EDGAR ALLAN POE 5 POEM ANALYSIS Essays

EDGAR ALLAN POE 5 POEM ANALYSIS Essays EDGAR ALLAN POE 5 POEM ANALYSIS Paper EDGAR ALLAN POE 5 POEM ANALYSIS Paper Essay Topic: Poetry The rhyme scheme of each of the five stanzas of Spirits of the Dead is different. The first stanza follows the pattern AABB. The second stanza is written in ABABCC. The format of the third stanza is AABBCCDD. The fourth stanza goes AABB. Lastly, the fifth stanza follows the pattern AABBCC. Sova, Dawn B. Spirits of the Dead. Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Blooms Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. The end rhymes in the Spirit of the Dead are different and variable. For example, pry and secrecy in the first stanza, or fever and ever in the third stanza. Sova, Dawn B. Spirits of the Dead. Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Blooms Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Mar. 2016 Personification is used by Poe in the Spirit of the Dead. He gives human qualities to the elements of nature such as the night, and the stars. The speaker says that the night frowns down on the souls of the dead, and the stars instigate them to retain their umbilical cord-like connection to the earth. Even though the souls are weary, the want to continue with the lives they had once left behind. Sova, Dawn B. Spirits of the Dead. Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Blooms Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. The rhetorical devices known as consonance and assonance are both found in the poem. For example, one cannot help but notice the l-sound in the line The soul shall find itself alone from the first stanza, or the s-, t-, and d-sounds in the line The spirits of the dead who stood from the second stanza. Sova, Dawn B. Spirits of the Dead. Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Blooms Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. The Raven refers to an angered protagonists memories of a deceased woman. Through poetry, Lenores premature death is implicitly made aesthetic, and the narrator is unable to free himself of his reliance upon her memory. Sova, Dawn B. The Raven. Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Blooms Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. The poem ends with a retreat into the world of shadow. The speaker, entranced by the ravens demonic gaze, sees his soul in the shadow the bird casts on the floor, a soul that Shall be lifted- nevermore! With its final nevermore, the raven refuses to leave, and becomes a permanent reminder of his grief. Bloom, Harold, ed. The Raven. Edgar Allan Poe, Blooms Major Poets. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 1999. Blooms Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. The first seven stanzas establish the setting and the narrators melancholic, impressionable state of mind. Weak and worn out with grief, the speaker had sought distraction from his sorrow by reading curiously esoteric books. Bloom, Harold, ed. The Raven. Edgar Allan Poe, Blooms Major Poets. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 1999. Blooms Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow;- vainly I had sought to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost Lenore- For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore- Allan Poe, Edgar. The Raven. Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. Web. 01 Mar. 2016. Poe says that the valley had been silent once upon a time, when all the soldiers had left the place to join in wars. The soldiers had left behind the host of stars that would shine on them every night to watch over the flowers of the valley from the great heights at which they stay. Huff, Randall. The Valley of Unrest. The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Blooms Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. The poem itself consists of a single stanza made up of a total of twenty-seven lines. Right from the first line, Poe starts describing the graveyard where the corpses of soldiers are buried. However, the spirits of these soldiers are restless. Hence, Poe calls the graveyard the valley of unrest. Huff, Randall. The Valley of Unrest. The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Blooms Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. Poe says that the trees in the graveyard exhibit a palpitating motion, similar to the rise and fall of waves in the sea off the shores of the Hebrides islands. However, Poe is sure that it is not the wind that causes the motion of the trees. It is a supernatural presence in the graveyard that is responsible for that. Huff, Randall. The Valley of Unrest. The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Blooms Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. Over the magic solitude. Ah, by no wind are stirred those trees That palpitate like the chill seas Around the misty Hebrides! Allan Poe, Edgar. The Valley of Unrest. Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. Web. 01 Mar. 2016. In the third stanza, he meets a pilgrim shadow which is symbolical of death and the knights asks it about the way which may lead to Eldorado. The shadow replies that the land could be found over the mountains of the moon and down the Valley of Shadow. Huff, Randall. Eldorado. The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Blooms Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. The poem turns gloomy and melancholic after the first 6 stanzas. There is no hint of sunshine anymore but only shadow. The next lines are less vigorous in tone as it describes the knight not so bold and who has not yet found El Dorado and he has grown old then. Huff, Randall. Eldorado. The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Blooms Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. The word shadow is used in every stanza but each one of them differs from each other in meaning. In line 3, we come to know that the knight has journeyed in sunshine and in shadow. Shadow here is a metaphor representing night or any dark place through which the knight has travelled. In the second stanza, line 9, symbolizes depression and despair in the heart of the knight. Sova, Dawn B. Eldorado. Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Blooms Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. And, as his strength Failed him at length, He met a pilgrim shadow; Shadow, said he, Where can it be, This land of Eldorado? Allan Poe, Edgar. Eldorado. Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. Web. 01 Mar. 2016. the poem Conqueror Worm adheres to a strict rhyme scheme, where each eight-line stanza takes an ABABCBCB pattern. The rigidity of this construction proves a harsh framework for the internal rhymes and the irregular, albeit melodic, rhythms of the poem. Meanwhile, Poe uses exclamations to break the rhythm into cacophonous explosions of sound. For example, the phrase It writhes! it writhes!. Sova, Dawn B. The Conqueror Worm. Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Blooms Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. In the Conqueror Worm, The first stanza serves as the exposition, placing the angels at night in the setting of a theatre, while the second and third stanzas provide the rising action. The climax comes with the entrance and triumph of the Conqueror Worm, and the last stanza returns to the outside frame for the falling action and denouement. Sova, Dawn B. The Conqueror Worm. Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Blooms Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. the alliteration within phrases such as lonesome latter years and mutter and mumble low generally serves to emphasize the gloomy mood of the poem while adding to the lyrical effect. Sova, Dawn B. The Conqueror Worm. Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Blooms Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. The scenic solitude! It writhes! - it writhes! - with mortal pangs The mimes become its food, And the angels sob at vermin fangs In human gore imbued! Allan Poe, Edgar. The Conqueror Worm. Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. Web. 01 Mar. 2016.