Gotta Love Poe (Blog9)

The Raven

Edgar Allen Poe

The emotions that I believe Poe is trying to convey in "The Raven" are fear and a level of hysteria towards the raven that was sitting above his chamber door. It's almost as if he's being haunted by it and there's a level of psychotic-ness, for lack of a better term, being pushed through multiple different lines. 

"'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!'

                                                                  Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore.'"

This quote especially, he's basically talking to a bird and imagining the bird is up there taunting him, refusing to leave him in peace, reminding him of everything he's trying to forget, or more specifically a certain woman he's trying to forget. Usually when someone doesn't want to be reminded, there's a level of angst and pain, as well as an undertone of regret.

"'Respite-respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!

Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!'

                                                                  Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore.'"

It's obvious by the punctuation alone that he's pleading, begging, crying out, for this bird to leave him alone but the bird, calm and nonchalant is just like, "Nah, I think I'll stay here awhile."

 Maybe he did something to Lenore, and the raven represents his conscience coming back to haunt him?

Annabel Lee

Edgar Allen Poe

The overall tone of this poem I would say is sadness, loss. It's all about losing a great love to one of the worst fates, death. There was no undertone, it was all spelled out pretty nicely. 

"For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

     Of the beautiful ANNABEL LEE;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

     Of the beautiful ANNABEL LEE;

And so, all the night tide, I lie down by the side

Of my darling--my darling--my life and my bride,

    In the sepulchre there by the sea,

    In her tomb by the sounding sea."

The rhythm of the poem definitely helped make this piece not just a beautiful love letter to a lost loved one, but also a beautifully sounding piece of literature. The flow of the piece and the repetition helps deliver more emotion and have a bigger impact on the reader.