Blog Post 9

"The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe makes me think about those nights that you stay up till 4 am and you can't sleep but you're so exhausted that your mind starts going a little crazy and you become super paranoid. I don't know maybe that just happens to me. Poe seems to be trying to communicate that very sense of paranoia. The speaker constantly kept repeating to himself "‘Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door—/Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;—/ This it is and nothing more.” every time he heard the tapping sound. He was trying to convince himself that he wasn't going nuts. When he finally decided to attend to the visitor he realized there was nothing there except darkness. He spoke the name Lenore into the darkness as if he expected the deceased woman to respond. At this point he was really losing his marbles.

 He went  back into the room and opened the window because he thought the sound was the 

wind hitting the shutters. Now a Raven has flown into the room and sits upon a bust and when he 

speaks to the bird it replies with "Nevermore". Now at this point any sane human would've shit 

their pants and ran but instead this man decides to ask it questions. The strange Raven seems to 

have uplifted the speakers dark and depressed mood " The Raven still beguiling my sad fancy

into smiling". The speaker begins to think about Lenore and in grief begins yelling at himself to forget her. The 

bird interrupts him with his extensive vocabulary of "Nevermore"  and this sets him off. He starts yelling at the 

bird calling it an evil, even calling it the devil. He starts asking it questions about seeing Lenore despite the fact 

that he knows its only answer will be "Nevermore". With this he tells the bird to get lost and basically go to hell. 

The Raven once again responds with "Nevermore". By the end of the poem the man has lost all his sanity and is 

entrapped in his own personal hell. "The Raven" communicates a very grim feeling of losing all hope and that 

can lead to losing your sanity. The mood is really dark and depressing, everything is described as being lifeless

 "Once upon a midnight dreary...distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December".

The tone of Annabel Lee seems to be very somber and nostalgic. He clearly misses his childhood sweetheart 

very much. The speaker describes their love as something that angels were even jealous of. The song like rhythm 

of the poem makes it even more gloomy and mournful sounding.

VIEWING SUGGESTION

The first season of The Following is about FBI agent who is trying to catch a serial killer whose murders are 

based on Poe's work.  It's really cool, gory, and creepy so if you're into that stuff I suggest you give it a try.