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Rhetorical Analysis of The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe wrote The Raven, a timeless classic narrative poem that popularized the

term "gothic literature." Suspense, the supernatural, and isolation are all themes in his poetry, all of

which induce uneasiness and eeriness in the reader, as is characteristic of a current horror story.

The Raven is a story of a man who becomes so alone in his grief that he approaches insanity. The

narrator is surprised by an unexpected visitor, a raven. As the poem unfolds, the individual begins

to see the bird as a message from some powerful god that his grieving would never end. In Edgar

Allen Poe's poem, the speaker is noted for his isolation. He withdraws from the outside world not

because the outside world is awful in and of itself, but because of his personal problems. The

Raven is often regarded as one of Poe's greatest poems due to its structure, language, rhyme

scheme, and overall story. Edgar Allen Poe's poem has an unexpected subject, a bitter unpleasant

ending, and is surrounded by misery. Poe achieves this tone via the use of techniques such as

repetition of the phrase "nevermore" to emphasize the word's importance in relation to the wider

subject; he also produces a dramatic tone that illustrates the character's shift from fatigued to

exhausted, and other rhetorical devices like symbolism.

To appreciate why The Raven is such an extraordinary work, one must consider the appeals

it makes. Given Poe's prominence as a writer and poet at this point in his career, it seems to be an

ethos-based work at first look (Baksh 19). However, with closer examination, it becomes clear that

the composition is pathos-driven. This is because the work is about a man's struggle to deal with
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the loss of his beloved. The play begins and ends with this young man's concern with the loss of

his love, Lenore. The reader is not aware of this man's sadness at his loss until the raven comes in

the artwork. 'Prophet! instrument of evil! - prophet regardless of bird or demon! ' I cried out. Tell

this sorrow-stricken soul if, within the distant Aidenn, it shall hug a sainted maiden whom the

angels named Lenore – whether it shall clasp a rare and brilliant beauty whom the angels named

Lenore?' 'Nevermore,' cries the raven (Stanza 14). 'May that word, bird or demon, serve as our

farewell token!' 'Return to the tempest and the Plutonian shore of Night!' 'Upstarting!' I screamed.

Leave no black plume as a memento of thy spirit's lie! Permit my loneliness to endure indefinitely!

- Put an end to your draping of your bust over my door! Remove thy beak from my heart and thy

form from my door!' 'Nevermore,' the raven whispers (Stanza 15). Due of his sadness, the young

man begins to doubt the raven's appearance, thinking it for a demon sent from the depths of Hades

to torture him for losing Lenore. Poe's work is characterized by melancholy due to its in-depth

examination of Lenore's death (El Hachemi 5). Given the narrative's emphasis on the young man's

loss of Lenore, it's reasonable to assume that the play was also meant to be pathos-driven. The

young man's grief is directed at Lenore, and his anguish is what results in the legend of the raven

tormenting him. Both the man's anguish and the raven's suffering revolve around the concept of

pathos.

Edgar Poe used these rhetorical devices not only to contribute to the theme, but also to let

the reader experience the narrator's sadness and loneliness. "As my aspirations have done in the

past, he will abandon me tomorrow" (line 10). In this comparison, the narrator compares his aims

to the ability of a bird to fly. He is indicating that the bird will eventually fly away, much like his

mistress's hope did upon her death. "Suddenly, a tapping, as if someone were quietly rapping," Poe

writes in another instance (lines 3-4). The narrator compares the raven's tapping to that of a human,
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hinting that the human is hoping it is Lenore. "Every one of his eyes had the aspect of a sleeping

fiend," Edgar Allen Poe writes in the poem (line 105). The raven's eyes are compared to those of a

monster in this statement. He no longer views the raven as an angel, but as a monstrous creature

that has arrived to confirm his darkest fear. At several points in the poem, metaphors are used to

personify the raven. "However, with a gentlemanly or ladylike demeanor" (line 40). The author

used this metaphor to convey to the reader that the raven is unique. "Prophet!" "Whether it's a bird

or a demon," I said, "it's still a lousy prophet's item!" (85) (line 85). The narrative compares the

raven to either a prophet or the demon.

