The Supernatural Elements Of Romanticism In Poe's Poe

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In the early 1800s, Romantic thinking was upon every great scholar 's mind. Romanticism was an era where people began to think more spiritually rather than everything being explained by science. These writers and poets valued feeling over reason and touched upon universal human experiences such as death, love, and life.This is a time where nature and individualism were celebrated. There were different kinds of romantic thinking, there was Gothic and Transcendentalism. Gothic was more a darker, evil way of writing expressing that man 's nature was inherently evil. Where Transcendentalism writing was a more upbeat and positive taking in the beauty and meaning of nature. Poetry was a popular way of expressing this romantic thinking, many of the …show more content…
There are many ways that Poe expresses the supernatural element of romanticism, “And neither the angels in heaven above. Nor the demons down under the sea” (“Annabel Lee” 30-31). Within these two lines of the poem Poe adds so much, instead of just having ghosts and spirits in that creepy part of the world he adds spirits. So now instead of just the angles and the parents coming after them the demons of the sea are coming after them. This is creating a more eerie feeling of the sea and adding a layer to the whole poem. In this poem the spirit world is all around and as a reader you follow the speaker during his quest to find Annabel. The other way Poe uses supernatural elements in his poem “The Raven” is giving the bird a deeper meaning, “‘Prophet!’ said I, ‘thing of evil!-prophet still, if bird or devil!-Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore’” (“The Raven” 85-86). This is a big question in the poem, the speaker is contemplating whether or not the bird is an evil creature or was sent directly from the devil. Either way the speaker believes that the bird has supernatural power. Since Lenore has gone beyond nature into the supernatural world he believes that the bird will have answers for him. In both poems the supernatural element adds to the poem giving it deeper meaning and creating a better

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