In Edgar Allan Poes poems he writes about death and darkness. Throughout his poems, The Raven and The Bells, Poe writes of death, darkness, and evil. Many say he writes about this because of his childhood problems. (Slovey p. 15) As you continue to read, it will show how others feel about his writings and his desire to write about death. In Edgar Allen Poes poem, The Bells, Poe tells how bells can play a part throughout death and this causes readers to dislike the poem but it also has a positive effect on readers when Poe tells of bells being used as symbols of love.
For example, some feel that Poes desire for death makes the poem less interesting. W. M. Auden tells how the Bells was less interesting but was more successful because the subject is nothing but an excuse for onomatopoeic efforts. Also, some feel that Poe writes about death and darkness because of his drinking problems he had. (Slovey p. 22) Anthony Caputi feels that this poem marks the high tide of Poes ineffectuality and also bears testimony to his immense gift for poetic conception and thereby confronts us with the peculiar problem of Poe. (Poetry Criticism). In addition, some feel this poem has a sense of good and beauty to it.
Floyd Stovall writes how Poe defined poetry as music combined with a pleasurable idea and the poets truth is an excitement of the soul and it is the product of the contemplation of beauty. So in Poes poem, The Bells, he writes of death and evil but also of good and love that leaves a positive and a negative effect on readers. In Edgar Allen Poes ,The Raven, Poe uses a sense of darkness and evil throughout the poem by using the black bird as a symbol of evil. Some readers cannot understand ow this poem has became so popular considering the evil that was used throughout the poem.
Allen Tate says he can add very little to criticism of The Raven written in many passages that are wonders how it can be a great poem and how we have a necessary element like the beautiful dead lost Lenore. Furthermore, others feel the same and how The Raven leaves a lasting impression. Halden Braddy writes: In analyzing The Raven Poe held that the death of a beautiful women is unquestionably the most poetic topic in the world and how a lasting impression one receives in reading his poetry is then e championed beauty and love. Also, some feel that Poe writes of death and evil because of his childhood and how it led him to be an outcast.
John Heath-Stubbs writes how Poe likewise was in some respects an outcast from his society and the poet was thought of as an arcane craftsman, a master of magical incantation, and an interpreter of shadowy experience. So, throughout todays society, many feel Poe writes of darkness because of his troubles he has had and he expressed his feelings throughout his poems. Throughout Edgar Allen Poes life he has written many poems concerning death and arkness which has led his poems to success that created some of his works to be published in many books that give readers a chance to see how Poe used death, evil, and darkness throughout his poems.
For example, in The Raven, Poe uses words that gives the reader a feeling of death. By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore. (pg. 183 literature book. ) Also, in The Raven, Poe uses a black bird to symbolize evil and darkness. Prophet! said I, think of evil – prophet still, if bird or devil! (pg. 185 literature book. ) In conclusion to, In Poes poem, The Bells, he describes some of the ells as being frightening; a sense of darkness occurs. In the silence of the night How we shiver with affright.
So you can see how Poe used darkness and evil to portray a sense of fear and death. Edgar Allen Poe was a man who wrote of what he felt. As he grew up he had many problems. He began to write of death, evil, and darkness. Many feel that this has had a positive effect but also a negative effect. Some like the way he expresses his feelings about death but others feel there is no need for his poems to be so popular because the uses of death and evil throughout them.