Edgar Allan Poe Rhetorical Essay
November 26, 2013
Poe-Poe Shut Us Down: A Rhetorical Essay on the Works of Edgar Allan Poe
During the Romantic Era, the Dark Romantics sought to oppose the ideas of the Transcendentalists, who believed in following one’s own heart alone. A quintessential Dark Romantic, Edgar Allan Poe uses literary devices, the theme of death, and the creation of a paranoid mood to exemplify insanity and evil in humans. “The Raven,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and “The Oval Portrait,” all show the dangers of following human intuition alone, contradicting the ideas of the Transcendentalists. “The Raven,” a creepy and heart pumping poem by Poe, uses the literary devices anaphora and alliteration to emphasize insanity. The poem follows the recount of the narrator, who, while trying to grieve the death of a lady named Lenore, encounters a raven which haunts his spirits and drives him to insanity. Poe uses anaphora in “The Raven” by ending all 18 stanzas with “nevermore,” “nothing more,” or “evermore.” By following this theme, Poe successfully shows the train of thought experienced by the narrator as he first tries to calm himself down but later falls to insanity and believes his visitor the raven to be the Prophet telling him he will see his beloved Lenore “nevermore.” Alliteration is used to add to the paranoid tone of the entire poem. By using phrases such as “while I nodded, nearly napping” (3) and “surcease of sorrow” (10), Poe plays with the reader’s mind and with the speakers tongue to add to the rhythm and nervous tone of the poem. By using both alliteration and anaphora in “The Raven,” Edgar Allan Poe shows the steep drop into insanity that the human mind can encounter, as the narrator, when left alone with just his thoughts, falls to craziness. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Poe emphasizes death and creates an overpowering paranoid mood to, once again, create the setting of human insanity. Poe’s descriptive setting and imagery add to the gloomy tone;
Poe-Poe Shut Us Down: A Rhetorical Essay on the Works of Edgar Allan Poe
During the Romantic Era, the Dark Romantics sought to oppose the ideas of the Transcendentalists, who believed in following one’s own heart alone. A quintessential Dark Romantic, Edgar Allan Poe uses literary devices, the theme of death, and the creation of a paranoid mood to exemplify insanity and evil in humans. “The Raven,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and “The Oval Portrait,” all show the dangers of following human intuition alone, contradicting the ideas of the Transcendentalists. “The Raven,” a creepy and heart pumping poem by Poe, uses the literary devices anaphora and alliteration to emphasize insanity. The poem follows the recount of the narrator, who, while trying to grieve the death of a lady named Lenore, encounters a raven which haunts his spirits and drives him to insanity. Poe uses anaphora in “The Raven” by ending all 18 stanzas with “nevermore,” “nothing more,” or “evermore.” By following this theme, Poe successfully shows the train of thought experienced by the narrator as he first tries to calm himself down but later falls to insanity and believes his visitor the raven to be the Prophet telling him he will see his beloved Lenore “nevermore.” Alliteration is used to add to the paranoid tone of the entire poem. By using phrases such as “while I nodded, nearly napping” (3) and “surcease of sorrow” (10), Poe plays with the reader’s mind and with the speakers tongue to add to the rhythm and nervous tone of the poem. By using both alliteration and anaphora in “The Raven,” Edgar Allan Poe shows the steep drop into insanity that the human mind can encounter, as the narrator, when left alone with just his thoughts, falls to craziness. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Poe emphasizes death and creates an overpowering paranoid mood to, once again, create the setting of human insanity. Poe’s descriptive setting and imagery add to the gloomy tone;