Poem Essay/The Raven

The Raven

Even though this poem is a very common work of Edgar Allen Poe, I feel that his writing in this poem is extremely creative and gives very vivid details, mental images, and ideas while reading this poem. His work never ceases to astound me. Poe’s use of his own misery and insanity to write this poem surely made this poem meet all of the literary standpoints. This poem is a fairly excellent poem because of its use of sound, image, and perspective.

In the poem the poem he uses a lot of rhythm, rhyme, and alliteration. I feel that out of these three the two the he does best with is his talent for alliteration and rhyme definitely make the poem clear and catchy. For example in the poem he uses alliteration when he says, “And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain thrilled me…” The constant “s” sound is an outstanding use of alliteration. His awesome use of rhyme is portrayed very well in this poem. For example in the very beginning of the poem it he mutters, “ Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary…” This is an excellent show of rhyme. His old poems seem to have a good rhythm also he has very good meter this is the timing or measure between each word and creates a rhythmic pattern. These are the ways his poem produces good sound.

One of the things I think Poe does best at in his work is imagery. He uses many types of imagery to create an appeal to the senses. For example in the poem he writes, “ I distinctly remember a bleak December, and each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.” In this quote you can picture a very upsetting December and how it would feel absolutely miserable if your loved one had died. He also gives words or phrases that help you distinctly picture sounds as opposed to mental images in his works. For example, when he says, “Sir or Madam, surely your forgiveness I implore; but the fact is I was napping and so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door.” When you read a quote like this your mind is driven to picture what it would sound like if someone was rapidly knocking on a door. These are just a few of the many ways that Poe’s work has good imagery.

Poe’s poems and stories have always given new ideas, but nothing changed my perspective like The Raven did. This poem gave me an understanding of his writing and how he used the misery and sorrow Poe was feeling at the time to write the poem. This poem helped me realize how I would be feeling at that point. This poem has driven me to believe that Poe was not crazy as everyone says, but I feel that he was simply grieving for the loss of his lover. Edgar Allen Poe was doing in this poem what anyone else would be doing if they lost a lover and this here has changed my entire perspective because of the fact that he was just like everyone else he was just simply different.

This poem is a very common work of Poe, but it is filled with not just strong words but strong emotions too. Poe has shown that people all have similar feelings but different ways to express them. He used very precise details to describe how he felt but how he mixed his emotions in with his writing simply blew my mind. This poem displayed excellent examples of sound, image, and perspective and this is why I chose to use this poem for my essay.