Categorizing Women In Annabel Lee And The Raven
...have the workings of an Edgar Allen Poe poem. If you take a look at "The Raven" and "Annabel Lee", you have the narrator of both stories reminiscing about a "lost love". First we will discuss "The Raven".
"Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore"; the second line of "The Raven". As many readers look at this, they read more and should discover that the narrator is recalling his past, the "curious volume of forgotten lore". Why would they be forgotten? To me, when the readers get to Lenore in the next few lines, he wasn't remembering the "pleasant times" with her. As I will mention when I discuss "Annabel Lee", the narrator covertly confesses to murdering the women about whom they are written. The complexity of these poems lies in the nature of the speaker, who wished to make his (narrator) guilt public, yet at the time, enjoys keeping it hidden. The principle of a covert confession serves as Poe's poetic inspiration, drawing a connection between confession and creation; and so back to "The Raven".
In the lines, "From my books surcease of sorrow, sorrow for the lost Lenore, For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore, Nameless here forevermore". How so does Poe gratify and praise this woman we not know anything of. How does the reader not see that he's completely covering up his act with all this satisfaction in his own work? Poe does this same writing in "Annabel Lee". If you read this and the other poem, notice how he keeps using the symbol "angel" repetitively. Yet, his conscience that is taking over him now gets even deeper, and darker.
"Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word,
Lenore? This I whispered, and...
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