James Caceres
Eng 102
10/2/13
Symbolism in Poe
Edgar Allan Poe uses great symbolism in his works, especially in his poem “The Raven”. Edgar Allan Poe was born an American in Boston Massachusetts in January 19, 1809 and dying in October 7, 1849 by speculated reasons. He is famously known for his works in literature and poetry, with notable works such as “The Raven”, “Cask of Amontillado”, and “The Masque of the Red Death”. Poe’s work style of literature is known to illustrate a sadist and melancholy take on life. This is primarily due to the hardships he faced in life. Poe’s father had abandoned his family in 1810, with his mother then dying a year later. He was then fostered for the rest of his life, living an odd life marrying his first cousin Virginia Eliza Clemm whom was only 13 years old. On January 1842 Clemm, had contracted tuberculosis, which led to her death 5 years later. She is known to have taken a role after death in Poe’s works such as in “The Raven” published in January 1845. The poem beautifully captivates a man’s quick spiral from normality to insanity from past hardships. I’ve chose to write about this poem for it’s alluring darkness of the mind of a man who’s lost a great deal.
The chambers of the narrator symbolizes security, safety and intrusion. In stanza 1 and 3, the chamber door the narrator is safely within his home, before being brought to an inconvenience by a tapping at the door. Throughout the poem the safety of the chambers slowly dwindles down from a safe haven to the narrator's personal hell. What turns the chambers to the narrator’s hell is what is soon to show on the other side of the chamber door, the raven. The raven for a moment brings joy, which soon goes to symbolizes darkness, sorrow, and death as it bombards the narrator with haunting memories he is desperately trying to escape. The raven at first glance was a happy site for the narrator “--this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling” (43, raven) bringing his sorrowful thoughts of the narrator’s love for Lenore to a halt. It even brings greater pleasure to the narrator when it begins to speak the words “Nevermore”. These words of nevermore had began to torment the narrator, as it began to remind him of his lost love. The raven throughout the poem constantly repeats the phrase "Nevermore” throughout multiple stanzas, which coincidently is similar sounding to the narrators lost love Lenore. “And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door” symbolizes the ravens lingering sorrow and reminder of a lost love as it sits above the narrators home until the very end of the poem. The bust of Pallas also plays an ironic role in this poem. Pallas is also known as the Greek god, Athena, god of wisdom. This is why the narrator takes the words of the raven so harshly, as he himself thinks the raven is speaking words of wisdom. This is far from the truth as the poem continues, as the raven does not speak any words of wisdom rather repeating the same “Nevermore” phrase.
The denotation of the symbols in “The Raven” are as follows. A chamber has various denotative meanings referring to government, media, and rooms/spaces, but for this poem it refers to a room inside a building or house. The denotation of a raven consists of a bird that is one of the several members of the genus Corvus. They are commonly found in North America and Europe and contain black plumage and large breaks. The bust of Pallas is a head statue of the greek god Athena, god of wisdom.
As a whole I believe the poem underlies a theme in lost love, self loathing, and a want/need to escape. From the beginning within the security of the narrator's home, he is constantly brushed with the thoughts of his love Lenore. Though at this point he still has his sanity until the arrival of the raven which had first gone unnoticed outside the chamber door to soon becoming an admiring site when its tapping and first use of the word nevermore gained the narrators attention. It then had became a wicked site as it brought forth the narrator’s thoughts of his past lost love through the usage of the word Lenore. The raven in this sequence symbolizes and illustrates the concept of a dreaded memory as it first goes unnoticed, to becoming triggered by a sudden event which soon becomes a nuisance before fully becoming a haunting lingering thought.
Works Cited
Poe, Edgar Allen. "Edgar Allan Poe: The Raven." IT-News, c't, iX, Technology Review,
Telepolis | heise online. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.
<http://www.heise.de/ix/raven/Literature/Lore/TheRaven.html>.
"The Raven - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raven>.
"Thoughts on Poe: The Raven and the Bust of Pallas." Thoughts on Poe. N.p., n.d. Web. 30
Sept.2013.
<http://thoughtsonpoe.blogspot.com/2009/06/raven-and-bust-of-pallas.html>.
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