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behind the scenes." Whether Poe was as calculating as he claims
when he wrote "The Raven" or not is a question that cannot be
answered; it is, however, unlikely that he created it exactly
like he described in his essay. The thoughts occurring in the
essay might well have occurred to Poe while he was composing it.
" In "The Philosophy of Composition," Poe stresses the need to
express a single effect when the literary work is to be read in
one sitting. A poem should always be written short enough to be
read in one sitting, and should, therefore, strive to achieve
this single, unique effect. Consequently, Poe figured that the
length of a poem should stay around one hundred lines, and "The
Raven" is 108 lines.
" The most important thing to consider in "Philosophy" is the fact
that "The Raven," as well as many of Poe's tales, is written
backwards. The effect is determined first, and the whole plot is
set; then the web grows backwards from that single effect. Poe's
"tales of ratiocination," e.g. the Dupin tales, are written in
the same manner. "Nothing is more clear than that every plot,
worth the name, must be elaborated to its denouement before
anything be attempted with the pen" (Poe, 1850).
" It was important to Poe to make "The Raven" "universally
appreciable." It should be appreciated by the public, as well as
the critics. Poe chose Beauty to be the theme of the poem, since
"Beauty is the sole legitimate province of the poem" (Poe,
1850). After choosing Beauty as the province, Poe considered
sadness to be the highest manifestation of beauty. "Beauty of
whatever kind in its supreme development invariably excites the
sensitive soul to tears. Melancholy is thus the most legitimate
of all the poetical tones" (Poe, 1850).
" Of all melancholy topics, Poe wanted to use the one that was
universally understood, and therefore, he chose Death as his
topic. Poe (along with other writers) believed that the death of
a beautiful woman was the most poetical use of death, because it
closely allies itself with Beauty.
" After establishing subjects and tones of the poem, Poe started
by writing the stanza that brought the narrator's
"interrogation" of the raven to a climax, the third verse from
the end, and he made sure that no preceeding stanza would
"surpass this in rythmical 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.
" Poe builds the tension in this poem up, stanza by stanza, but
after the climaxing stanza he tears the whole thing down, and
lets the narrator know that there is no meaning in searching for
a moral in the raven's "nevermore". The Raven is established as
a symbol for the narrator's "Mournful and never-ending
remembrance." "And my soul from out that shadow, that lies
floating on the floor, shall be lifted - nevermore!"
Structure:
18 stanzas 6 verses each. Each stanza organized as 8 stressed
syllables in first 5 verses and 4 in the last one.
Further Examples
Animisation: dying ember
Epithets: midnight dreary,weak and weary, bleak December
Metaphor: fiery eyes
Important questions asked in "The Raven":
" How to live when sb dies
" Is there an afterlife
Moral of the poem:
There is no happy ending. To experience pain of loss is our destiny
- it makes us humans.
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