October 1

Annabel Lee – Adaptation

This is another adaptation of the poem ‘Annabel Lee’ published and created by Brian Cassidy in December 2008. It is around 2 and 1/2 minutes long and uses musical sound effects to put emphasis on certain parts of the poem.  The reason i choose this adaptation of edgar allen poe’s poem is because of the symbolism used in it. I really like the idea of not having the typical young girl and young boy falling in love and in this adaptation that is not the case. Cassidy uses nature to represent this dark romantic love story, at the same time still managing to support the idea of a grieving man who misses his soulmate Annebel Lee. He uses butterflies to represent the the narrator and Annebel Lee, and flowers to represent the angels who took her away from him. The video starts of with an old man walking up the hill and the voice over starting his story (Annebel Lee poem). Then a tear rolls down the mans cheek and the story continues within that tear. I really like the idea of this as it shows that the story he is sharing is not only an upsetting story but it is also one that he has to tell someone as he can’t hold it in any longer. It also symbolizes the man not having any control over what happened by visually showing the viewer all the memories that he has within that one tear that he involuntarily let escape. Love itself is symbolized by butterflies emphasizing the beauty and freedom of love as well as the darkness of it through the use of blacks and purples as the narrator talks about him losing Annebel Lee. Furthermore, the butterfly representing Annebel Lee remains white contrasting with all the dark colours expressing more the beauty of his love and the envy of the angels. What i also found interesting was having the faces of a young boy boy and girl present throughout the video, once in the tear and once in the moon. At first i didnt think anything of it because the poem itself talks about how young they were, but after watching the whole video i realised it was to ensure the viewers would recognise the power of their love as the rest of the story is shown through nature (the butterflies, flowers, etc). By having the image in both the tear and the moon, Cassidy is presenting the idea that where ever Annebel Lee is now, she will remain part of the narrators life and he will always look up to her as she will always remain his soulmate. Overall, i believe this adaptation focused on enlightening the viewer with the idea that in the narrator’s mind his love with continue to live on forever, both in his heart as well as in the nature around him and Cassidy was really successful is using original mediums and themes to portray this detailed analysis of the ideas behind edgar allen poe’s poem.

September 25

How is madness or insanity explored in the poem “The Raven”?

Madness and insanity are both aspects explored throughout the whole of Edgar Allen Poe poem “The Raven”. The main way this is portrayed is through the speaking raven as this is not something that is possible and yet it dominates most of the storyline. It is also portrayed through the continuous motif: dreams, which leads the audience to question whether or not the narrator is conscious throughout the poem or if it is all something he is dreaming about after drinking too much and mourning over his lost love Lenore.

The raven alone is an implication of madness and insanity. First of all, the fact that the raven is so focused that it knows instantly where it wants to go, as well as the narrator not attempting to get rid of the bird as soon as it flies in immediately tells the reader that the situation is not realistic or being experienced by a sane person. The raven is also able to understand the narrator and reply with one simple word ‘nevermore’. This especially suggests insanity because the narrator is either insane enough to imagine this situation or mad enough to continue the conversation as if talking to a person. Neither of these cases are at all considered ‘normal’ and can even be described as something impossible. Furthermore, the motif dreams is one that is suggested from the start of the poem by staging it at midnight when the narrator is already ‘napping’ before the first knock occurs. The repeated implication that the narrator is dreaming not only makes the story (and narrator himself) less reliable, it also suggests that he was falling in and out of consciousness which opens the doors to more unrealistic incidents, in my opinion, also supporting the idea of madness and insanity. This is because I believe your dreams are linked to your subconscious, meaning if he were dreaming, the conversation he supposedly has with the raven show what he is thinking and feeling deep in his soul.

September 24

Central Conflicts in “The Raven”

What are the central conflicts in the Raven? What types of conflict (physical, moral, intellectual, or emotional) can you decipher?

In the poem “The Raven”, by Edgar Allan Poe, there is a variety of conflicts that take place but there is one that stands out the most; emotional conflict as the whole poem revolves around it. The protagonist is going through an emotional conflict because of the loss of his lover, Lenore. He is struggling not to think of her by reading books but he is being reminded of her by the “tapping and rapping against the chamber door”(internal rhyme) making him paranoid of the thought of Lenore coming back as a visitor. Poe uses internal rhyme to build intensity within the stanzas and make it sound more natural than using end rhymes which makes it sound contrived.

Furthermore, he thinks the raven is a “prophet” or “messenger” who has been sent by the devil to remind him of his loss. In addition, the raven repeats “nevermore” giving him the impression that he will never get his lover back and becomes even more agitated when he repeats “nevermore” throughout. This makes it impossible for him to let go of his past which leads him to become hysterical.