A Close Reading of The Raven

1408 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Literary analysis of the raven poe

The Raven: A Close Reading The entire poem including the first stanza, as scanned here, is octametre with mostly trochaic feet and some iams. The use of a longer line enables the poem to be more of a narration of the evening's events. Also, it enables Poe to use internal rhymes as shown in bold. The internal rhyme occurs in the first and third lines of each stanza. As one reads the poem you begin to expect the next rhyme pushing you along. The external rhyme of the "or" sound in Lenore and nevermore at then end of each stanza imitates the haunting nature of the narrator's thoughts. The internal rhyme along with the same external rhyme repeated at the end of each stanza and other literary devices such as alliteration and assonance and give the poem a driving chant-like sound. The musicality of the rhyme also helps one to memorize the poem. This helps keep the poem in your head after you've finished reading it, lingering in your thoughts just as the narrator's thoughts are haunting him. The rhyme also helps to produce a humming beat in the readers mind driving him on steadily.. In the first line, the alliteration of the letter w in the words weak and weary adds to the tired drained feeling the narrator is experiencing. The sound w flows through your lips with little effort, almost as easily as a vowel would. The second line repeats the phonetic k sound in quaint and curious which helps make the items he is reading seem peculiar. The hard aspiration draws attention to the words letting us know what the narrator is reading should not to be overlooked. In the third line, the n-n-n in nodded, nearly napping sound feels ominous. The repetition of the n sound feels drawn out and tired but with a little force. Not quite as hard as a d, it feels like someone trying to stay awake. The poem begins with the words Once upon a like a fairy tale beginning with Once upon a time. However, we get midnight dreary instead. An opening more reminiscent of a ghost story. He is reading a quaint and curious volume forgotten lore. Quaint and curious alludes to the lore being weird and mysterious. The fact that it is forgotten alludes to it being secret and unknown. Lore alludes to it being untrue.

Show More
Related

  • The Beginning Of The Song That Diverts The Heart Summary

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    The alliteration used is to emphasize rhythm in the poem. On the other hand, the poet also depicts a certain rhyme scheme across each stanza. For example, the first stanza has a rhyme scheme of this manner a, b, c, d, e, a. With this, the rhyme scheme depicted is an irregular manner. Hence, the poem does not have a regular rhythm. Moreover, the poet uses a specific deign of consonance, which is present in the poem (Ahmed & Ayesha, p. 11). The poet also uses the assonance style depicted in the seventh stanza, “Seven whole days I have not seen my beloved.” The letter ‘o’ has been repeated to create rhythm and to show despair in the poem. On the second last line of the seventh stanza, the poet uses the style of consonance, “If I hug her, she’ll drive illness from me. By this, the letter ‘l’ is repeated across the line. The poet’s aim of using this style of Consonance is to establish rhythm in the poem and add aural

    Read More

  • The Raven and Ligeia a comparison

    1398 Words  | 3 Pages

    so that it is possible to compare the style of each with but a little

    Read More

  • juma

    739 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...s darkness which is displayed as his shadows. Slipping into silence is like someone slowly slipping in through a door into a room but then, as if surprised, there is a cry or a yell. As the man trails, or follows, the music gets more and more quiet until it is as faint as a small sigh. At the end of the poem, the quiet noise is like when an accordion is folded into its box and makes a faded noise.

    Read More

  • The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

    532 Words  | 2 Pages

    This change in tone echoes the emotions and mental state of the narrator. At the beginning of the poem, the narrator starts somewhat nervous. However, at the end, he is left insane and delusional. When he hears a knocking at the door, he logically pieces that it is most likely a visitor at the door.

    Read More

  • Anne Bronte's 'A Prisoner In A Dungeon Deep'

    590 Words  | 2 Pages

    Anne Bronte’s diction helps portray this idea of hopelessness. In the first line the alliteration of dungeon deep sets the tone of despair immediately. You can feel that this prisoner is underground and as far away from people as he can be. Anne also uses words like despair, uncertain, and weary which all have dark connotations. There’s a negative feeling that comes from those words and what they mean. Because of this diction the reader begins to lose

    Read More

  • Analysis of “The Raven”

    1267 Words  | 3 Pages

    What really makes the poem so powerful are the elements Poe uses. First he sets the scene, “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore-…” already it’s clear that it is late at night and a man is weak and tired trying to ease his sorrow by reading old books of “forgotten lore” (DiYanni 1173). Then the poem goes on to tell that there is a tapping at his chamber door. When he opens the door he is surprised to find, “Darkness there and nothing more” (1173). He whispers into the darkness “Lenore,” hoping that his lost love had returned, but all that was heard was, “an echo [that] murmured back the word, ‘Lenore!’”(1173). Angered and perplexed, he turns back into his chamber, suddenly there is a loud tapping at the window lattice. H...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Raven

