A Compare And Contrast Essay of The Ravel and Annabel Lee :: essays research papers

In these 2 Gothic style poems, Edgar Allen Poe writes about the loss of his wife Virginia. He writes about how each of the narrators mourns her. In both poems, however, Virginia?s name is not stated. In ?The Raven?, the narrator mourns Lenore. In ?Annabel Lee? the narrator mourns Annabel Lee (of course). These poems are similar and different in several ways. ?The Raven? takes on a slightly different approach that states the narrator?s loss. In ?The Raven?, there is a black raven that comes rapping at the narrator?s chamber door. This rapping comes while he is mourning the loss of his wife ?Lenore? or Virginia. In one of the paragraphs of this poem, he refers to the bird as his friends. The raven will soon fly out of his life, just as "other friends have flown before". The raven can only speak one word ?Nevermore?. That?s the only reply the narrator gets when he asks this bird any question. This raven drives the man to insanity just like all the other stories Poe has wrote. During his insane time, the narrator remarks the foul bird to be a ?Prophet? and a ?Thing of Evil?. The narrator's final admission is that his soul is trapped beneath the raven's shadow and shall be lifted "Nevermore." In the poem, ?Annabel Lee?, the narrator (still unnamed) mourns the loss of HIS wife, Annabel Lee. But this poem has no bird. This poem has no living creature that takes away the narrator?s wife. This poem has angels. Jealous angels. Angels that wish to break the young love of the narrator and Annabel Lee. Poe states that their love can never be broken and in death of his wife, the narrator and Annabel Lee are still entwined by the soul. They met by the side of the sea and their Annabel Lee was buried in her tomb.