Littérature i';To"",nà"" en>Le « je» de 1'i'!'lOV::1m le jeu de l'écriture

\\ltbe laaben - ~bgar ~Uan ~oeSummary

A lonely man tries to ease his ' , for the lost Lenore," by distracting his mind,'-Yi!Q,81~booksof "forgotten (traditions)." He is interrupted while he is "nearlylijjfml," bya "tapping on [his] chamber door." As he opens up the door, he finds"darkness there and nothing more." Into the darkness he whispers, "Lenore," hopinghis lost love had come back, but ail that could be heard was "an echo [that]murmured back the word 'Lenore!'"With a burning soul, the ,man returns to his chamber, and this time he can hear atapping at the window {l1i~~(fenêtre à croisillons). Ashe "flung [open] the shutter,""in [there] stepped a stately Raven," the bird of1_ (Poe, 1850). The ravenperched on the bust of Pallas, the goddess of wisdom in Greek mythology, above hischamber door.The man asks the Raven for his name, and surprisingly it answers and"Nevermore." The man knows that the bird does not speak from , but hasbeen taught by "some unhappy master," and that the word "nevermore" is its only"stock and store."The man welcomes the raven, and is afraid that the raven will be gone in the

.morning, "as [his] Hopes have flown before"; however, the raven answers,"Nevermore." The man smiled, and pulled up a chair, interested in what the raven"meant in croaking, 'Nevermore.'" The chair, where Lenore once sat, brought backpainful memories. The man, who knows the irrational nature in the raven's speech,still cannot help but ask the raven questions. Since the narrator is aware that theraven only knows one word, he can anticipate the bird's responses. "Is there balm inGilead?" (mountainous region east of the Jordan River) - "Nevermore." Can Lenorebe found in paradise? - "Nevermore." "Take thy form from off my door!" -"Nevermore." Finally the man concedes, realizing that to continue this dialogue wouldbe pointless. And his "soul from out that shadow" that the raven throws on the floor,"Shall be lifted -- Nevermore!"

Symbols

ln this poem, one of the most famous American poems ever, Poe uses several~Jo take the poem to a higher javel. The most obvious symbol is, of course,__ itself. When Poe had decided to use a refrain that repeated the word"nevermore," he found that it would be most effective if he used a non-reasoningcreature to utter the word. It would make little sense to use a human, since thehuman could reason to answer the questions (Poe, 1850). ln "The Raven" it isimportant that the answers to the questions are already known, to illustrate the self-torture to which the narrator exposes himself. This way of interpreting signs thatdo not bear a real meaning, is "one of the most profound impulses of humannature" (Quinn, 1998:441).Poe also considered a parrot as the bird instead of the raven; however, because ofthe melancholy tone, and the symbolism of ravens as birds of ill-amen, he found theraven more suitable for the mood in the poem (Poe, 1850). Quoth the Parrot,"Nevermore?"

r:<1;'oiine l{lC<ll--d Viala Lacoste Salon-de- Provence

Littérature étrangère en langue étrangère>Le {([e » de l'écrivain, le jeu de l'écriture

\Another obvious symbol is . Why did the raven decide to perch onthe goddess of wisdom? One reason could be, because it would lead the narrator tobelleve that the raven spoke from wisdom, and was not just repeating its only"stock and store," and to signify the scholarship of the narrator. Another reason forusing "Pallas" in the poem was, according to Poe himself, simply because of the"sonorousness of the word, Pallas ("alas!" itself" Poe, 1850)."A less obvious symbol, might be the use of " " in the first verse, and" in the second verse. Both midnight and December, symbolize an end ofsomething, and also the anticipation of something new, a change, to happen.The midnight in December, might very weil be New Year's eve, a date most of usconnect with change. This also seems to be what Viktor Rydberg believes when he istranslating 'The Raven" to Swedish, since he uses the phrase "ârets sista natt varinne, " ("The last night of the year had arrived"). Kenneth Silverman connected theuse of December with the death of Edgar's mother (Silverman, 1992:241), who diedin that month; whether this is true or not is, however, not significant to its meaning inthe poem.

in which the narrator is positioned, is used to signify the loneliness ofthe man, and the sorrow he feels for the loss of Lenore. The room is richly furnished,and reminds the narrator of his lost love, which helps to create an effect of beauty inthe poem. outside, is used to even more signify the isolation of thisman, to show a sharp contrast between the calmness in the cham ber and thetempestuous night.The phrase "from out my heart," Poe claims, is used, in combination with the answer"Nevermore," to let the narrator realize that he should not try to seek a moral in whathas been previously narrated (Poe, 1850).

Words

Poe had an extensive vocabulary, which is obvious to the readers of both his poetryas weil as his fiction. Sometimes this meant intraducing words that were notcommonly used. ln "The Raven," the use of ancient and poetic language seemsappropriate, since the poem is about a man spending most of his,time with books of"forgotten lore."

~ "Seraphim," in the fourteenth verse, "perfumed by an unseen censer /Swung by seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled ..." is used to illustrate the swift,invisible way a scent spreads in a room. A seraphim is one of the six-wingedangels standing in the presence of God.o "Nepenthe," from the same verse, is a potion, used by ancients to induceforgetfullnes of pain or sorraw.o "Balm in Gilead," from the following verse, is a soothing ointment made inGilead, a mountainous region of Palestine east of the Jordan river.o "Aidenn," from the sixteenth verse, is an Arabie word for Eden or paradise.o "Plutonian," characteristic of Pluto, the god of the underworld in Romanmythology.

Find out about the philosophy of the composition of this poem on :http://www.poedecoder.com/essays/raven/

Viala Lacoste 5alonde Provence