    1401 Words  | 3 Pages

    The word “dreary” sets the tone of the poem, it means depressing, “weary” indicating that the narrator is tired. long I stood there wondering fearing” (2425). The narrator starts wondering, and doubting if it is his lost love Lenore come back and visit him. “And the only word spoken there was the word ‘Lenore’!” (27) When he went back to his room, his thoughts about Lenore grew stronger, “and my soul within me burning”(31)

    Read More

  • The Theme of the Suffering Innocent in Blake's London

    1071 Words  | 3 Pages

    Choosing the first person form in the first and fourth stanza, the poet reflects his personal experiences with the city of London. He adheres to a strict form of four stanzas with each four lines and an ABAB rhyme. The tone of the poem changes from a contemplative lyric quality in the first to a dramatic sharp finale in the last stanza. The tone in the first stanza is set by regular accents, iambic meter and long vowel sounds in the words "wander", "chartered", "flow" and "woe", producing a grave and somber mood.

    Read More

  • Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The Raven” contains 48 lines grouped by five lines of about 16 syllables. There’s a line that’s 7 syllables, and there’s 18 stanzas in the poem. An example of an 8-foot meter is line 1, “ONCE u PON a MID night DREAR y, WHILE i POND ered WEAK and WEAR y” this line is a trochaic octameter; the octameter frequently appeared throughout the poem. The less common occurrence is the 7-foot meter and line 27, is an example of an iambic heptameter “but THE si LENCE was UN broken, AND the STILL ness GAVE no TOK en.” The rhyming patterns in the poem are, internal rhyme, he likes to rhyme words in the same line, for example line 3, “While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,” an end rhyme where the word at the end of a line rhymes with

    Read More

  • Poe's The Raven

    2049 Words  | 5 Pages

    ... end, and he made sure that no preceding stanza would "surpass this in rhythmical effect. "Poe then worked backwards from this stanza and used the word "Nevermore" in many different ways, so that even with the repetition of this word, it would not prove to be monotonous.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Raven

    529 Words  | 2 Pages

    The death of Edgar Allan Poe is a mystery to the public. Many people have theorized about his death, but no theory is as interesting as The Raven. The Raven is a movie directed by James McTeigue, starring John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe. It is about the last few days of Poe’s life, where a killer copies Poe’s stories in his murders. Poe is then recruited by Detective Emmett Fields to help solve these murders, all the while trying to save Emily Hamilton, Poe’s fiancé. This movie is a very interesting take on what happened on the Edgar Allan Poe’s mysterious last days. The movie was amazing the characters, design choices created

    Read More

  • The Raven Poem Analysis

    720 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” is a dark reflection on lost love, death and loss of hope. This poem dramatizes the emotions of the poet, who has lost his beloved, and unsuccessfully tries to distract himself from sadness, through studying books. However, books are little help and a single visitor, a Raven, disturbs his solitude. Through the poem Poe uses symbolism, imagery and tone to enforce his theme of sadness and loss. Also, with the use of assonance, alliteration, rhyme and repetition, the poem achieves a melodic level that almost feels like singing when read out loud!

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

    457 Words  | 1 Pages

    Along with imagery and symbolism, Poe incorporates many poetic elements to express his feeling. These include assonance, alliteration, and rhyme. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds. For example ?For the race and radiant maiden, whom the angels name Lenore.? This repeats the vowel sound of ?a?. Poe also used a lot of alliteration. For example, ?Doubting dreaming dreams no mortal level, dared to dream before?. Notice the repetition of the ?d? sound. One last element used in ?The Raven? is rhyme.

    Read More

  • The Bells

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edgar Allen Poe’s alliteration and repetition of words support the poem’s flow and musicality. Poe begins with the alliteration of the m sound in “merriment” and “melody” (3). The soft m sound, also known as a liquid consonant, helps to keep a quick and continuous pace for the poem. Similarly, the alliteration of the s sounds in sledges, silver, stars, and seem, emphasize the calming sounds of the bells (1-2, 6-7). The s sound helps express the soothing and comforting effects of the bells, essentially contributing to the merry tone of the poem. Furthermore, the alliteration of t...

    Read More

  • We Wear the Mask

    1514 Words  | 4 Pages

    To begin, the sound of this poem can be proven to strongly contribute an effect to the message of this piece. This poem contains a traditional meter. All of the lines in the poem except for lines nine and 15 are in iambic tetrameter. In this metric pattern, a line has four pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables, for a total of eight syllables. This is relevant in order for the force of the poem to operate dynamically. The poem is speaking in a tenor of veiled confessions. For so long, the narrator is finally speaking up, in honesty, and not holding back. Yet, though what has been hidden is ultimately coming out, there is still this mask, a façade that is being worn. In sequence, the last words in each of the lines, again, except for lines nine and 15, are all in rhythm, “lies, eyes, guile, smile, subtleties, over-wise, sighs, cries, arise, vile...

    Read More

More about A Close Reading of The Raven

Open Document