September 26

What are the central conflicts in ‘The Raven’?

What are the central conflicts in ‘The Raven’? What types of conflict can you decipher? 

Conflict is a vital idea used in literature, as it can quickly alter the mood of a text. Specifically, the main purpose of using conflict in writing is to create a strong sense of tension in the story, in order to leave the reader more interesting in what will occur next, while at the same time leaving them wondering and uncertain of the characters. In Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The Raven,” there is evidence of internal intellectual and emotional conflicts within the main character:

Intellectual

  1. As if someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door./ “Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door- /Only this and nothing more.”
  2. “Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door-/ Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;-/ This it is and nothing more.”
  3. “Surely,” said I, “surely that is something at my window lattice;/ Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explores-/ Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explores;-/ “Tis the wind and nothing more!” 
  4. Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,/ With such name as “Nevermore.”
  5. “Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store/ Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster

At the beginning of the poem, the protagonist is reading books of lore in order to try and forget the loss of his lover Lenore. It is late into the night, and as he is nodding off, he hears a rapping at his chamber door. His first reaction is to rationalize, calm down, and understand what is happening, before telling himself that it is only a visitor. When you are home alone and someone knocks on your door, it is only normal for your mind to jump towards darker thoughts (such as there is a robber trying to break in or a monster waiting for you outside), however, after quickly thinking it over, we know better than to believe that such a thing would happen. When the tapping happens again, he nervously rationalizes that the person at his door is probably simply a late night visitor waiting for entry. When he opens his door and finds a dark hallway, his first thoughts are of a supernatural sort, as he thinks that it is his dead lover, Lenore. When he decides to open the window to find the source of the noise and the raven flies in, he thinks that it is funny- and when the bird starts speaking the word ‘nevermore’, he believes that it had been trained to do so. In all of these scenarios, the main character is attempting to rationalize, fighting against his own dark thoughts to try and produce more reasonable ones. This shows the intellectual inner conflict that he was having, as he struggled to avoid thinking sinister thoughts and to normalize the situation he was in.

Emotional

  • “Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee- by these angels he hath sent thee/ Respite- respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore;/ Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”
  • On this home by Horror haunted- tell me truly, I implore-/ is there balm in Gilead?- tell me- tell me, I implore!”
  • It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore-/ Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.”

The poem relies heavily on an emotional response from the main character, especially in the last few stanzas. From the beginning, we are told that he is going through the stages of grief, as he lost his lover Lenore. As he tries to forget what happened, he is plagued by the raven who enters through his window and starts saying the word ‘nevermore’. He believes, at first, that the raven is a sort of omen to prove his misfortune, however, he quickly becomes more and more distressed. When he asks the raven if there is balm in Gilead, he is asking it if there is any way that he can relieve his pain and suffering, in order to forget all the emotions that he was feeling at the time. When the raven replies, ‘nevermore’, the main character calls him a ‘prophet’ and ‘a thing of evil’, so he can’t accept the idea that grief takes time to move on from. Finally, before his complete descent into madness, he asks the raven if in Heaven he will be able to hold Lenore again, but the raven replies, ‘Nevermore’.  Throughout the entire poem, the main character is struggling internally as he tries to cope with the fact that his love died, however, at the same time, he is trying to believe that he might see her again. He can’t seem to understand the words of the raven and gets angrier as the poem goes on. It can be said that the raven is a representation of how he feels inside, and it is a physical embodiment of his emotions. Since the raven often says ‘Nevermore’ this could be the main character struggling with himself, thus showing the readers his inner emotional conflict, as he tries (and fails) to cope with the loss of his beloved Lenore.

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 25

What is important about the title of the poem, “The Raven?” Why does he use the title?

The title “The Raven,” sets us up for the story and really makes us anticipate the Raven’s arrival. With the title being “The Raven,” most of our concentration naturally goes to it and that’s what we pay the most attention to. To me, and most likely others,  the Raven represents a lot of things in the story. He could represent something simple like Lenore, the narrator or even the word nevermore. But even represent something deep like the narrator’s madness or an omen of his death. The Raven is a very versatile character in this sense which makes it perfect for him to be the title as you get to interpret the story how you want to. For example, if the Raven does represent the narrator’s death and madness, the title could then be translated to “The death of a madman,” or something like that. Also because the Raven’s only line is “Nevermore,” that could also be interpreted as the title. Like I said earlier, with the title being “The Raven,” the story itself becomes very flexible to the reader and the way they see the story.

I think Edgar Allan Poe used this title for the same reason as I stated for the first question. To allow readers to interpret it in whatever way they wanted to but at the same time bring attention to the Raven. Ravens are used in mythology to often depict wisdom but also relations to the dead. So, I think that was the main drive and purpose of the Raven.

September 25

“What is important about the title of the poem, “The Raven”? Why does Poe use this title?

“What is important about the title of the poem, “The Raven”? Why does he use the title?

