Edgar Allen Poe Critical Analysis

I read Leland Pearson's analysis on Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven," and found it quite an interesting read.

One point Leland Pearson made that I found interesting was that Leland said:

"The raven, like the poem with which it is synonymous, utters a word whose meaning must be interpreted, although this is not to say that the raven is the author of the word "Nevermore." The bird is really identical with the word it speaks, since it possesses no intentionality and no other words. Poe himself, in fact, explicitly links the student with the reader, maintaining that the "revolution of thought or fancy, on the lover's part (near the end of the poem), is intended to induce a similar one on the part of the reader---to bring the mind into a proper frame for the denouement---which is now brought about as rapidly and as directly as possible. David Halliburton calls the relationship between the bird a the student a "reciprocity," but the relationship is not truly reciprocal, since the student controls the meaning of the bird's utterance---what Poe calls the "effect of the variation of application."

Basically Leland is saying that what the bird says fits his physique, and that Poe keeps that mindset and descriptions throughout the entire poem.

One more point that Leland made that I also liked was that he said:

"Not simply the effect of the raven's utterance, but its meaning derives from the subjective process of "linking fancy unto fancy." Michael Williams has observed that "in 'the Raven,' as in Poe's works generally, (the ideal sign) is revealed as a function of interpretive desire." The same thing can be said about "The Philosophy of Composition," for in the process of reading and rewriting the poem in that essay, Poe makes it clear that the intention, or effect, of both reading and writing is an "air of consequence." Poe notes at one point in the essay that the "next desideratum was a pretext for the continuous use of the one word 'nevermore,'" but in fact the only "pretext," at least for the raven's speech, is the poem or composition---actually a series of compositions---in which the word is inscribed. Pretext and text become the same."

The point that the author was trying to make I think was that no matter if Poe rewrote "The Raven," he would still have the same effect on people by having the raven say evermore continually.

Therefore, I do agree with what Leland Pearson said regarding the Raven, and also that the poem cannot be duplicated and will always have the same effect on people, no matter the age or how old the poem is.

I did like the poem, as I have said previously, and believe that many of the points that the author of the criticism made make sense, and agree with many of them. The Raven was a very cool poem, but also creepy. Despite the creepiness, I feel that I could read the poem over and over again.