Essay on Edgar Allen Poe

Submitted By littledunlop
Words: 703
Pages: 3

Death: a permanent cessation of vital functions; the end of life. In Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories the most common theme is death. Every person has to experience death once in their life whether it is with a parent, sibling or friend. In the poem Annabel Lee the statement “I loved her to death” always seems to play on repeat in my head. Edgar talks of their love for each other. In the line “For we loved with a love that was more than love…” Edgar says that the bonds of their love were so strong that it cannot be affected by anything. He also states that their love was divine and it could not be compared to the definition of love. Then the poem says “That the wind came out of the cloud by night Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.” This line tells the reader that the narrators love has passed away. Another line that portrays the theme is “A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling my beautiful Annabel Lee; So that her highborn kinsman came and bore her away from me, to shut her up in a sepulcher in this kingdom by the sea.” This is explaining how the wind to the reader signifies death steals away his Annabel lee. The short story by Poe titled “The Raven” also has a theme of death. In the story the narrator and his beloved Lenore are so happy until the raven come at take Lenore away as told in this line from the story. "Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he hath sent thee Respite – respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore: Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!" Quoth , the Raven, "Nevermore." The bird kills Lenore and the narrator refers to the bird as evil "Prophet!" said I, “"thing of evil! - Prophet still, if bird or devil!” The narrator seems flabbergasted that the bird would to such a thing and then still stand proud outside of his door taunting him every day for the loss of his wife. The theme death ties into this story many times, but the one word “Nevermore” repeated throughout the story represents death and resentment to the reader. In the short story “the Black Cat” The theme of death is extremely tragic. The narrator starts by telling the reader about his cat, Pluto, and how their relationship is great for now. Then the man suddenly gets instant aggravation with the cat and ends up hanging the cat on a tree in his backyard. The he goes on and finds a new cat and his wife becomes quite fond of it, But again the narrator becomes annoyed with the cat. Then one day him and