CC BY
55Бюллетень науки и практики /Bulletin of Science and Practice Т. 7. №6. 2021
https://www.bulletennauki.com https://doi.org/10.33619/2414-2948/67
UDC 821 https://doi.org/10.33619/2414-2948/67/74
THE NOMADIC MOOD OF LONELINESS EMBODIED IN THE RAVEN
BY EDGAR ALLEN POE
©Mukhamedova Sh., ORCID: 0000-0002-3685-3051, Uzbekistan State University of World Languages, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, [email protected]
КОЧЕВОЕ НАСТРОЕНИЕ ОДИНОЧЕСТВА, ВОПЛОЩЕННОЕ В «ВОРОНЕ»
ЭДГАРА АЛЛЕНА ПО
©Мухамедова Ш. У., ORCID: 0000-0002-3685-3051, Узбекский государственный
университет мировых языков, г. Ташкент, Узбекистан, [email protected]
Abstract. The article investigates the poem The Raven by American dark genius Edgar Allen Poe. The research was done basing on historical, biographical and psychological literary schools, and is aimed to disclose hidden link of the poem to the life of the author. Moreover, the research includes the study of elements of gothic literature depicted in the poem.
Аннотация. В статье исследуется стихотворение «Ворон» американского гения и темного романтика Эдгара Аллена По. Исследование проводилось на основе исторических, биографических и психологических литературных школ и направлено на раскрытие скрытой связи стихотворения с жизнью автора. Кроме того, исследование включает в себя изучение элементов готической литературы, изображенных в поэме.
Keywords: Dark Romanticism, gothic, narrative poem, literary approaches, biographical method, historical method, psychological literary school.
Ключевые слова: темный романтизм, готика, повествовательная поэма, литературные подходы, биографический метод, исторический метод, психологическая литературная школа.
Introduction
Edgar Allen Poe, a famous figure not only for American Literature but the World Literature, had become the author of short stories and poems, critical theories [1]. All his works were not left unnoticed by critics, and they are still at the center of the contemporary readers' attention. Being the representative of American Dark Romanticism, the author created prominent works reflecting this movement's basic principles. Despite his early attempts which looked like ordinary romantic verses, as he had taken inspiration from English Romanticist as John Keats, Lord George Gordon Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, later poems infused with dark atmosphere, imagination, symbols superstitions, and terror.
The Raven, exception; published in 1845 it vividly mirrors the melancholic mood of the author, yet at the same time exhibits a beautiful image of the author's beloved which gives aesthetic value to the poem. This research particularly is targeted to analyze the poem with the help of three literary approaches, biographical, historical method and psychological approach, including what pushed Poe to write this very poem, what kinds of ideas were boiling in the mind that resulted to write one of his masterpieces.
Бюллетень науки и практики /Bulletin of Science and Practice Т. 7. №6. 2021
https://www.bulletennauki.com https://doi.org/10.33619/2414-2948/67
Poe's contemporaries created poems, novels and other pieces of works about love, friendship possessing the features of romanticism since it had already set as a dominant and popular tendency in the United States. The Raven, on the surface can also be considered as a romantic poem, that portrays the narrator's sad fate, his grief, emotions caused by the loss of his love. However, the deep analysis let readers identify dark elements of Gothic Literature.