The poem ‘The Raven’ is about a mourning lover grieving over the loss of his soulmate. He is drunk (as shown by the Absinthe), and is losing himself in his books, when he suddenly hears a tapping. He opens his chamber door and finds nothing. He then hears a tapping again and opens the window, from, which a Raven flies in. It perches on top of the bust of Pallas (Athena, the greek goddess of war, and wisdom) and just stares at the main character. This confuses him, and he starts talking to the raven.

Ravens often symbolize death, and grief and I believe that the Raven in this story symbolizes the death of Lenore, and the grief of the man. Even though the raven constantly repeats the word ‘Nevermore’, and the dead lover’s name is Lenore, Poe decided to name this poem ‘The Raven’. I believe that the reason behind this is that the Raven is meant to encompass the whole point of the poem, and all of the major points it stands for. The poem is full of grief, and tragedy, and a raven would be the perfect embodiment to showcase this as for centuries that is what they have symbolized in literature.

The video also heavily implies that the main character is having a hallucination caused by the Absinthe. This is a type of wine that can be hallucinogenic, and Poe himself used to drink this substance. This substance is focused on by the camera specifically when he hears the tapping, further emphasizing this point. Also, the Raven says ‘Nevermore’ multiple times to the man, at the end of each stanza starting from the 8th stanza. This is a strong indication that he was hallucinating as this Raven is talking even though ravens cannot normally speak. Additionally, at the end of the video we can clearly see the man passed out, presumably from drinking too much.

 

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.

 

 

September 23

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”

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

There is a variety of contrasting conflicts presented in the poem ‘The Raven’ by Edgar Allan Poe. The conflict most focused on throughout the poem is the emotional internal conflict. as presented in the poem the man is suffering the trauma of the aftermath of his lost love Lenore. The death of his beloved Lenore has caused him melancholy as he grieves and sees no purpose in life no more. Poe uses internal rhyme in the poem to establish an immediate atmosphere and tone of eerie darkness and sadness. Internal rhyme and repetition help Poe stress emotions and thought so that they are conveyed in a particular way to the reader. The main emotional conflict for the forlorn man is the idea of  ‘What’s Next?’ as he doesn’t know what to do or how to accept the loss of his beloved. Additionally, another critical internal conflict reflected in the poem is that the man has been trying to get rid of lost Lenore. In the quote, “Surcease of sorrow for the lost Lenore,” the man admits that he wants to be rid from the overbearing sorrow of losing Lenore. He also confesses to attempting to do so by burying himself in books and wine so that he can forget about her but even through the intoxication he simply cannot.

The raven is referred to as the messenger throughout the poem as he is there to deliver the message of ‘Nevermore’. The man has a one-sided verbal conflict with the bird as he starts rationalizing the meaning of ‘Nevermore’. The raven is represented in a way that leads to believe that its a projection form from the narrator’s mind shedding light on the darkness of the man’s conscious. The man curses at the raven for pulling him out of oblivion and telling him that he shall rest ‘nevermore’ and that he will never get Lenore back. The raven manages to access the frame of mind in which the man works. This manages to irk the narrator further as it pushes him to be faced with obvious truths to which he is unable to confront, than to be able to continue with the nonsense he has chosen to believe. because the raven approaches and invokes so much sense in the man, the man in return acts of off reflex and chooses to deny the ‘demon bird’.

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September 23

How is madness or insanity explored in the poem?

Throughout the poem “The Raven”, madness is explored through the actions and thoughts of the protagonist. The protagonist is suffering from the loss of the love of his life, a woman called Lenore. He has not been able to move one and is very lonely. The whole poem is set around the appearance of a Raven and the conversation that follows. “Is there- is there balm in Gilead?- tell me- tell me, I implore! Quoth the Raven” Nevermore”” (89-90). Madness is seen very clearly with every question asked by the man as the Raven responds. Whether the bird is really there or it is a dream, it is not normal for a Raven to talk. And as birds with the exception of the Parrot, do not talk to humans. The possibility that this conversation is happening is very unlikely and supports the idea that the man could be mad or suffering from some kind of mental problem that makes him seem mad. Furthermore, the effect the bird has on him again shows how mad the man may be as everytime the bird says nevermore, the man goes into a spiral and lets that one word effect him.

“Prophet! said I, thing of evil- prophet still, if bird or devil! By that Heaven that bends above us – by that God we both adore” (91-92). This illustrates how he is not stable and in crude terms mad. His responses may also show how he is mad due to the fact he is lonely and has lost the love of his life. “Sorrow for the lost Lenore” (10). Losing someone can cause someone to do bizarre things and act mad. Finally, the poem focus of the madness getting worse over time as at the beginning of the poem he is somewhat calm and is thinking with his head ‘”Some late visitor entreating entrance at my changer door”(17). But at the end, he is madder and is thinking more with his heart “Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken”(99). This change not only allows for the reader to see the madness, it also allows for the poem to be left with an unclear ending as when someone is mad their actions are not always clear and easy to comprehend.

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