Edgar Allan Poe Allusions

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Edgar Allan Poe Analysis Essay Edgar Allan poe wrote his poem, “To One in Paradise”, to convey feelings that still hold true for people grieving today. Poe utilizes visual imagery, melancholy diction, and ubiquitous allusions to piece together a tone of hopeless acceptance. Edgar Allan Poe chooses words with melancholy connotations to share the grief of the speaker. One such example is the “stricken eagle”. Eagles are associated with courage and nobility so for an eagle to fell so distressed it refuses to fly, something truly terrible must have occurred. Not only that, but even the earth felt depressed with a now “solemn sea” and “overcast” sky. The sea is often depicted as rough and wavy, as quick to change as Poseidon’s emotions, so the death of the speaker’s lover must have affected his emotions greatly for the sea to lay still. The cloudy sky is often used as symbol of sadness but rain …show more content…

In the extended metaphor comparing his love to a now deserted island paradise, it is called “a green isle...wreathed with fairy fruits”. The “green isle” could be a reference to the Emerald isle, a nickname for Ireland. The fairies may not be the modern day representation of fairies, which are pixies, but all fairy folk in general which would include the Irish Banshee. Banshees roam the moors moaning about the dead and dying, a perfect foreshadowing of the oncoming tragedy. The greek allusion is that in “all my nightly dreams...thy grey eye glances” meaning in the speaker’s eyes, his lover was as intelligent and beautiful as the grey-eyed goddess Athena. Athena’s mother was Metis, goddess of deep thought who existed only in Zeus’s head, relevant because the speaker can now only see her in his deep thoughts and even if he heals from her death, she will always have a place there. The Celtic allusion foreshadows despair while the Greek allusion acts as a bittersweet

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