Diction In The Raven

Every author models and constructs his/her work based on experiences and journeys throughout their life. With a childhood and adolescence plagued by deaths of those close to him, Edgar Allan Poe focuses much of his pieces on the deceased. His poem “The Raven” concentrates on the encounter of a widower and a raven. Questioning the raven regarding his late wife Lenore, the man does not receive the responses he is longing for, forming a sinister tone towards the perception of death. Meanwhile, “Annabel Lee”, originally published in 1849, focuses on the beauty of life and death through the eyes of a young man concerning the passing of his childhood love. While his poems contain similar subject matter, Edgar Allan Poe uses diction and tone
Poe utilizes the raven as a means of placing a dark tone on his poem when the narrator asks if “[he] shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore-/ Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore” (94-95). The raven responds with “‘Nevermore’” (96). The widower questions the raven if he will ever get the chance to hold his wife again, and the raven replies that he will not, showing Poe’s tone of despair and misery. On the other hand, Poe creates a hopeful tone in “Annabel Lee” when, at the end of the poem, the narrator says, “And neither the angels in Heaven above/ Nor the demons down under the sea/ Can ever dissever my soul from the soul/ Of the beautiful Annabel Lee” (30-33). Declaring that even death cannot tear him and his love apart, the narrator believes that their souls will forever be together, no matter if she is in Heaven or Hell. This is much unlike “The Raven” in which the widower learns that he will never see his wife again. Poe’s tone in “Annabel Lee” provides a more peaceful atmosphere regarding the death of a loved one than that of “The Raven”. Both poems illustrate the ambiguities and uncertainties that that surround the death of a loved one and offer reactions to such