JANE JIANG, ENG4U Poetry Test

The time we have is limited. All humans will eventually leave the world one day and death is un-avoidable. Now, the question is are we living to die or dying to live? Every one has different perspectives of death; some will be positive and others will be negative. “Vision creates the world you see but knowledge creates what you believe.” This quote basically means that every one’s perspectives will be different because of what they know and what they understand. Death will be discussed differently amongst different cultures and people. However, the poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe presents a completely different angle regarding death. We all associate the topic of love as sorrow and horror but Edgar has created an entirely different angle towards looking at death. The perspective being that death is full of emotions but without death we can’t sustain and reproduce as a race. Edgar proves that a death of a loved one will stay with you forever and even when we want to forget a part of us will have the desire to remember. Edgar has communicated his abstract thought about death through different poetic devices such as tone, allusion and symbols.

The biggest device used in this poem was repetition; the repetition he used after almost every stanza was “Nevermore”. This word has a lot meanings but the word’s relevance to the poem is that Edgar is trying to express to us that his loved one his gone and will be lost forever. “Nevermore” is the contrast word for forever and Edgar communicating that “Lenore” (the loved one he lost) is gone forever. He also says “Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!’ Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.’” This quotation articulated because he is referring his medicine (nepenthe) to a drink and he is trying to drink away his pain for losing Lenore. The raven is representing death because the raven is symbolized as the “black bird” for unfortunate events. Therefore, “nevermore” importance is that it contrasts forever and in the poem “nevermore” means that Lenore will never return to him.

Also, the tone of Edgar evidently proves that a death will remain with us forever because the way Edgar spoke to us within his poem really helped us understand his situation and feel his sorrow. His tone in the poem, presents the message that he has a desire to forget the pain but also takes pleasure in remembering. As well as the talk about morrow (stanza 10) sets the tone that he is mixed up with his feelings and that the lost of Lenore has made him gone a little insane. Due to all the sorrow that he is feeling it causes him to be confused and the bird is a symbol of