Sample Essay in Gothic Poetry

Sample Essay in Gothic Poetry When referring to gothic poetry we don’t expect it to be an easy reading. As a rule gothic writings are spooky, dark and desperate. Edgar Allen Poe, whose life was full of challenges and losses, could have become a vivid character of a gothic novel himself. Perhaps, that’s why he was so good in describing those dark corners of our mind which from time to time step out to the light of our consciousness. «The Raven » is a real anthem to Poe’s writing genius of enriching simple things with deep, multidimensional symbols. In this short essay, we’ll consider three such symbols appearing in «The Raven » Lenore â€" the symbol of obsession with ideas or people we all fall victims to at some point in our lives. This person appears from the very beginning and gains more and more presence throughout the poem, but never becomes a full-fledged character. We don’t know anything about her except for the name and the fact that the narrator is obsessed with feelings and memories about her. This obsession makes us think that Lenore is someone important to him â€" probably a lover, a wife, a mother or a sister who he has lost. We would never know and, most probably, we are not supposed to. All, what the author wants us to be aware of, is the feeling of sorrow which can be so overwhelming that one can’t resist a temptation to be obsessed with it. The raven â€" incarnation of thoughts and feelings which are connected with the aforementioned obsession. Until the end of the poem, the reader can’t understand whether this raven is a real creature or just a symbol of the internal dialogue of the narrator who is apparently losing his sanity because of the Lenore. The raven is an unrelenting judge, representing the hard reality which the narrator tries to question and deny, but in vain. The raven also symbolizes those mood fluctuations which go hand in hand with the aforementioned internal dialogue. As the story develops, it constantly fluctuates between invigorating pledges and depressed notions about the frailty of life. These states of narrator’s mind are interchanging very quickly immersing readers into his mode of thinking. «Nevermore » the raven’s answer to all the pledges of the narrator. It symbolizes irreversibility of the event which happened. Regardless how hard the narrator tries to cope with the loss and comfort himself, the raven’s «nevermore » returns his mind to the state of grief and sorrow. This constant reference demonstrates that it’s in our nature to be overwhelmed with such negative, dark feelings but it depends only on us whether we’ll be able to overcome the void of «nevermore » or we’ll be enslaved by it until it will drive us insane. In his poem, Edgar Allen Poe perfectly described the cycle of feelings of a person overcoming a loss which spikes from melancholy to hope and back to frustration. «The Raven » is a first person perspective on the grief, which gives the reader a possibility to look at personal problems from the outside perspective and cope with personal issues.