The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe

Name Professor/Tutor Course Date “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" is a work of art that transcends time and dwells on the issues of grief, loss, and human psychology. The poem is a narrative about a man whose soul is tormented by a raven, a mysterious creature, after the death of a loved one, Lenore. Poe uses rhetorical tools to create a sense of the emotional and psychological situation in the reader's mind. The narrator skilfully utilizes rhetorical analysis strategies such as ethos, logos, pathos, style, and literary devices to amplify the poem's impact and explain the themes, thus engaging the readers throughout the narration and evoking intended emotions. In "The Raven," the first-person narrator's persona and the author's literary reputation are two elements that define the speaker's ethos. Employing his signature Gothic style and the power to trigger a real sense of uneasiness in the minds of his readers, Poe gives the poem a note of authenticity. The archaic anglophone and formal tone are a feature of the whole poem and a tool to bring about the solemn atmosphere and the ethos of Poe as the storyteller. For example, "Quoth the Raven" and "Nevermore" (Poe line 48) take the toll of respect, so readers get trapped in this mourner's world of sorrow and disappointment. The author does this through a series of language decisions and moves to create a sense of authenticity as a guide into the speaker's eerie situation. Additionally, the speaker's persona is another element that leads to forming ideology. Through their emotional intensity and tenderness, the speaker, an agitated soul, is given a sense of reality that makes the narration believable. When the speaker faces deadly sins and gets entangled with the visit of the dark raven, the reader is transplanted into the speaker's inner pains, and they can sympathize with the suffering and despair. Poe chooses specific terms that achieve this ethos, for example, "...while I pondered, weak and weary" (Poe line 1). The sincere pursuit of meaning in confrontation with the enormous loss is reflected in the speaker's frank request to the bird, which only reinforces the ethical course of the poem. Poe succeeds in making himself an author and speaker in the poem, the ethos of which creates a polished and impactful style of writing that profoundly resonates with the readers. This is attained through the characterization of the speaker's persona, notable by the frequent use of the personal pronoun, "I," for instance, "while I pondered" (Poe line 1), "I stood repeating" (Poe line 15), and "...here I opened wide the door" (Poe line 22). There is a logical coherence in the structure and evolution of "The Raven," even though the poem may not rely significantly on logical reasoning in a traditional sense. Poe presents a distinct progression of events throughout the poem, culminating in a climax of anxiety and despair as the speaker comes into contact with the enigmatic raven. The repeating of the term "Nevermore" serves as a logical refrain that underlines the subject of irrevocable loss and finality. Each stanza builds upon the one that came before it, and the repetit...