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Effective Use Of Imagery In Edgar Allen Poe's Poetry

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Poe’s relatively depressing poem revolves around that of a tormented soul where Edgar Allen Poe alludes to his past filled with sorrow and agony. At first glance, the poem is increasingly saddening and causes the reader to feel pity towards Poe. Diction is the culprit of causing such emotion because the words chosen only make the reader feels Poe’s loneliness instead of any other emotion. Used in the line “From the same source I have not taken my sorrow-”, Poe builds up the negative connotation and includes it in this line. As all the other children find love and passion and joy, Poe finds his sorrow from other sources. This statement then casts the idea that Poe was not like the other children, so the reader then questions who or what Poe …show more content…

That is what the demon helped symbolize, his impure life. However, numerous examples of imagery also help to heighten the theme of the poem. The phrase -“I could not bring my passions from a common spring— from the same source I have not taken my sorrow”- adds to the theme in that Poe chose to look elsewhere and was only to take sorrow instead of a positive passion. However, this was due to past choices as well, but more importantly, his description of a common spring and another source of sorrow help the reader picture children all following the same path and happy while there is another child in the corner isolating him from normality and social interaction. This use of imagery also helps the reader interpret another theme in which Poe believes that people as a whole have to be more open to an uncomfortable situation because it could have negative effects in the future. Ultimately, Poe is a demented person who had lost himself throughout his path, but through his mistakes Poe advocates the correct choices that must be made, even if he was just completely

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