Piece of Mind
There are many different ways people deal with grief and internal conflict. Have you ever been upset about something, and tried so hard to take your mind off of what’s bothering you? In the poem, The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe, a man is grieving over the loss of his love Lenore, and it troubles his mind greatly. The approach he takes to try and rid of his sorrow and resolve his predicament is very interesting. He is having an internal battle over whether or not Lenore really is gone, and if he will ever see her again. He starts to hear tapping in his door and opens it, but nothing was there. Then he hears tapping at his window, he opens the window and a raven flies into his room. He begins asking the bird questions about Lenore. He asks if he will ever see her again, if she is in heaven, etc., and the only thing the
…show more content…
People argue about whether or not there was actually a bird physically in his presence, but it makes no difference to my claim; the raven is the narrator’s way of separating his mind and his heart. If he sets his mind aside as something separate from his body, it makes it easier for him to try and forget what his mind keeps telling him. This is a unique method of grieving, most people try to numb what their heart says and focus on their mind, they don’t want the emotional part of grieving, but this character takes an opposite approach. His heart still believes Lenore could come back, he hasn’t accepted the fact that she is gone. The first encounter the narrator has with the raven is positive; “...this ebony bird beguiling [his] sad fancy into smiling…”(Poe 43). He was happy about the “...grave and stern countenance is wore” (Poe 44). These lines infer that his mind is stern and serious, the thought of being able to get rid of it makes him smile, he is happy. This is what he needs to do to move on with a hopeful heart that Lenore might come back to