“There are things so sad, they can never be washed away by tears.”
- Obi Hajime
Have you ever thought of how painful it would be to lose someone that has greatly impacted you and meant a lot to you? Have you thought of all the joyful memories you’ve been through with them? And all the miserable and distressing times when you both just wanted to give up? Both Walt Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe have gone through this traumatic experience and conveyed their feelings through writing. You may be common with their famous works, ‘O Captain, My Captain’ and ‘Annabel Lee’, that are elegies, written 16 years apart, dedicated to the ones they lost. The main theme of both poems is similar to one another with regards to the techniques used, the structure, …show more content…
In ‘O Captain My Captain’, Walt Whitman uses extended metaphor to illustrate Abraham Lincoln’s admirable qualities while in ‘Annabel Lee’, Edgar Allan Poe is straightforward when talking about Annabel Lee, who symbolizes his wife; Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe that passed away 7 years before he wrote the poem. Virginia's death had haunted and agonized Poe so intensely it led him to write various horror poems and stories, that upon closer inspection, are affiliated with Poe’s personal life with his wife, Virginia. Whitman uses images in his poem to symbolize important events and figures such as the captain who represents Abraham Lincoln and the ship which represents the US. This is evident in “The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done, From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;” We can infer that the ship (the US) is now safe and sound as the ‘fearful trip’, which represents the Civil War, has ended and the swaying mass in the 12th line of the poem represents the citizens celebrating the end of the war and the elimination of …show more content…
In the last stanza, the stars and the moon are compared to messengers. Poe uses personification such as “The wind came out of the cloud by night, chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.” in the fourth stanza. Logically, the wind, which is an object, cannot kill a person and so this is an example of personification. Another example of personification can be found in the first line of the last stanza “For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams” the moon cannot possibly bring someone dreams as it is an inanimate object. Poe also uses imagery to help the readers feel, see and appreciate the love that the speaker and Annabel Lee shared. “But we loved with a love that was more than love— I and my Annabel Lee—” He has also used imagery to express the speaker’s deep sadness and sorrow . “and so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling–my darling–my life and my bride, In her sepulchre there by the sea, In her tomb by the sounding sea.” This powerful image illustrates his longing for his beloved wife,
- Obi Hajime
Have you ever thought of how painful it would be to lose someone that has greatly impacted you and meant a lot to you? Have you thought of all the joyful memories you’ve been through with them? And all the miserable and distressing times when you both just wanted to give up? Both Walt Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe have gone through this traumatic experience and conveyed their feelings through writing. You may be common with their famous works, ‘O Captain, My Captain’ and ‘Annabel Lee’, that are elegies, written 16 years apart, dedicated to the ones they lost. The main theme of both poems is similar to one another with regards to the techniques used, the structure, …show more content…
In ‘O Captain My Captain’, Walt Whitman uses extended metaphor to illustrate Abraham Lincoln’s admirable qualities while in ‘Annabel Lee’, Edgar Allan Poe is straightforward when talking about Annabel Lee, who symbolizes his wife; Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe that passed away 7 years before he wrote the poem. Virginia's death had haunted and agonized Poe so intensely it led him to write various horror poems and stories, that upon closer inspection, are affiliated with Poe’s personal life with his wife, Virginia. Whitman uses images in his poem to symbolize important events and figures such as the captain who represents Abraham Lincoln and the ship which represents the US. This is evident in “The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done, From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;” We can infer that the ship (the US) is now safe and sound as the ‘fearful trip’, which represents the Civil War, has ended and the swaying mass in the 12th line of the poem represents the citizens celebrating the end of the war and the elimination of …show more content…
In the last stanza, the stars and the moon are compared to messengers. Poe uses personification such as “The wind came out of the cloud by night, chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.” in the fourth stanza. Logically, the wind, which is an object, cannot kill a person and so this is an example of personification. Another example of personification can be found in the first line of the last stanza “For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams” the moon cannot possibly bring someone dreams as it is an inanimate object. Poe also uses imagery to help the readers feel, see and appreciate the love that the speaker and Annabel Lee shared. “But we loved with a love that was more than love— I and my Annabel Lee—” He has also used imagery to express the speaker’s deep sadness and sorrow . “and so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling–my darling–my life and my bride, In her sepulchre there by the sea, In her tomb by the sounding sea.” This powerful image illustrates his longing for his beloved wife,