Sunday, November 23, 2008

Journal #18 Reaction - Writing


Edgar Allan Poe, who was known as an author of horror genre, wrote this poem The Raven in 1845. Although there were not yet horror movies at that time, this poem expressed well grotesque atmosphere just like Tim Burton’s film. This poem, which is composed of 18 paragraph, effectively conveyed the sound and image of a raven. The repetition of the words such as napping, tapping, and rapping, was weird like a raven’s cry. The adjectives like dreary, weary, and ghastly help easily imagine a black raven. As a result, this poem’s sounds and images made me feel fear of death.
A raven’s sound made me imagine death. The repetition of the word, “nevermore”, seemed like that the raven said it was dead. Also, the words like beating, repeating, and entreating made me feel nervous. It seemed like that this poem said we had to hurry because the death was the end. In conclusion, this poem was using strong internal rhymes, so I could feel different when I read aloud. When I read with an eye, I could feel not nervous but fearful. However, if I hear someone read aloud, I felt not only horrible but also tense.
A black raven was a symbol of scary and fearful death. This poem‘s atmosphere was dark, so it made angel shown as a ghost. The angel’s name was Lenore, and the repetition of Lenore made this poem’s atmosphere felt more and more weary. The death usually imagined the grief, but this poem made me know that the fear was more glamorous than the grief. After I read this poem, I thought fear feeling might be simpler and cleaner than sad feeling. Thus, this poem made me think the death was a very significant and elegant.

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