爱伦坡的乌鸦 赏析

The Raven

The Raven was written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1844. As the best known of Poe’s verse, it narrated a story that a man suffering the pain of losing relatives encountered a raven at a lonely and depressed night. The tone of the verse, miserable and suspicious, derived from irreversible hopelessness. At the same time, the hopelessness was intensified with “Nevermore” from the raven until hopelessness was hard to see.

As the only word of the raven, “Nevermore” was repeated for eleven times. It was th e name of the raven as well as the answer to the author’s every inquiry. The word sounded like irrelevant answer; but it made people think it was very suitable for the situation. It pushed the scene of fantastic dialogue into the philosophic narration on e xistence value. The all that people love most is just like the raven’s noise which will never come back if it is lost.

A deep night in December, dark and cold, is the unbearable psychological portrayal of the narrator. It is this kind of mental state attracted the raven which perched upon a bust of Pallas just above the author’s chamber door. The raven conveyed the message from Hades again and again. At the same time, it took advantage of its’ raucous and harsh word—“Nevermore” to peck the broken heart o f the author. In this way, the author’s soul was settled down into low-floating shadow.

In my mind, I think the verse does well in the following three aspects. Of course, they are worthy for us spending time appreciating it.

Firstly, on the phonological processing, Edgar Allan Poe deeply dug the potential of English on the verse. Except that, he used a lot of alliteration, rhyme and harmonic rhyme. At the same time, he paid much attention on careful arrangement on the sound. In very section, there were a series of short verses composed of a long line. The order of using this way was to change atmosphere for every line. It loyally expressed the author’s sad mood. This way of writing made readers impressive.

Secondly, The Raven modeled two important figures: young man and the raven. The sad man lost his favorite female and attempted to be absorbed in the book in order to forget the hurt. But all he did made a futile effort. The more books he read the

lonelier and sad he felt. However, at midnight, the raven symbolizing death and odiousness stepped into the cabin where the young man usually met with his lover Lenore. In addition to, the poet also modeled two significant images influencing the topic of the poem. The one of was black that the pure color could make people feel happy or dejected. The black background color could make readers feel impressed, and then they could feel the fear and sorrow in the heart of the young man.

“Nevermore” emerging repeatedly could also be seen as a special figure. Except the original meaning of this word, it also had symbolized meaning. When the raven appeared on the scene, the heartbroken man asked its’ name. The answer of the raven was “Nevermore”. But when the mater inquired effective medicine to remove miss for Lenore, the r aven answered by “Nevermore”, as well as the master wondering whether he met Lenore again. Even when the raven was ready to leave the cabin, the “Nevermore” was the only thing that the raven remained. This word made the young man get into eternal abyss.

Thirdly, the scene setting was special. On the introductory part, the readers could see a sad and shrill picture in the depth of night: the gloomy atmosphere, the thrilling scene, the mysterious and depressed man, the inauspicious raven…

In a gloomy and chilly midnight, all was quiet besides the whistle of the cold wind and the voice of turning over the books. The world outside the cabin was enveloped by the deep night while the small space of inside appeared flickered under the dim ray. Suddenly, some one was gently rapping at chamber door. However, when the master opened the door, he founded nothing except relentless night and raging storm. Surprisingly, the previous knock of the door appeared again when he retuned. At the moment, the raven flew into his cabin and perched above chamber door.

Finally, why the author chose midnight as the time of story happening. Midnights mean mystery and terror. And all kinds of ghost and evil usually appeared at midnight. The terrified atmosphere established mood for appearance of the raven. It was special for the poet to set the story in a small and quiet cabin. On one hand, small and closed space contributed to the establishment of isolated and distant Gothic horrible atmosphere. On another hand, the cabin just was throne of two lovers. The cabin was