Poe's Entire Life The Raven example essay topic

For Poe-Everything Was Nevermore Some people always look at the bad side of things instead of the good side. This is called pessimism. Edgar Allan Poe could be recognized as the king of pessimism. He is known for his tales of the mysterious and macabre. His dark and twisted works are filled with pessimism. Poe was a person who had faced many troubling experiences throughout his life.

To escape from his saddened world, Poe drank and wrote short stories and poems with a pessimistic outlook. Being a pessimist is what made Poe such a great and creative writer. He brought out his dark side in his work. It seems that all of his stories and poems are laced with pessimism. Pessimism was like Poe's warm blanket. He had a sad life, which definitely contributed to his writing.

Poe's poem "The Raven" greatly reflects his own life and his feelings after the death of his wife Virginia. Of Poe's entire life 'The Raven' is said to be Poe's best-known and written work. It is about a lover lamenting his dead mistress. It makes it clear that the death of a beautiful woman was for him the supremely interesting subject, and that the most appropriate tone of a poem is melancholy, and certainly there can be no subject more melancholy than the loss of beauty through death (Minor 2244). The autobiographical element in this poem can be noticed. As a young child Poe's father abandoned them and he lost his mother.

John and Fanny Allan took him home, but they did not formally adopt him (Qrisse). John was always too busy with work, and he was not very close to his stepmother. He led a lonely and unhappy life separated from his siblings. As he grew older his differences with John grew.

At fifteen, an older woman whom he loved as a combination of mother and romantic lover died (she was the mother of a friend). In his teens, his girlfriends' father married her off to someone else, and his age undoubtedly made the loss more traumatic for him (Minor 2244). Poe fell in love with his cousin Virginia Clem m and married her. Their marriage meant a lot to him. It managed to keep him calm, away from drinking and living isolated with his close relatives. Seeing her die brought him a lot of pain.

He became very depressed. It is said that Poe used drugs and drank so much, which made his nervous system extremely sensitive (Qrisse). It was during this time when he was saddened with the loss of Virginia that he wrote "the Raven". Poe uses a great amount of symbolism in the poem to express his feelings. For start the raven is a symbol of mournful and never-ending sadness. "Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aiden n, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore" (Poe).

It is quite evident that Poe actually talks about his beloved Virginia in the poem. He wishes to reunite with her after death, which shows how much he missed her. He also talks of the Balm in Gilead, which is a fictitious place in the Old Testament where there is no suffering. Poe had gone through so much in life that at that point he felt tired and exhausted.

He wanted to rest, and be free from pain. Poe also refers to a bust of Pallas above his chamber door. Pallas was the Greek God of Wisdom. The idea that the raven sat on it would lead the narrator to believe that the bird spoke from wisdom. It is also said that Poe had a bust of Pallas over his door when he lived in New York City (Nilsson). Poe also mentions the Plutonium shores, which is referring to Hell.

Maybe he felt guilty for not being able to save Virginia. This increased his agony and made him believe that the raven was sent by the devil. There are also a lot of themes in 'The Raven' that relate to Poe's life. Like he talks about loneliness.

"Other friends have flown before- On the morrow he will leave me as my hopes have flown before" 0 (Poe). Poe suffered a lot from loneliness and depression, both clinical and chemical. He wasn't close to his father. All the women he loved ended up dying. He always lost what he wanted. In his poem he uses the word "nevermore" repeatedly.

This reflects his state of mind. He was so sad and saw no way out of his despair. He also uses the words midnight in the first, and December in the second verse. They both signify the end of something (Nilsson). He believed that with Virginia's death his life too was over.

Also he knew about the irrational nature in the raven's speech. He was aware that the raven knew only one word, still he could not help but ask the raven questions even though he could anticipate the birds' responses. He asked questions from the raven; questions in reply to which the word nevermore would involve the utmost conceivable amount of sorrow and despair. Even though he knew that nevermore was it's only stock and store, he asked questions to torture and torment his soul (Nilsson). It is quite obvious that if Poe had a happy life, he wouldn't have been so pessimistic. A person writes from his own experience.

It is the things he experiences that form his opinion and his outlook. His outlook makes him look at things and understand their significance the way he does. Poe had always seen things, opportunities and people he loved and cared for slip out of his hands. For him life meant loss and suffering, darkness and despair.

For him life meant-"nevermore". And this is clearly evident from his poem "the Raven".

Bibliography

Minor, Mark". Edgar Allan Poe" Critical Survey of Poetry English Language Series. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Englewood Cliffs NJ: Salem Press 1982.
2239-2248. Nilsson, Crist offer. Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" (1995): n.
pay. On line. Internet. 16 October 2001.
Available web Poe, Edgar Allan. Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Washington Square Press, 1951.
Qrisse. Edgar Allan Poe Pages (1996): n.