The Beauty Behind Grief – MLA
By: Marrisa Brown
One of the most notable authors of the Renaissance/Romantic era is Edgar Allan Poe. The
poem that helped jumpstart his fame, “The Raven”, tells the story of a man who becomes buried
deep in his thoughts of grieving the death of his loved one, that he begins to question his own
reality. The poem portrays a somber, over-the-top mood, putting emphasis on the main
character’s loss. Throughout the poem, Poe shows that the battle of one’s emotions can leave far
worse scars on a life than if they were physical. Edgar Allan Poe uses many literary devices
throughout his poem, “The Raven”, to describe a man’s turmoil over grieving his loved one’s
death.
Before we dive deep into the different literary devices Edgar Allan Poe used in, “The
Raven” to make it as powerful as it was, it’s important to examine the type of writer he was and
what possible influenced him to be that way. Poe was said to be abandoned by his father at the
infant stages of life, only to travel around the world with his mother who eventually passed away
when he was still a young boy. Due to this, Poe was then raised by a wealthy couple who sent
him various schools. Poe eventually attended the University of Virginia, where he was pulled
from by his foster family due to severe drunkenness and gambling debts. After this incident, Poe
was sent to West Point, where he was expelled from once again because of the continued
recklessness.
This background information on Edgar Allan Poe may seem irrelevant, but others may
agree this is a large influence of many of his literary pieces. “Numerous scholars, both
contemporary and modern, have suggested that the experiences of Poe's life provide the basis for
much of his poetry, particularly the early death of his mother, a trauma that was repeated in the
later deaths of two mother-surrogates to whom the poet was devoted.” (Zott The Poetry of Edgar
Allan Poe) Poe was a well-known author throughout the American Renaissance and Romantic
Period, whose poems and short stories gave off a horror or gothic theme. During this era, this
was a not-so well perceived theme of literature and Poe was no exception to the brutalness by
critics of his works. These critics recognized that Poe had a way with words but the overall
darkness behind what he wrote was not well received. The poem I’m about to analyze, “The
Raven”, received harsh criticism from many critics during this period; "Although I resist 'The
Raven' as though it were a plague," Claudel states by way of example, "a good reader can make
me its victim." Still, many critics would concur with Hoffman's assessment that much of Poe's
verse consists of "pounding rhythms and changing rhymes," whose regularity can be likened to a
Chinese water torture.” (Zott The Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe)
Among the numerous literary devices used throughout “The Raven”, imagery is
extensively used to paint a picture for the reader on the emotional struggles the main character is
experiencing. “But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, And so faintly you
came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, That I scarce was sure I heard you” — here I opened
wide the door; ———Darkness there, and nothing more.” This verse suggest that the main
character was woken out of a slumber to gentle knocking at his door. When he opened the door,
he was met by the dark of night and not whom he was expecting to see.
Another example of imagery throughout this piece is how Poe paints a dark, horrific
scene with different lines. “What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore.”
(Belascoe, 2014) In this line, Poe is describing the raven’s personality as a haunting, menacing
figure that is looming over the main character. Poe also uses imagery to describe the raven’s
physical features; “And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming”. (Belascoe,
2014) This line is describing the raven’s eyes like one of a demon who is dreaming; giving more
of clear description that it is this portentous presence, frightening the main character at every
turn.
Not only is the line referenced in the last paragraph, “And his eyes have all the seeming
of a demon’s that is dreaming”, an example of imagery but it is also a metaphor too. This line is
not the only metaphor Poe uses throughout the poem. “To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned
into my bosom’s core.” The line is suggesting that the birds stare was so powerful, it was like fire
that burned in to the main character’s chest which is not physically possible. “And my soul from
out that shadow that lies floating on the floor.”
In the second stanza, Poe uses foreshadowing to give us an idea of how the main
characters feelings towards the loss of his wife will evolve at the end of the poem. “From my
books surcease of sorrow-sorrow for the lost of Lenore- For the rare and radiant maiden whom
the angels name Lenore. Nameless here for evermore.” The main character first describes his lost
love as “Nameless here for evermore”, indicating that she still holds a place in his heart but he
can’t bear to speak her name. In the second to last stanza Poe writes, “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 out my heart, and take thy form off my door!” These words describe how he is
starting to realize the Raven is not his dearly departed love reaching out to him. That he will
continue being lonely and mourning her death.
Another recognizable literary device used throughout “The Raven” is repetition.
According to some sources, the use of frequent repetition in this poem is what makes it so
powerful. “It’s striking trochaic octameter lines (save for the trochaic tetrameter of the
changeable refrain), its pronounced use of repetition and internal rhyme – which latter aspects of
the poem Padraic Colum attributed to the influence of Irish poet James Mangan13 – all but
ensured that “The Raven” would capture the popular imagination.” (Hayes Chapter 6 - Edgar
Allan Poe 77-86) Poe uses words/phrases such as “evermore” and “nothing more” at the end of
each stanza. The frequent use of these words at the end of each stanza becomes increasingly
powerful the further down we read. “This is obvious since the raven’s quoting of “Nevermore” is
meaningless unless given significance by the speaker himself, who, when we meet him in the
poem, has chosen to think of his lost Lenore and nothing more, thereby amplifying the raven’s
utterance (or rather, separating the word “nevermore” from the raven, thus making of the bird a
pest that, ironically, threatens to puncture the speaker’s unified state of mourning).” (Sucur,
Edgar Allan Poe)
In the first six stanzas, the main character is primarily talking about his personal struggle
with the loss of his loved one. In the fourth stanza at the end Poe writes, “That I scarce was sure I
heard you” — here I opened wide the door; ———Darkness there, and nothing more.”
(Belascoe, 2014) We as the reader see how his imagination starts to evolve in to seeing the image
of the raven, which he believes is his loved one reincarnated, using repetition. The character of
the raven becomes introduced in the seventh stanza, where we see use of repetition again using
the phrase “nothing more”.
“Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, In there stepped a
stately raven of the saintly days of yore; Not the least obeisance made he; not an instant
stopped or stayed he; But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door —
Perched upon a bust of Pallas2 just above my chamber door — Perched, and sat, and
nothing more.”(Belascoe, 2014)
Edgar Allan Poe uses numerous literary devices throughout his poem, “The Raven”, to
captivate the reader. Poe plays on the darkness of losing someone by painting a picture of a man
having delusions; associating a Raven bird that they see as the soul of their loved one
reincarnated. Although his content may not have been popular amongst critics at first, it is clear
the words he wrote are still powerful to this day. Poe’s literary works will continue to exemplify
the true history behind the start of gothic literature as we know it today.
Works Cited
Sucur, Slobodan. "Edgar Allan Poe". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 September
2008 [https://www-litencyc-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5080,
accessed 01 March 2022.]
Hayes, Kevin J. “Chapter 6 - Edgar Allan Poe.” The Cambridge Companion to American Poets,
Cambridge University Press, 2015, pp. 77–86, https://www-cambridge-
org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/core/books/cambridge-companion-to-american-poets/edgar-allan-
poe/36C4B3C62811691E065D5AFEF2F36C24#. Accessed 21 Feb. 2022.
Zott, Lynn M, editor. “The Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe.” Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism,
vol. 117, Gale, Detroit, MI, 2003. Gale Literature Resource
Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1410000829/GLS?u=vic_liberty&sid=bookmark-
GLS&xid=122c2929.
Belasco, Susan, and Linck Johnson. The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. Second ed.,
One, Bedford/St.Martins, 2014.
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