Linking Edgar Allan Poe to The Raven

A detailed Summary of Linking Edgar Allan Poe to The Raven

Edgar Allan Poe was an author who wrote dark and sinister stories and poems and whose motives in writing such works were closely related to his life. Edgar Allan Poe has captured the attention of many of his readers, but what is not said is that his life affected his works. His dark and sinister works link the innermost side of Poe to that of his pieces. One of his most famous poems is "The Raven." Woodberry stated in his 1st volume of The Life of Edgar Allan Poe that, "...'The Raven' and 'Ulalume' are in his poetry, the richest of his imaginative work." The poem gives many insights to Poe's life. The poem is about a man in a room all by himself. "Leave my loneliness unbroken!" (Poe) He is then visited by a raven, which says nothing, but "Nevermore." It brings out the thoughts and feelings of the lonely man. This lonely man (the name of the man was never mentioned), is like a mirror image of Poe.

During the time that Poe was rewriting "The Raven" (the original was written ten years before), life was really hard for him.

"He had been for ten years a writer of untiring industry, and in that time had produced an amount of work large in quantity and excellent in quality, much of it belonging in the very highest rank of im

Poe's life was intricately woven into the works that he wrote. Knowing how his life was during the time he wrote his pieces, changes the perspective and gives further insight to the symbolism within his work. This change of perspective creates a kind of conduit into his heart and makes the reader understand the motives behind Edgar Allan Poe's works.

"'I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active --- not more happy--- nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago. The result will never vary---and to suppose that it will, is to suppose that the foregone man has lived in vain---that the foregone time is but the rudiment of the future---that the myriads who have perished have not been upon equal footing with ourselves---nor are we with our posterity.'" (Woodbery 2: 91)

Woodberry, George E. The Life of Edgar Allan Poe. 1vols. New York: Biblo and Tannen, 1965.

Hard times fell on Poe like raindrops falling onto the ground. The money needed to sustain his day to day needs proved insufficient. He had written many works in ten years and. Although his works were abundant, money wasn't. In Short, Poe had a hard time selling his works and was poorly paid. "'A host of small troubles growing from the one trouble of poverty....'" (Woodberry 2: 103)

Woodberry, George E. The Life of Edgar Allan

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Approximate Word count = 949
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels