Our Last Hope
What if your one last hope, one final chance to see your deceased and precious wife again, was in the shape of a bird? This is the storyline of “The Raven”, written by Edgar Allan Poe, one of the most popular and argued short stories in the history of American Literature. For years people have read, learned from, and related to the events in the story. It’s detailed words and controversial ending leaves everyone with a different opinion about what really happened to the man in the story, and what the Raven symbolizes. Some people think that the Raven symbolizes the stages of grief we go through during a loss. Some think it symbolizes the psychopathic state that some people get into when they are lonely. But, I think Poe uses …show more content…
The man had been calm and even excited talking to the bird, up until the man started asking questions about Lenore and if he would heal from his experience. When the bird stated his conventional response of “nevermore” to these deep and hopeful questions, however, the man loses his sanity, exclaiming, “Be that word our sign of parting bird… Take thy beak from out my heart and take thy form from off my door”. (334) Some of the phrases in this quote are very interesting to me and are evidence as to why the Raven was the man’s last hope. The phrase “Be that word our sign of parting bird” implies that the narrator had been wanting the bird to say that he would see Lenore again. He seems to have placed all his will to live on that one question, and when it wasn’t answered the way he wanted, he loses all reasoning. This is evidence that the Raven really was his last hope of ending his grief. Another phrase that stuck out to me was “Take thy beak from out my heart”. Some people might argue that the Raven represents the man’s grief from losing someone special to him. If it represents grief, then how did it take this long into the story for the Raven to “stab him in the heart”? The Raven instead represents the final hope of the man, and when that hope was lost by the bird’s answer to the man’s question, then the man enters the stage of intense
What if your one last hope, one final chance to see your deceased and precious wife again, was in the shape of a bird? This is the storyline of “The Raven”, written by Edgar Allan Poe, one of the most popular and argued short stories in the history of American Literature. For years people have read, learned from, and related to the events in the story. It’s detailed words and controversial ending leaves everyone with a different opinion about what really happened to the man in the story, and what the Raven symbolizes. Some people think that the Raven symbolizes the stages of grief we go through during a loss. Some think it symbolizes the psychopathic state that some people get into when they are lonely. But, I think Poe uses …show more content…
The man had been calm and even excited talking to the bird, up until the man started asking questions about Lenore and if he would heal from his experience. When the bird stated his conventional response of “nevermore” to these deep and hopeful questions, however, the man loses his sanity, exclaiming, “Be that word our sign of parting bird… Take thy beak from out my heart and take thy form from off my door”. (334) Some of the phrases in this quote are very interesting to me and are evidence as to why the Raven was the man’s last hope. The phrase “Be that word our sign of parting bird” implies that the narrator had been wanting the bird to say that he would see Lenore again. He seems to have placed all his will to live on that one question, and when it wasn’t answered the way he wanted, he loses all reasoning. This is evidence that the Raven really was his last hope of ending his grief. Another phrase that stuck out to me was “Take thy beak from out my heart”. Some people might argue that the Raven represents the man’s grief from losing someone special to him. If it represents grief, then how did it take this long into the story for the Raven to “stab him in the heart”? The Raven instead represents the final hope of the man, and when that hope was lost by the bird’s answer to the man’s question, then the man enters the stage of intense