As soon as I begin to read I start to notice how this doesn't seem like a dark poem, but those are just the first couple of lines. Then I continue and quickly realize that he is upset or distraught because "Lenore" has passed. I begin to suspect that Lenore is someone who he loved dearly. The line "namles here for evermore" is how I got to the conlusion that she is no longer on this Earth. As I go on to reading, the narrator hears a tapping on his front door and he thinks it's just someone tapping the door but he opens it thinking that it might be Lenore. As he opens the door it obviously isn't Lenore but he still calls out her name. Why? Why would he even think it was her? There is know way she came back from the dead but maybe his constant thinking of her and yearning he thinks that is enough to have her back? Then the raven shows up onto his windowsill. The only thing that the raven says is "nevermore." For one thing ravens don't talk so I took this as a sign of insanity. To me the raven is the narrators conscience. The raven keeps reminding the narrator that Lenore is nevermore on this earth. He keeps battling between the raven and himself even though (to me) the raven is a figment of his mind. The "raven" that keeps telling him nevermore would be the reality part of his mind even though this entire scenario has insane written all over it. I think that the death of Lenore made him this way. He couldn't bear losing her and when he did he lost it. But in the beginning he acknowledges Lenores passing yet he had an entire conversation with the raven which seems mad.
Annabel Lee was so captivating yet eerie. Captivating because of the fact that the narrator of the poem knew this girl since they were children and they developed a love for eachother. Not just a little crush but seriously in love. The narrator says in the poem that "The angels, not half so happy in Heaven, Went envying her and me—" to me meaning that their love was so strong and beautiful that even the angels in heaven were jealous! The narrator also believe the angels killed Annabel Lee because they envied their love so much so they (in his mind) killed Annabel Lee. When she dies the narator is devastated because her family takes her away to be shut into a tomb. This is where the eerie part comes in; he lies down with her every night in or around her tomb. I guess he loved her that much he could not let her go; sort of similar to The Raven.
I like the connection you made between the two poems, about how in both them he seems unable to let go of the loss of women in his life. That connection actually slipped my mind, I didn't realize it.
ReplyDeleteI also felt like there is a connection between "The Raven" and "Annabel Lee", I wonder if they are they same person because they both died and both of the poems were only published a couple years apart. Maybe Lenore is Annabel's older persona and represents a more intimate complicated love whereas Annabel is puppy love, easy and worry free.
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