Skip to main content

Who is haunting the man in the poem? What do you think is the purpose of this?

The narrator of the poem hears a knocking at his door, but it is December, and right around midnight, so it seems unlikely that this knocking would be coming from some natural source.  He has been in his room, reading, attempting to take his mind off of the death of his lover, Lenore, by perusing a "curious volume of forgotten lore" (line 2).  The silk curtains rustle, and his fire is dying, and these details contribute to the narrator's "terrors" and fear of what could be knocking at his door at this late and inhospitable hour (14).  When he opens the door, there is no one there, and he peers out, whispering Lenore's name.  He only hears her name echo back and nothing else.  Her spirit is the one haunting the narrator, though we cannot know if she has actually returned or if it is just her memory that haunts him.


This potential haunting certainly sets the mood of the text.  It is not merely sad, but also mysterious and strange and somewhat foreboding, as though something bad or scary is about to happen.  Further, the narrator's metaphysical pondering contributes to his later ability to read so much into the raven's presence as well as the one word the raven speaks, "'Nevermore'" (48).  He longs for some connection to Lenore, even if it is only the knowledge that "within the distant Aidenn, / [He] shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore [...]" (93-94).  Some reassurance that he will one day reunite with her in heaven would be enough for him.  Such fancies seem available in a poem with a mood like this one.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more