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Figurative language in a literary work
Essay about figurative language
Essay about figurative language
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Figurative language / Rhetorical figures In this part I would like to analyse what purpose do metaphors and symbols have regarding to the theme. The Raven can be interpreted several ways, however in this analysis I will focus on the theme of a grief over a lost loved one and suffering and lunacy this evokes. First I would like to introduce the key symbol I will analyse - the Raven. The Raven itself has several functions in this poem; it is not only the antagonist of this poem, it is also the most significant symbol. And the symbol also has several interpretations. The Raven as the symbol of death and evil would be the most obvious interpretation. Another interpretation of this symbol can be derived from the Greek mythology. The white raven or the so called “Apollo’s raven” was used as a carrier of the messages send from God to humans. We can see, that this interpretation correlates and improves the first interpretation, while in this …show more content…
There can be found metaphors in the text, that support these statements. First example can be seen in the line 81 and 91: “Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil! In this line the protagonist can not stand the raven anymore. He is anxious by the raven’s answer about his future, therefore he compares him to the prophet and the devil. As another example can serve the metaphor in the line 105: “And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming” As in the previous example, in this metaphor, the protagonist also describes the raven as a devilish creature, that came to haunt him. Both these metaphors support the first two interpretations of the symbol. However there can be found examples, which support the third interpretation as well. In the line 89, the protagonist asks the raven, if he will ever feel the relief from the past that haunts him. Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I
The loss of a loved one is heartbreaking. People wish they could still be here as if they never left. What’s hardest is letting go and learning to move on. In,”The Raven”, the narrator lost his wife Lenore and was left with heartache and sorrow. He couldn’t find a way to move on so he retained his depression and started to suffer. Poe exerts diction, syntax, allusions and symbolism to create the tone of depression showing that the raven symbolizes the melancholy and sanity of the narrator.
...m represents his realization that his one true love, and his raison d’etre will exist “nevermore.” This truly beautiful yet somber theme culminates towards the end of the poem as the narrator exclaims “Take thy beak from out my heart, and take they form from off my door!” (Poe, Raven, 101). This line proves as essential to the poem as blood is to the brain for “The reader begins now to regard the Raven as emblematical - but it is not until the ver last line of the stanza, that the intention of making him emblematical of Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance is permitted distinctly to be seen” (Szumskie 147). This combined with the increasing tension as the raven says “Nevermore” with increasing significance has resulted in a denouement unlike any that has been seen before in Gothic literature, resulting in the most influential Gothic work of literature of all time.
The Raven depicts a man in constant sorrow as he has lost his maiden named Lenore. Throughout the text the speaker
The raven symbolizes grief that refuses to leave the narrator alone, even through his darkest of times. Since he is unaware of how to cope with the grief that came from the loss of Lenore, his love, his untreated grief seems to consume his life in eroding his sanity. This insanity is shown by his hallucination of the first knocking on the door. Later, his reaction to the raven shows that his grief is, in fact, unbearable. The main lesson Poe wants to convey to his readers is how necessary it is to find ways to deal with the grief that comes along with events in your life. The idea of grief is a main idea of literature written in the Gothic Romantic style, especially since many of these pieces incorporate a dark, gloomy setting, as well as curses and intense emotions. Through his use of word choice and literary devices, Poe demonstrates the gloomy setting and how the narrator’s strong feelings of grief continues to affect his
“To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;” (74). By the use of the metaphor “fiery eyes” , this elucidates the realization of the speaker as the raven being an ancient force . Not just ancient but damnable as well because this fire shows hell. The speaker’s beloved Lenore is somewhere that the speaker can never be, heaven. The raven’s metaphorical eyes admonishes this because the blazes represent where he will go once, death or the Raven takes him. This realization utterly consumes the speaker shattering his hope. A further example of the Raven’s irreligious eyes can be seen when Poe composes “ And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,”(111). The birds eyes resembling a demon is shows how the reader perceives the birds as death itself. Its dreamlike quality emanates an eerie, dead appearance that shows the connotation of death. The speaker has now come to realization of the bird as not a holy and friendly personality but one cruel and evil. The vile Raven has separated him and his beloved Lenore. It is with this acceptance Poe proclaims “And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor /Shall be lifted—nevermore!” (113-114 ). By this line the speaker accepts how he will never be hopeful again over the loss his