Poe's language also makes a substantial contribution to the piece's sorrow. Poe's language is

vivacious and direct, allowing the poem to be taken as Poe meant rather than leaving it up to

interpretation. The audience gains a better understanding of the language, which enables a far

deeper emotional connection to the story's genuine meaning, which results in a stronger emotional

connection to the young man's lost love. Due to the story's reliance on rhyme and rhythm, the

poetic framework contributes to the tragedy. Because the lines are so closely intertwined rhyming-

wise, the reader is able to interpret the poem as a song rather than a story, fostering a stronger bond

between reader and audience. Because it is not only a story to be read, but an experience to be had,

it allows for more emotion to be put into it.

Poe utilizes a variety of literary devices in The Raven.'Caesura, repetition, and alliteration

are only a few examples. The latter is a formal device in which the poet inserts a pause into a line,

either by meter or punctuation (Baksh, 20). Take the third line of the first stanza as an example.

"As I nodded, nearly napping, a tapping began," it states. There are several such examples, such as

line three of the second stanza, "Eagerly I desired the morrow;—in vain I sought to borrow."

Alliteration is one kind of repetition used in The Raven. This occurs when a poet repeatedly utilizes
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the same consonant sound at the beginning of a word. For instance, the poem's opening line uses

the phrase "weak and fatigued," whereas the fourth stanza's first line uses the phrases "soul" and

"stronger." Poe makes extensive use of repetition throughout the narrative. His use of parallelism

in line structure, phrase, and punctuation is an illustration of this. He also maintains a pretty

consistent pace throughout the work with his meter and rhyme scheme.

Numerous symbolism and imagery appear in The Raven, the most prominent of which is

the raven itself. The raven symbolizes the narrator's distress at Lenore's death. By the poem's end,

the narrator realizes that the raven will always be with him since his thoughts of Lenore will never

leave him (Colodeeva & Silvia 4). Another symbol is the storm. The author describes the storm as

frigid, dismal, and miserable. The storm symbolizes the narrator's emotional agony in the aftermath

of his mistress's death. Throughout the tale, the raven continually exclaims "nevermore" in

response to the narrator's inquiries concerning his cherished sweetheart, which is also a prominent

symbol in this poem. The phrase nevermore encapsulates the narrator's affection for and memory

of Lenore, emphasizing how it will never fade. The poem's opening line is very theatrical, starting

with the customary "once upon a time" and depicting a stereotypical melodramatic, "weak and

fatigued" character lost in reflection on an especially boring night. He asserts that he is "thinking"

and "pondering" voluminous volumes of old wisdom traditions. As he drifts off to sleep while

reading, a tapping sound awakens him. Someone seems to be knocking "gently" on his "room

door." "It must be a visitor," he reasoned, because what else could it be? Poe's 'The Raven' begins

with a sentence that teases the reader with a dramatic scenario. The picture alone in this paragraph

convinces the reader that the narrative about to unfold will not be joyous.

Conclusion
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In many circles, The Raven is considered to be one of Poe's best poems because of the

way it is structured, its vocabulary, its rhyme system, and the overall tale it tells. One of the

theme of Edgar Allen Poe's poem is isolation, and the poem has a harsh, terrible finish that is

surrounded by sadness. Through the use of tactics like as repetition, symbolic imagery, and

rhetorical appeals, Poe is able to generate this tone in his writing. "Quoth the raven,

'Nevermore," is a strange line repeated throughout Edgar Allen Poe's poem "The Raven." "The

Raven" is an incredible work of literature that is often cited as one of the most well-known

examples of dark romanticism.

Works Cited

Bakhsh, Ladan Farah. "A Deconstructive Reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”." Galore

International Journal of Applied Sciences and Humanities 4.2 (2020): 19-28.

Colodeeva, Liliana, and Silvia Leon. "On translating the aural imagery in Edgar Allan Poe’s the

Raven." Buletinul ştiinţific al Universităţii de Stat" Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu" din

Cahul, Seria" Stiinte Umanistice" 8.2 (2018): 92-104.

El Hachemi, Chemini. "Treating Melancholy Through Symbols in Edgar Allan Poe's Poem The

Raven." (2020).

Poe, Edgar Allan, and Max Heinrich. The Raven. Harrasowitz In Kommission, 2018.