Poes Poems

Edgar Allan Poe’s bone-chilling tale, The Tell-tale Heart contains three main symbols. The first major symbol is that of the old man’s eye. This eye is the reason the narrator gives for killing the old man. The eye is compared to that of a vulture’s; animal imagery is common to Poe’s work. There is no mention as to why the old man’s eye drives the narrator to murder, although it is thought that the narrator is the old man’s servant. The eye symbolizes the old man constantly watching over the narrator. The narrator does not hate the old man, just his evil eye, “I loved the old man…I think it was his eye!” The narrator despises the eye because it is forever watching over him. The evil eye could also be seen as the “evil I”. In this tale, Poe could be referring to himself as the evil I. Once the narrator is rid of the eye, the beating of the old man’s heart drives him insane. After the narrator hides the body underneath the floorboards, he begins to hear the beating of the old man’s heart. The heartbeat could symbolize time; the narrator or Poe may feel as though they are running out of time. The beating of the heart grows louder as the narrator’s anxiety and guilt intensifies. The old man’s heart also represents the narrator’s conscience; he can no longer withstand his secret and therefore confesses his crime.

The line “nevermore” creates the image of desperation throughout the poem. It shows the finality of Lenore’s death and of the narrator’s insanity. The raven’s answers to the narrator’s questions finally drive him insane because he cannot face the reality of losing Lenore. The many symbols in The Raven only add to the mystery of the story and to the atmosphere. A similar poem with a similar conclusion of Poe’s is The Tell-tale Heart.

The third major symbol of The Tell-tale Heart is that of the light and dark. The tale begins in darkness, where the truth is hidden, in this case, the truth of the narrator’s insanity. Previous to the murder, the narrator cannot kill the old man, for his eye is closed, in darkness. Once the light is shone onto the eye and it is open, the narrator is able to kill the old man. The rest of the tale, until the confession, occurs during the night, in the dark. When the narrator confesses his crime, although not directly stated, it is safe to assume that it i

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