(91) “Prophet!” said I “Thing of evil! - Prophet still, if a bird or devil!
(92)By that Heaven that bends above us- by the God we both adore-
(93)Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
(94)It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore-
(95)Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.”
(96)Quoth the raven “nevermore.”
This stanza is seen in Edgar Allen Poe’s widely famous poem called “The Raven.” Up until this point in the poem, a bird has flown into the narrator’s room while he is nodding off trying to sleep. He is frightened by the bird. Poe’s uses many literary elements to make his point. Poe’s use of repetition and allusion in the …show more content…
In Poe’s poem he writes “By that Heaven that bends above us- by the God we both adore-“(92) this alludes to the religious ideas of Christianity. Poe uses this to signify that the bird could be from Heaven which is a place that the souls of the deceased go eternally. This lets the people who know that the ability to understand that the bird could be the spirit/soul of a deceased person. Later in the stanza he indicates that the name of this person is Lenore and this closes the idea that the bird is a sign from Heaven saying that Lenore is in Heaven. Some other allusions include, “distant Aidenn,” (93) and “a sainted maiden” (94) these are relatable to the Bible and Heaven as described in Christianity. Distant Aidenn can be translated to far away amazing place. Also known as Heaven. A sainted woman is harder to define but sainted means to be seen as a, “person to have an exceptional degree in holiness, or likeness to God.”(Wikipedia) and a maiden is simply a woman. The final translation is a woman that is holy and has a likeness to God. Allusion such as this can help people understand where the raven could come from and or be. This is how allusion strengthens and enforces Poe’s point of describing where and what the raven …show more content…
In lines 94 and 95 Poe repeats “maiden whom the angels name Lenore” at the ends of the lines. This is said because Poe wants to make his point about who the Raven symbolizes. This also makes the point that Lenore is in the angels arms and they named her that. Poe is describing Lenore to the reader letting them know that the raven symbolizes his past wife Lenore. She comes from the heavens with the angels that named her. Poe also uses a flowing rhyme scheme. Poe ends each of 92, 94, 95, and 96 with a word that ends in –ore. Poe uses this to emphasize his poems element of flowing words. All of these words help Poe achieve a flowing element in his poem. The words are “adore-“(92), “Lenore-“(94), “Lenore.”(95), and “nevermore.” These all prove that Poe wants to add a flowing element to his writing and make his point. Poe’s tone throughout this poem is frantic and scary. Words that support this include “evil!” (91), “devil!”(91), “sorrow laden” (93), and “quoth”. These all add an eerie element because the old word “quoth” is a deeper, darker slimily of the word “quote” that we use today. The other words mentioned all have a scary element as the devil is an evil being that lives in hell as described in Christianity that is also alluded to in this stanza. These are all reasons that show how Edgar Allen Poe uses literary elements in his poems to make his