Edwards, Clifford. “The Raven.” Master plots II : Poetry Revised Edition (2002) : 1-3. Literary
As the poem progresses, the narrator claims, “all my soul within me burning” (Poe, The Raven 457), and this quote proves that the narrator suffers grief from something that he is deeply attached to. The narrator tells the audience how the event affects him badly that even his soul feels the grief. Thus, the narrator tries reading books to get rid of his “sorrow for the lost Lenore” (Poe, The Raven 457). This reveals the source of grief that the narrator expresses is from the death of his loved one. Further into the poem, the narrator describes a bird, a raven in particular, as “grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore” (Poe, The Raven 459). This supports the theme of grief because the narrator sees the raven as some sort of evil or a dark element as an effect of all the sorrow he endures. Also, it enhances the dark and creepy atmosphere of the poem. The audience
In Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, he uses symbols to describe and allude to death. In the poem, he mourns the death of his young love, his wife, referred to here as Lenore. The most obvious symbol is the raven. The raven comes into the poem and begins to tear away at his psyche. The power inflicted upon the narrator by the raven is symbolic; the raven’s darkness symbolizes death, and so death turns into, not only an idea for the narrator, but an intruder constantly reminding him of his eventual demise. In ancient times, people believed that ravens were the messengers of the god of death as well as the omen of terrible things that are yet to happen. If the raven comes to someone’s house, then death has come to someone in that house. “Quoth the
reveal the sorrow mood of the poem. From only reading the first two stanzas of “The Raven”,
It is known by many that Edgar Allan Poe is one of the finest poets to ever exist. His use of diction bears no match with any other poet of his generation, and possibly of all time. With an unforgettable sense of ability with the English language, Poe has accumulated an enormous amount of fame and recognition for his dark, twisted works. Easily the most famous of these creations is a tale of love, loss, symbolism and the weight of insanity on the mind of an ordinary person. Most of anybody knows that the allusion is to, of course, “The Raven.” This production is so heavily known that it needs little reference for those to know what one is speaking of. Even with the wide acclaim that it has
The raven is merely the catalyst, acting upon the pent-up agony that already exists within the bosom of the narrator. Here we find true, seldom-revealed human nature in striking clarity. “The Raven” is as timeless as it is human, and as long as lovers love and the living die, it will remain a horrifyingly accurate representation of life as many would not care to admit. Therein lies its strength, and therein lies its beauty.
The Raven is a poem where love is shown as the cause for a man’s mental demise and road to madness due to his inability to let his lover’s death go. In the beginning of this poem, the Speaker tells the reader that he was not feeling right and that it was a dark and dreary night. This is crucial to the plot of the poem because of the depressing setting it creates for the character. Even in the second stanza the Speaker is still going into great detail on the description of his atmosphere.
The whole passage seems to be a preparation of what is to happen in the next stanza - in which the raven appears. His whole self is focused on that event in anticipation, which is reflected in his language. He first enters into a dreamy state, in which his emotions of fear, yet also hope, take over. This is revealed in the verbs, "wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming." His mind is obviously in a very active state, as can be seen by the list of verbs. They are a mixture of positive and negative feelings.
The raven itself is one of the most obvious symbols in the poem. This bird not only symbolizes a sense of darkness and evil, but also a bad omen. This is important to the poem because it helps to develop the melancholy tone that stresses how lonely the narrator is. The raven is also a strong symbol because it stands for non-reasoning. It would make little sense to use a human in this position, because a human can reason to answer questions, unlike the bird. Even though the narrator knows what the raven's response will be, he continues to ask questions that eat him up inside. This adds even more to the dreary ambiance that the raven brings about and shows how the narrator really wants to talk to someone.
When it comes to analyzing a work of literature, it is difficult to pinpoint what the story is about or who its intended audience is supposed to be without any insight on the writer; this is the case with Edgar Allan Poe. The master of horror and science fiction led an onerous life as his father abandoned their family and his mother died a year after. Despite his early life being hard, Poe had a very flourishing career and had many successful short stories and poems—his most well-known poem being “The Raven.” A casual reader may interpret this poem as a disturbed man who is simply conversing with a raven, however, that is not the case. Poe’s dark tone in “The Raven” stems from his wife’s deteriorating health and problems such as alcoholism