Wednesday, February 22, 2012

The Raven Poetry Elements

Dramatic Situation: The speaker is a man in an early 1800's Victorian setting.
Structure: The poem is broken up into 18 stanzas with 6 lines each.  No discernible syllable count.  always ends each stanza with "-more"
Theme: The poem has to do with life and death as does a lot of Poe's work.
Grammar and Meaning: This guy is talking to a raven, symbol for death, in a common dialect of English which makes the poem easily understood.
Important Images:  Images of the Gods, and heaven, as well as the darkness of his house and the raven.  The altar above his door and the bust of the Goddess Athena are also important.
Important single words: Heaven, Gods, Nevermore, Lenore
Tone:  very dark and ominous
Literary devices: metaphor, allusion, symbol, simile
Prosody:  implores an ABABBB rhyme pattern which creates a nice flow while reading the poem.

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