Ever since I can remember I have been obsessed with the disturbed, the unusual and the creepy. What better words to describe the one and only Edgar Allan Poe? In life Poe was known to be depressed, erratic and you can absolutely feel his emotions through his writing as if they were you own. You mourn for the loss of women you only know through the words of another man and you feel the hatred Poe did towards the outside forces that took his lovers away.

“The Raven”

Published in 1845 depicts a mood of bleak sorrow stating that the setting is in a lonely December night, with a fire that is burning out and slight insanity as the narrator is consumed with his troubles but trying to distract himself from his current reality, a reality without “Lenore” who is a main symbol within this story. The story begins with orderly emotions as the narrator drifts off into thoughts about Lenore but as the poem continues the narrator is losing control line by line. He finds himself speaking to a raven, even though we know ravens cannot speak so we assume he must be mad, or maybe he isn’t? Maybe we’re the mad ones. He then symbolizes the Raven as actually being a sinister devil like creature sent to haunt the narrator and remind him how he will never have Lenore again, she is “nevermore”. I think Poe is trying to communicate his pain and confusion as to why death would take away his lover and why she still plagues him but he cannot actually have her.

“Annabel Lee”

My parents actually decided my middle name would be Annabel because of their mutual adoration for this poem. Published a few years after “the Raven” in 1849 and focuses once again on the loss of a love interest, because we are unsure of who Lenore and Annabel are it is often assumed that they are the same person. Throughout the poem I think Poe is referring back to true innocent affection, where love was careless, easy and free. He continuously states that their love is “gentle” and forgiving. The narrator also continues to blame everyone but himself for the death of his beloved, he blames the Angels, and even nature itself but never once himself. Communicating that she was taken from him too soon, that their love was still pure and lacking corruption like most love partners do. That fate was unfair to both of them and he will always grieve over his adored and she will be rich in his memory.