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before” (Poe, lines 58-59). Since birds are not capable of speech, the fact that the raven is speaking at all shows that the raven is a figment of the narrator's fantasy world. The raven is questioned about Lenore and its only response is “nevermore” because nothing is going to change the fact that Lenore has died and the reality that she is never coming back, " Quoth the raven "nevermore"” (Poe, line 48). The repetitive “nevermore” response gives insight to the narrator's madness. The narrator is depressed and struggling with loss so much so that he feels hopeless and terrified. The darkness represents the emptiness he lives with as he yearns for Lenore, and soon it is revealed that the narrator is hearing and seeing things that are not present in reality."deep into that darkness peering... and echo murmured back the word "Lenore!" (Poe, lines

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495 Words | 2 Pages

For example, it could be the beauty, hope, or maybe even the light within an individual. Whomever Lenore maybe, she must have meant a great deal to the narrator because he truly misses her. Another symbol that is used was December. “I remember it was in the bleak December, / And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor” (7-8). December is the symbol of death because it is winter and there is no life in the winter.

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First, the common theme of “The Raven” is grief,agony, and heartache. With dialogue like “while I pondered,weak and weary”shows that emotion. The narrator is sad about his lost love Lenore. Which is parallel to when Poe’s wife was deadly ill.

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Poe uses allusion, or references to something well known, throughout his stories and poems to immerse the reader in his writing. In the poem, “The Raven,” the narrator is vexed by the raven’s answer of “Nevermore” on his lost love Lenore, so he goes into deep fury and screams at the raven to get back into, “the Night’s Plutonian shore” (Lines 43, 47). Here, Poe alludes to Pluto, the Greek God of Underworld, and the coast to the river Styx which carries dead souls into the Underworld. The allusions express the narrator's thoughts dwelling on death and sorrow which creates a depressing mood in the readers. His thoughts about the Underworld foreshadow that he will always live with a feeling of emptiness.

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87 Words | 1 Pages

In Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, “The Raven,” there are many symbols. For example, Lenore, “nevermore,” and the raven. Firstly, the character Lenore represents his dead wife Virginia. Furthermore, the quote “Nevermore,” which all the raven says, represents him losing his wife and the repeating losses in his life. Additionally, the raven represents death and sorrow, which is typically the theme in his poems and his life.

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302 Words | 2 Pages

In the poem The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, figurative language is used to emphasize and intensify the growing emotions of the narrator. To the narrator, the raven symbolizes bad fortune. Moreover, the raven is black and black can represent death or evil. Poe twists the bird into a controlling being who torments him over the death of a loved one and he is able to enhance that effect with the use of metaphors. The use of metaphors in this poem adds an eerie background to the bird and adds quality to the writing.

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This assonance begins the poem by setting the scene. We are able to interpret that the unnamed narrator is in a terrible mood, is fearful, and his anxiety is skyrocketing. This is set at midnight, which gives a feeling of uneasiness. These dark terms are emphasized by the assonance to give the

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The speaker continues to ponder the bird’s presence. It is unclear why the bird visits him, but the speaker, driving by his longing for Lenore, believes he is sent from the angels to share a message to him from Lenore. He wonders if “is there balm in Gilead” (89) that will cause him to forget the pain that the memory of Lenore is bringing him. When the speaker realizes that the raven visits him with no intent of sharing anything about Lenore, he grows angry at the raven and tells it to go “back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!” (98) while in a rage.

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In 'the Raven' Lenore is the narrator's dead lover. As it proves this in the poem by the multiple times he spoke of Lenore in sorrowing, admiring and loving words. Lenore represents the protagonists' wife and how she departed from her life; she died from tuberculosis and the quote that shows how Poe is mourning over his late wife, " But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token, and the only word there spoken was the whispered word, 'Lenore!'. " This confirms that Poe is acheing for his wife because the fatality of Virginia had made him lose his

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Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” is an eerie and sinister poem because of its dark nature. This poem uses an experience that is understood by many people----- the death of a loved one. Poe uses poetic devices to show the reader just how much grief one could feel by losing a loved one, or just how crazy someone could become because of this grief. This poem features a mysterious raven who repeats the word “Nevermore,” over and over again to a man who has been struck with sadness and grief over the death of his love, Lenore.

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The raven’s constant reply of “Nevermore” is not Lenore ignoring the characters questions but giving the character a simple answer to all of his questions. The reply “Nevermore” is Lenore telling the character that she will forever be with him and he will never more have to worry with being a lone, she is here now. In conclusion, the raven in Edgar Poe’s story “The Raven” was sent to the unknown character to forever conclude his loneliness he felt from his loss. The raven symbolizes the presences of the unknown characters significant other Lenore.

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REASONING: The raven is an element of complexity, as it holds symbolism to the grief the narrator is feeling over his lost Lenore. As seen in the quotes above at the beginning of the short story, the narrator had hope of seeing Lenore again after hearing a weary sound outside of his chamber, he demonstrates that by calling out her dear name in the darkness of the night. However, as his grief came over him, with the thought that it was not his Lenore, the raven appeared and began to haunt him. By doing so the narrator lost all hope of seeing Lenore again as demonstrated by the second quote.

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897 Words | 4 Pages

“The Raven” is about a man mourning the death of his love and is troubled by a raven that answers all of the speakers questions with “Nevermore”, driving him nearly insane. Throughout this poem, Poe uses many literary devices to bring his work to life so that the reader can feel and almost experience the same feelings as the speaker. Poe uses many literary devices in his poem, “The Raven”, specifically repetition to create a depressing tone for the reader. Repetition is a literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer. On line 6, he repeats the phrase “ ….nothing more” at the end of each stanza throughout the poem.

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This poem also deals with losing hope, even though the narrator has no right to even have the small amount. This poem deals with his dead leave Lenore, and how the raven torments him into insanity. To start off Edgar Allan Poe has communicated his thesis through the use of abstract language and connotation. this abstract phrase which is repeated throughout the poem is the word ‘nevermore’, combined with different phrases depending on each stanza. This word can have countless

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The raven, like death, is signifying a permanence of loss. Through the raven’s symbolism of death, the narrator realizes that Lenore is gone. As one can see, the raven diminishes the thought of Lenore’s return, just as death

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458 Words | 2 Pages

These feelings reflect a sorrow as deep as it morphs into a psychological madness, a feeling that the pain death brings has ruined one forever. After analyzing this poem I came to the conclusion that Poe 's poem “The Raven” demonstrates that the sorrow of the death of a loved one bring will stay with you forever. Poe communicated this theme through abstract language and connotation, tone and allusion. I would like to give examples of how Poe communicated this poem through the use of abstract language and connotation. An abstract phrase repeated throughout the poem is the word “Nevermore” combined with different phrases depending on the stanza.

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