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THE TRANSCENDENTAL MOTIF WITHIN THE SYMBOLIC SYSTEM OF EDGAR A. POE'S «THE RAVEN»
Berberyan Anna Andranikovna, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don
E-mail: annaberberyan@inbox.ru
Abstract. The article examines the transcendental motive within Edgar A. Poe's poem 'The Raven'. It concerns the metaphorical symbolic system within the literary work and the arrangement of the aesthetic space.
Key words: Edgar A. Poe, 'The Raven', poem, transcendental, motif.
Transcendental 'borderline' is a special polysemantic concept that has been relevant throughout history. Priests and druids, astronomers and numerous amateurs, all of them tried to look beyond the invisible border that lies between the worlds. The very boundary-determining phenomenon is regarded as a transitional state or potential environment located between any specific areas, speculative definitions and casual, mundane categories. [1] It is characterized by discreteness, bipolarity and contrast variability. One may reach it having experienced a number of crisis phenomena that are to be perceived, examined and analyzed. When it comes to the borderline, S. Khoruzhy states: 'An ontologic borderline or brink paradigm are considered to be the suspended, prolong stay in both mutually exclusive poles simultaneously. A person finds oneself in need of making a vitally crucial choice, but the very moment of choosing slows a lot' [3].
A concept of the transcendental boundary turns out to be vividly displayed within the literary studies. A character experiences the feelings of emptiness, unawareness and perplexity. In search of an answer to the question of being, one seeks to shift from the physical materiality to the plane of human consciousness, from being to non-being. A protagonist turns to one's inner state to find the requisite answers in the bins of the mind. Thus, the motif of transcendence itself raises a philosophical question regarding the existence of the 'other' worlds (Beyonder), the issue of immortality of the soul and others, related to the unexplored subconscious. The phenomenon of metaphysical border within a literary work refers to the categories of faith, aesthetic sense of verity, research interest. To fulfill the boundary-determining motif, an author implements a wide range of tools, oftentimes these devices turn out to be the symbols.
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Edgar A. Poe's 'The Raven' was published in January 29, 1845 in the New York daily newspaper 'Evening Mirror'. Using vivid epithets like 'mortal', 'ghastly', 'lonely' etc. the author sets a gloomy and macabre atmosphere. It is alliteration that also contributes to it: 'morrow - sorrow'; 'rare-radiant' etc.; therefore, the poet makes sharp, dynamic, gradual and progressive rhythm immersing a reader into a kind of hypnotic state. Alongside it, the narrator repeats rhythmically: 'suddenly there came a tapping...rapping, rapping at my chamber door' [4, p. 707], that is you can hear particular metaphysical sounds, i.e. the knock, that the narrator hears, is as sedate as the repeated phonemes.
It is relevant to move forward to the symbolic system of the poem, as it reveals the transcendental motif most clearly. Firstly, the time of year and day are to be noted. The action of the story takes place in 'midnight dreary' [4, p. 707] and in 'bleak December' [4, p. 707]. December is a month of transition to a new year; midnight is the transition to a new day. The epithets 'dreary' and 'bleak' are forming a specific aesthetic space. The narrator is reading and it makes him lethargic; it is a key plot point since the protagonist is getting close to a transcendent boundary, he is 'nearly napping' [4, p. 707]. Thus, there is an issue whether he is already sleeping (having crossed the metaphysical border) or still awake when he hears a knock on a door.
The protagonist defines the interdimensional connection quite obviously further through the binary opposition: ' ...whom the angels name Lenore.. .nameless here for evermore. [4, p. 707] It becomes clear that he adheres to the Christian religious paradigm, and he hints that, most likely, Lenore is in Heaven, while the narrator is 'here'. This category ('here') is blurred, but later the character, having met the raven, wonders 'whether Tempter sent...' [4, p. 709] it. Thus, the opposition of Heaven and Hell (where Tempter dominates) is stated; it turns out that being 'here', a narrator is between two opposite 'worlds'; and it confirms the motif of transcendence. Besides, there is a specific semantic field made up that includes such lexical units as 'angels', 'mystery', 'saintly', 'blessed' etc. that also refer to the religious paradigm.
Another significant transcendental symbol is a door. 'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door' [4, p. 707], the narrator expects to see a potential guest when he opens a door, a transcendental gateway, at some point. Thus, he lets one come and barge into his thoughts. Nevertheless, all he sees is darkness; he is plunging into it when he faces the Raven's arrival abruptly. He compared it with 'lord or lady', that is, he immediately personified this creature. It is worth noting that the Raven fits into the aesthetic space created by the narrator: 'ghastly grim and ancient Raven' [4, p. 708], the narrator describes it. Moreover, the image of the Raven is also ambivalent, the protagonist calls it a 'bird or beast' [4, p. 708]. On the one hand, a raven is an animate object of the material world, tangible and real. From the mythological point of view, a raven is a trickster associated with the Underground zone (it eats corpses intended for burial, has a black 'earthy' color) [2]. Anyhow, the narrator asks a reasonable question that refers to the origin of this bird. Thus, he tries to speculate on it rationally and makes the assumption that the Raven might have lived
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with the 'unhappy master' [4, p. 709]. But then he concludes that this bird is 'a thing of evil' [4, p. 709].
The protagonist seeks to ask about his beloved, whether they are to meet in the afterlife. Therefore, the Raven response with 'Nevermore' [4, p. 708]. This lexical and semantic unit is the final one within the stanza, that is, it is not only an answer to the questions of the narrator, but a culmination of the idea as well. 'Nevermore' rises above both the real and other worlds and dominates them. Having received a vague answer to his questions, the narrator decides to expel the bird from his home and consciousness, but the boundary remains open: '...Raven...still is sitting' [4, p. 710]. The bird does not fly away and the character concludes: 'And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor shall be lifted - nevermore' [4, p. 710]. The lexical unit 'lifted' is especially noteworthy in that case, i.e. the soul of the narrator, this metaphysical phenomenon, will not be able to reach the image of Lenore in Heaven. Thus, he answers his own question. It is reasonable to suggest that the Raven is a subconscious part of the narrator's mind, and everything that has happened within the plot is just a dream, which the protagonist was plunging into while reading. Therefore, the bird tends to be an image of our unexplored subconscious that gives us the necessary answers.
Moving forward to conclusion, 'The Raven' is a complex and multifaceted literary and philosophical work. The symbolic system, intricate and dynamic, entails the ambivalence of interpretation; moreover, the duality appears from the very beginning, which makes both the planes of content and expression more thrilling and compound. The transcendental motif is manifested in the poem clearly due to the vivid symbolic images, moreover, they form a certain aesthetic space, peculiar to many works of this writer.
Литература:
1. Граханов Денис Александрович Понятие пограничности: к постановке философской проблемы // Вестник ЧелГУ. - 2012. - № 4 (258).
2. Философов Игорь Юрьевич Волчьи, вороньи и змеиные мотивы в древнескандинавской символике оружия // Изв. Сарат. ун-та Нов. сер. Сер. История. Международные отношения. - 2010. - № 2.
3. Хоружий С.С. Неотменимый антропоконтур. Философия Кьеркегора как антропология размыкания // Вопр. философии. - 2010. - № 6. - С. 161.
4. Poe E.A. The works of Edgar Allan Poe. - Longmeadow Press, 1985. - 757
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