Use Of Romanticism In The Raven By Edgar Allan Poe
Poe: A True Dark Romantic
“And my soul from out the shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted- nevermore!” The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe These are the words of a true Dark Romantic. Even though he was not famous in his life time, Edgar Allan Poe has become one of America’s best know, and most famous, authors based on his use of Dark Romanticism through-out his poems and stories. Poe is called a Dark Romantic because of the literary techniques he used the influence his life has had on his writing.
By describing a dark scene at the beginning of his writings, Poe was able to draw the reader in by his use of setting to describe a dark place. “I looked upon the scene before me… the simple landscape…a few white trunks of decayed trees…” (The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe.) By focusing on the nature setting, Poe was able to incorporate Romantic themes in his works and make them dark my focusing on the death (“decayed trees”) in nature. The setting in the opening scene of The Fall of the House of Usher is able to convey Poe’s style of Dark Romanticism using technique. …show more content…
Another way Poe was able to express Dark Romanticism was through his use of symbolism.
Often characterized as the bird of death, the raven in The Raven is used to further the mood of melancholy and uncertainty of one’s thought. Through out the poem, the raven is also able to illustrate the self torture the narrator inflicts upon himself through his imagination. “But the raven sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only, That one word, as if his soul that one word he did out pour.”(The Raven, Poe). This can be applied to the Dark Romantic ideal that nature is an array of symbols, from which knowledge of the supernatural can be intuited. Edgar Allan Poe is able to show Dark Romanticism through his symbols, representing death and
knowledge. Besides using literary techniques to have his writing be called “Dark Romantic, “Poe has also used his life experiences to influence his style. The death of his wife, Virginia, was able to allow him to write Annabel Lee, focusing on the loss of a love one, a Romantic era topic. “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…” (Annabel Lee, Poe) Though the poem is not as dark as The Raven, the word choice (“Nor the demons down under the sea, Can ever dissever my soul from the soul”) give the poem a lighter edge of gloom. Maybe his wife’s death softened Poe’s writing style toward the end of his career. To be a true Dark Romantic is hard. You need use gloomy literary symbols and elements to convey a darker side of things, and a tragic background to get the Romantic style of supernatural right, Edgar Allan Poe was able to obtain all of these. He is a true Dark Romantic.
“And my soul from out the shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted- nevermore!” The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe These are the words of a true Dark Romantic. Even though he was not famous in his life time, Edgar Allan Poe has become one of America’s best know, and most famous, authors based on his use of Dark Romanticism through-out his poems and stories. Poe is called a Dark Romantic because of the literary techniques he used the influence his life has had on his writing.
By describing a dark scene at the beginning of his writings, Poe was able to draw the reader in by his use of setting to describe a dark place. “I looked upon the scene before me… the simple landscape…a few white trunks of decayed trees…” (The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe.) By focusing on the nature setting, Poe was able to incorporate Romantic themes in his works and make them dark my focusing on the death (“decayed trees”) in nature. The setting in the opening scene of The Fall of the House of Usher is able to convey Poe’s style of Dark Romanticism using technique. …show more content…
Another way Poe was able to express Dark Romanticism was through his use of symbolism.
Often characterized as the bird of death, the raven in The Raven is used to further the mood of melancholy and uncertainty of one’s thought. Through out the poem, the raven is also able to illustrate the self torture the narrator inflicts upon himself through his imagination. “But the raven sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only, That one word, as if his soul that one word he did out pour.”(The Raven, Poe). This can be applied to the Dark Romantic ideal that nature is an array of symbols, from which knowledge of the supernatural can be intuited. Edgar Allan Poe is able to show Dark Romanticism through his symbols, representing death and
knowledge. Besides using literary techniques to have his writing be called “Dark Romantic, “Poe has also used his life experiences to influence his style. The death of his wife, Virginia, was able to allow him to write Annabel Lee, focusing on the loss of a love one, a Romantic era topic. “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…” (Annabel Lee, Poe) Though the poem is not as dark as The Raven, the word choice (“Nor the demons down under the sea, Can ever dissever my soul from the soul”) give the poem a lighter edge of gloom. Maybe his wife’s death softened Poe’s writing style toward the end of his career. To be a true Dark Romantic is hard. You need use gloomy literary symbols and elements to convey a darker side of things, and a tragic background to get the Romantic style of supernatural right, Edgar Allan Poe was able to obtain all of these. He is a true Dark Romantic.