Use Of Literary Devices In Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven

May her memory be blessed. In “The Raven”, Edgar Allan Poe uses many literary devices to create the author’s mood. Poe uses repetition the most to create a focal point on the most important phrases of each stanza. