Literal Analysis of Poe’s Works (Coursework Sample)

Literal Analysis of Poe’s Works
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Literal Analysis of Poe’s Works
Edgar Allan Poe is a legendary figure in the world of literature. He is accredited for ingenious short stories, critical theories, and poems. The latter forms the majority of his written and published work. Poe tended to revise and improve his work in his career. Among his poems are ‘’The Raven,’’ ‘’The Sleeper,’’ and ‘’The Bell,’’ which express the themes of love, death, and sorrow.
‘’The Raven’’ explores the subject of lost love, where the narrator warms himself reading a book. He is in deep love with Lenore and wishes to forget her. He encounters a raven that flies around the room and perches on a statute of a goddess of wisdom. The narrator talks to the bird that magically responds with 'Nevermore' (Poe n.d). However, the narrator wants to hear something else because he needs solace for losing Lenore, his love.
In this poem, Poe's audience is the people not willing to accept change and those who are scared of reality. The narrator demonstrates fear, paranoia, and hopelessness. For example, he is alone reading a book in the middle of a cold night and is scared of a lurking danger that does not exist (Kipen & Brandy, n.d). The repetition of 'Nevermore' throughout the poem is purposely made to relate the audience to the experience that will not leave their mind.
Poe wrote the poem while his wife Virginia was fighting tuberculosis. Three of his family members had succumbed to the illness, which sheds light on this poem (Cummings, 2006). It can be interpreted as his love for Virginia, coupled with desperation and solitude because of her suffering. The narrator of his poem depicts a man lost in lost love that submerges him into emotional despair.
Poe uses repetition of the words ‘’Nevermore’’ “Quoth the Raven’’ to create the poem's gloomy tone (Poe n.d). The repetition creates a picture of a grieving man aggravated by the focus poet's focus on the unhelpful bird. The poem has a musical rhythm that is created by a trochaic octameter. For example, the first line’s meter is Once/u /pon a/mid-night/drea-ry/while I/pond-ered/ weak and/wea-ry. The line has eight stressed-unstressed two-syllable feet per line. It includes internal rhyme of the words like ‘weary’/dreary (Poe n.d).
The poem stresses the theme of love and death. Poe explores the subject of love for Lenore and the narrator's loss. He is grieving the loss of loss and the question of life after death. The memory of the dead is depicted as a way for the deceased to continue existing in the hearts and minds of those left behind.
In ‘’The Bell’’ narrator imagines a different form of bells, places, and times. The two phases are pleasurable with delighting and melodic sounds to listeners. The bells start to change as the poem progress, and they start to speak of less pleasant and darker experiences. As the poem ends, the sound changes to terrible experiences. These sounds can be interpreted as a lifecycle that starts with happiness in childhood, terror in adulthood due to geriatric diseases, and the ultimate death.
The poem targets the general audience, the public, by tracking the seasons of life from the beautiful silver bells of childhood and youth to the fearful iron church bells that ring at old age and death. This poem's context may have been influenced by the poet's experience of his sick wife, who had a terminal illness.
The beginning of the poem has a happy tone enhanced by the poet's use of twinkling diction. Examples of words such as "Silver bells!'', "icy air'' and ''crystalline delight'' (Poe n.d). The poem has a sad tone created by the bells roaring rather than twinkling. The poem uses the imagery of silver bells to represent winter excitement and the golden bells to demonstrate life happiness and celebration. The brazen depicts fear and terror.
‘’The Bells’’ has a theme of life seasons that stress the theme of fear in the third section of the poem. The words, ''What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!'' (Poe, nd) The poet uses many other words to explore different ways that scare people. He spends most time explaining dark emotions to intensity the theme of fear.
‘’The Sleeper’’ focuses on the beauty of dead women. The poet narrates the experience of transcendental love for powerful women in the world of the dead. The narrator speaks in real times and uses the moon that can be interpreted as a sign of melancholy or death (Cummings, 2006). The poem targets the people who have been left by their beloved ones. Poe might be aiming to address the challenges that such people go through while struggling with the reality of their lovers' death.
The poem was first published in 1831, and then revised in 1836 and finally in 1845 as the last version (Kipen & Brandy, n.d). The final copy was reproduced when Poe had lost his