Annabel Lee and the Raven: Compare and Contrast
“Annabel Lee” and “the Raven” are two poems by the famous poet Edgar Allan Poe. As much as they differ the two poems have distinct similarities in that the speaker in both of the poems is talking about a lost love, the speakers in the two poems are depressed over the death of a beautiful woman. In Annabel Lee we see the intensity of the love that the speaker had for the girl “But we loved… more than love” (Poe, 1849).
In both poems the speakers are seen like they are obsessed with the constant thought of their lost love.In the poem “Annabel Lee’ there is a sense of optimisms “and neither the angels above…can ever dissever my soul from the soul of the beautiful Annabel Lee’ but the same cannot be said of the poem The Raven. The speaker in “Annabel Lee” is convinced that he will always be with Annabel Lee while the speaker in “The Raven” is sure that he will see her love no more “she shall press never more” (Poe, 1845).
The poet uses a variety of style sin the two poems: In Annabel Lee the poet has used rhyming words such as “beams and Dreams”, rise and eyes”, tide and Side”, (Poe, 1849) in the Raven the rhyming words are “napping, Tapping and rapping” (Poe, 1845). Severally, the poet has applied the style of repetition. These two styles are used for emphatic purposes.The main difference in the two poems is the tone used.
In Annabel Lee we as the readers have to dig deeply into the poem so as to find the optimism of the speaker while in the Raven the tone and description of the poem gives a scary image. The speaker talks of hearing noises in the dark and opening the window to see a raven “As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door” The use of the bird a Raven makes the poem more scary as in some cultures the Raven has a negative connotation (Poe, 2007).
Reference
Poe, E. A. (1849) Annabel Lee. Retrieved from http://
Poe, E. A. (2007). Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. Simon and Schuster
Poe, E. A. (1845). The Raven. Retrieved from http://
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