Gothic Elements In The Raven

The Gothic Genre and “The Raven” The word “Gothic” usually suggests adolescents in dark makeup and loud music. In literature though, “Gothic” means something much different. The Gothic genre sets itself apart from other literary genres in many ways. Gothic works usually take place in a strange, mysterious setting and have themes of extreme mental and/or physical isolation. The Gothic genre is also known for the sentiment of the frightening unfamiliar, that is also strangely familiar. The repetition, diction and symbolism in “The Raven”, by Edgar Alan Poe, are the most important contributions to the poem that help to categorize it as Gothic, a literary genre that Poe wrote many works in and is most known for. One very noticeable literary device in “The Raven”, is its use of repetition. In the beginning of the poem, the narrator hears tapping on his chamber door, and decides that it is, “’T is some visiter, … Only this and nothing more” (Poe 6). This sentiment of the tapping merely being a late-night visitor and “nothing more”, is repeated at the end of each stanza for the first half of the poem. This repetition of the specific phrase “nothing more”, is used by Poe to illustrate how the narrator feels that he must rationalize the situation to himself. It’s as if the narrator does not trust his senses to be accurate …show more content…
These elements do everything from expanding the setting to emphasizing the idea of isolation; things that are important in distinguishing a poem as being in the Gothic genre. Poe is known for writing Gothic pieces, “The Raven” being one of many, and it is his choice of genre that lets the reader get a small peak into the tragedy and trauma that Poe endured in his life, and how it seems that he subsequently used poetry as a creative outlet for all those