Poes The Raven

Poe’s The RavenIn Edgar Allan Poe’s poems he writes about death and darkness. Throughout his
poems, ?The Raven? and ?The Bells?, Poe writes of death, darkness, and evil. Many say
he writes about this because of his childhood problems. (Slovey p. 15) As you continue to
read, it will show how others feel about his writings and his desire to write about death.
In Edgar Allen Poe’s poem, The Bells, Poe tells how bells can play a part throughout
death and this causes readers to dislike the poem but it also has a positive effect on
readers when Poe tells of bells being used as symbols of love. For example, some feel that
Poe’s desire for death makes the poem less interesting. W.M. Auden tells how the Bells
was less interesting but was more successful because the subject is nothing but an excuse
for onomatopoeic efforts. Also, some feel that Poe writes about death and darkness
because of his drinking problems he had. (Slovey p. 22) Anthony Caputi feels that this
poem marks the high tide of Poe’s ineffectuality and also bears testimony to his immense
gift for poetic conception and thereby confronts us with the peculiar problem of Poe.
(Poetry Criticism). In addition, some feel this poem has a sense of good and beauty to it.
Floyd Stovall writes how Poe defined poetry as music combined with a pleasurable idea
and the poets truth is an excitement of the soul and it is the product of the contemplation
of beauty. So in Poe’s poem, The Bells, he writes of death and evil but also of good and
love that leaves a positive and a negative effect on readers.
In Edgar Allen Poe’s ,The Raven, Poe uses a sense of darkness and evil throughout
the poem by using the black bird as a symbol of evil. Some readers cannot understand
how this poem has became so popular considering the evil that was used throughout the
poem. Allen Tate says he can add very little to criticism of The Raven written in many
passages that are wonders how it can be a great poem and how we have a necessary
element like the beautiful dead lost Lenore. Furthermore, others feel the same and how
The Raven leaves a lasting impression. Halden Braddy writes: In analyzing The Raven
Poe held that the death of a beautiful women is unquestionably the most poetic topic in
the world and how a lasting impression one receives in reading his poetry is then
he championed beauty and love. Also, some feel that Poe writes of death and evil
because of his childhood and how it led him to be an outcast. John Heath-Stubbs writes
how Poe likewise was in some respects an outcast from his society and the poet was
thought of as an arcane craftsman, a master of magical incantation, and an interpreter of
shadowy experience. So, throughout today’s society, many feel Poe writes of darkness
because of his troubles he has had and he expressed his feelings throughout his poems.
Throughout Edgar Allen Poe’s life he has written many poems concerning death and
darkness which has led his poems to success that created some of his works to be
published in many books that give readers a chance to see how Poe used death, evil, and
darkness throughout his poems. For example, in The Raven, Poe uses words that gives
the reader a feeling of death. ?By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it
wore.? (pg. 183 literature book.) Also, in The Raven, Poe uses a black bird to symbolize
evil and darkness. ?Prophet!? said I, ?think of evil – prophet still, if bird or devil!? (pg. 185
literature book.) In conclusion to, In Poe’s poem, The Bells, he describes some of the
bells as being frightening; a sense of darkness occurs. ?In the silence of the night How we
shiver with affright.? (pg. 190 literature book.) So you can see how Poe used darkness
and evil to portray a sense of fear and death.
Edgar Allen Poe was a man who wrote of what he felt. As he grew up he had many
problems. He began to write of death, evil, and