Use Of Poetic Devices In Poe’s The Raven

In Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, he uses many devices commonly seen in poetry. These devices are what makes his poem effective to the reader and draws the reader into the story being told. He also uses these devices to set an uneasy tone in the poem so the reader can never predict what is to happen next.

In The Raven, Poe sets the poem at midnight in the cold, gloomy month of December, “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary…” (997) This setting fulfills Poe’s desire to create a dismal tone. He uses midnight as it is a very dark and mysterious time of day. “Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December…” (997) Poe chose December because it is a time when trees and wildlife are dead and many people stay inside, this gives the poem a feeling of death and solitude. The month of December can also be give the reader the impression of the ending of a major part of the narrator’s life, being that December is the end of the year.

Poe uses two major tones in his poem, that of melancholy and of mourning. Rather than simply describing the narrator to be sitting in a room, Poe says he sits in a chamber which sparks thoughts of solitude and

Though its answer little meaning – little relevancy bore,

Poe does this so the reader is just as puzzled as the narrator is, not knowing what the raven’s visit means and what is to come of the narrator.

Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door –

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