Essay Comparing Shakespeare And The Raven

William Shakespeare and Edgar Allen Poe are two famous and well known poets that wrote many pieces of art that is read all over the world. Because of the poetic devices used in their pieces, a majority of their work is known. However, after analyzing Shakespeare’s sonnets to the Tell Tale Heart and The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe, one can compare and contrast the poetic devices used in these bodies of literature. In each piece of writing, the similarities and differences of the poetic devices of structure, descriptive language, and figurative language are profound.
The structure of both Sonnet XVII and The Raven have there connecting features of how they both have the use of end rhymes in their poems. “And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor… From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore…” (Poe, Edgar Allan). In these two lines, the words floor and Lenore both repeat ‘or’ sound, making the words end rhymes. “If I could write the beauty of your eyes… The age to come would say 'This poet lies…” (Shakespeare, William). In this sonnet the words eyes and lies repeat the long ‘i’ sound, which makes end rhymes. However, the structure of The Raven is different because at the end of each stanza it uses rhyme scheme where a word ends in more while Sonnet XVII has only end rhymes and no rhyme scheme. On the other hand though, sonnets, in general have fourteen lines consisting of three quatrains, a one couplet while in The Raven has eighteen sestets. Thus, Sonnet XVII and The Raven by Edgar Allen poe have
For example, the simile, “Be scorn'd like old men of less truth than tongue..” (Shakespeare, William) describes how his work would be as believable as men who prattle on incorrect statements. Also, in The Raven, the line “All my soul within me burning…” (Poe, Edgar Allen) describes how he is still lamenting over the life of