The 19th century was the start to a great movement of romanticism and symbolism in literature. Romanticism is when the writer emphasizes his or her inspiration and passion about an individual; symbolism on the other hand is the use of objects or symbols to represent an idea. One major writer from the 19th century that comes to mind when thinking about both of these elements is Edgar Allen Poe. Poe is widely known for having morbidly dark and depressing themes in his work but when it comes to his subjects in his writing he always finds a way to incorporate beautiful young women and mysterious deaths. Poe’s poem “The Raven” is narrated from a first person point of view and includes eighteen six-line stanzas. Poe does a fantastic job of showing
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Poe starts “The Raven” off establishing the setting within the first six stanzas, he then introduces and explains the significance of the bird in stanzas seven through twelve, and then in stanzas thirteen through eighteen he expresses his mourning for the loss of his love Lenore and how he wishes the feeling would go …show more content…
The raven itself is a symbol, the bird’s darkness symbolizes death and is the constant thought going through the narrators head. In correlation to the constant thought the bird is also constant in saying “Nevermore.” Pallas Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom, symbolizing that the raven sits on a perch of wisdom and that the nararrator is hopeful to find such wisdom. The dramatic presence of the bird lets the narrator forget his sadness as he find humor within the situation and he begins to ask the bird questions. “Poe suggests that the bird is from Night’s Plutonian shore, calling upon the myth of Pluto, the God of the Underworld, the land of the dead in Greek mythology. The Raven, therefore, may be thought of as a creature from the land of the dead” (“Plot Summary: ‘The Raven’.”). Poe then concludes the thirteenth stanza with silence between the bird and the narrator. He gives the bird fiery eyes that burned into his heart associating the bird with evil and the emptiness he feels that he explains in the remaining of the
Poe starts “The Raven” off establishing the setting within the first six stanzas, he then introduces and explains the significance of the bird in stanzas seven through twelve, and then in stanzas thirteen through eighteen he expresses his mourning for the loss of his love Lenore and how he wishes the feeling would go …show more content…
The raven itself is a symbol, the bird’s darkness symbolizes death and is the constant thought going through the narrators head. In correlation to the constant thought the bird is also constant in saying “Nevermore.” Pallas Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom, symbolizing that the raven sits on a perch of wisdom and that the nararrator is hopeful to find such wisdom. The dramatic presence of the bird lets the narrator forget his sadness as he find humor within the situation and he begins to ask the bird questions. “Poe suggests that the bird is from Night’s Plutonian shore, calling upon the myth of Pluto, the God of the Underworld, the land of the dead in Greek mythology. The Raven, therefore, may be thought of as a creature from the land of the dead” (“Plot Summary: ‘The Raven’.”). Poe then concludes the thirteenth stanza with silence between the bird and the narrator. He gives the bird fiery eyes that burned into his heart associating the bird with evil and the emptiness he feels that he explains in the remaining of the