It is a narrative poem that consists of 18 six-line stanzas; the first five lines of each are written in trochaic octameter, the sixth in trochaic tetrameter [2]. It was full of gothic elements such as setting, symbols, legends, religious and mythological heroes and these features made the poem to have belonged to dark romanticism. Keeping romantic feelings of the narrator Poe at the same time presents a typically Gothic setting which sets at night, all around is dark, in the winter, cold in the chamber room of the narrator (possibly Poe's room) so is his heart. The reason for his despair is the loss of beloved Lenore [3, p. 1]. Readers can guess her death in the line below [3, p. 1] since only angels of Eden know her name now. His attempts to forget her are useless, the narrator remembers her while reading while sleeping, and sometimes it seems to him that his heart and the wind at night whisper "Lenore" [3, p. 2]. Obviously, the same incident occurred in Poe's life when his wife Virginia prematurely had died and he simply described his feelings in this poem. Moreover, in the essay written by Poe "The Philosophy of Composition", claims that he "purposely sets the poem on a tempestuous evening, causing the raven to seek shelter" [4], Poe compares himself to the raven who flies from place to place without having a permanent home. If we briefly look at Poe's life, we find out that he moved to many states including Virginia, South Carolina, New York Philadelphia, and Maryland frequently changing his workplaces several times because of the lack of stable salary. To this extend the poem has an amazing coincidence with Poe's own life.
The image of the raven was chosen to unveil the poet's inner thoughts through dialogues. The color of the raven is black that intensifies gloominess and misery. In addition, the Hebrew legend claims the bird to be white originally, but then turned black for disobeying Noah in the story of the Ark, in Greek mythology, ravens became coal color for delivering bad news for Gods. In the poem, the black raven is hurt making messenger, uttering "nevermore" to each question given by the protagonist. Its answer makes the poet even sadder because he asks whether the night comes to the end (58-60), but the raven tells "nevermore". The poet continues to ask if there is any life after the death, it answers "nevermore", again Poe questions maybe he and his lover will reunite in Heaven, again the answer remains the same. The poet believes the bird's foretelling because it perches not on any random place but on the bust of Pallas [3, p. 4], who is the Greek God of Wisdom. Nonetheless, the poet claims, this scene is added to show the contrast between a black bird sitting on the ivory marble.
The raven is crucial in the poem, as it represents the role of the messenger. So does in the poem, the raven serves in that very role, but it makes the narrator torture reminds him about the death. Furthermore, the raven in many cultures represents a physical death. The scene was at night, which is the end of the day, in December [3, p. 1], which means the end of the year, and it creates the feeling in readers that this may be the last day of the poet, and soon he dies.
What comes to the tone of the poem, Poe was very meticulous about arranging his poems for a certain effect on the reader. As Elizabeth Barrett wrote to Poe, "Your Raven has produced a sensation, a fit o' horror, here in England... I hear of persons haunted by "nevermore" [1]. The repetition of the long o sound at the end of the multiple lines creates a depressing atmosphere, which makes the reader's mood go down and down. Poe's intention to reach the totality effect was succeeded. Harold Bloom acclaims, Poe's poetic calculus leads him to choose an optimal length of about one hundred lines; then, after consideration of the desired effect and tone (beauty and
Бюллетень науки и практики / Bulletin of Science and Practice Т. 7. №6. 2021
https://www.bulletennauki.com https://doi.org/10.33619/2414-2948/67
sadness), he decides that the poem should be structured around a refrain ending in the most sonorous of letters, o and r. The syllable -or is thus the first element of the text of the poem to be written [5, p. 18]. "The sound of the refrain being thus determined, Poe goes on [6], "it became necessary to select a word embodying this sound, and at the same time in the fullest possible keeping with that melancholy which I had predetermined as the tone of the poem. In such a search it would have been absolutely impossible to overlook the word "nevermore". In fact, it was the very first which presented itself' [7, p. 374-377].
The dialogue in the poem portrays the narrator's psychological situation as well. Naturally, speaking to a bird is an abnormal phenomenon and it demonstrates that there is something wrong with the poet's health and mind. Knowing that ravens never speak, some readers may think it is the poet who became insane [8, p. 20-28], while others justify that the poet was so depressed and alone, and he could not help unburdening his soul to the bird. The narrator is in such a desperate situation that can unconsciously accept the bird as a friend whom he can share his grief and even ask a piece of advice for how to overcome the night.
The picture of the room was described in details and it helps to reveal the narrator's feeling and switch readers' focus on the emotional state of the character. The purple curtains [3, p. 1] can easily represent his healing wounds, as purple is the color of a bruise that is in the beginning stages of recovery; and they are described as sad and uncertain. From this, it is noticeable that the loss of Lenore has left him feeling exactly that: sad and uncertain. This bruise of his "thrilled" him, because it opened the door to thoughts and feelings the character had never ventured before. As the narrator thought about opening the door of insecurities to whatever was knocking at them he becomes excited and terrified at the same time. To calm his fears, he repeats to himself that he's sure nothing will come out of it.
Conclusions
Poe's personal state of mind and psychological conditions seem to have helped him in composing this poem. Edgar Allen Poe, who lost his mother rather early, then his foster mother, and father, his much-loved wife, transported a miserable mood to his poem. At the same time, the poem passes this desponding temper to readers. It is noticed that The Raven possesses a feeling of solitude, despair and misery that shifts from the narrator to readers throughout the narration of the poem.
The more we read the poem, the better we understand Poe's psychology. If we initially notice fear, then going down from line to line, we feel despair and hopelessness, and till the last lines, the poem can even cause the feeling of sympathy to the narrator, presumably towards Poe unfortunate destiny.
References:
1. Mabbott, Th. O., Cestre, Jacques, Ch. and B. (2021). Edgar Allan Poe. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edgar-Allan-Poe
2. Rehman, N. (2021). Explore The Raven. https://poemanalysis.com/edgar-allan-poe/the-
raven
3. Poe, E. A. (1942). The Raven and other poems, Columbia University Press.
4. Poe, E. A. (1846). The Philosophy of Composition, Graham's Magazine.
5. Bloom, H. (2006). Bloom's Modern Critical Views: Edgar Allan Poe, Updated Edition InfoBase Publishing, NY.
Бюллетень науки и практики / Bulletin of Science and Practice Т. 7. №6. 2021
https://www.bulletennauki.com https://doi.org/10.33619/2414-2948/67
6. Johnson, B., González, B. J., Porten, L., Valens, K., & Butler, J. (2014). The Barbara Johnson Reader. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv125jkw7
7. Greenspan, E. (1997). Review. Nineteenth-Century Literature, 52(3), 374-377. https://doi.org/10.2307/2934001
8. Hughes, J. (2001). Poe's Resentful Soul. Poe Studies /Dark Romanticism, 32(1-2).
Список литературы:
1. Mabbott Th. O., Cestre Jacques, Ch. and B. Edgar Allan Poe. Encyclopedia Britannica. 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edgar-Allan-Poe
2. Rehman N. Explore The Raven, 2021. https://poemanalysis.com/edgar-allan-poe/the-raven
3. Poe E. A. The Raven and other poems. Columbia University Press, 1942.
4. Poe E.A. The Philosophy of Composition. Graham's Magazine, 1846.
5. Bloom H. Bloom's Modern Critical Views: Edgar Allan Poe, Updated Edition InfoBase Publishing. NY, 2006.
6. Johnson B., González B. J., Porten L., Valens K., Butler J. The Barbara Johnson Reader. 2014. https://doi .org/10.2307/j.ctv125j kw7
7. Greenspan E. Review // Nineteenth-Century Literature. 1997. V. 52. №3. 374-377. https://doi.org/10.2307/2934001
8. Hughes J. Poe's Resentful Soul // Poe Studies / Dark Romanticism. 2001. V. 32. №1-2.
Работа поступила Принята к публикации
в редакцию 16.05.2021 г. 20.05.2021 г.
Ссылка для цитирования:
Mukhamedova Sh. The Nomadic Mood of Loneliness Embodied in The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe // Бюллетень науки и практики. 2021. Т. 7. №6. С. 562-565. https://doi .org/10.33619/2414-2948/67/74
Cite as (APA):
Mukhamedova, Sh. (2021). The Nomadic Mood of Loneliness Embodied in The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. Bulletin of Science and Practice, 7(6), 562-565. https://doi.org/10.33619/2414-2948/67/74
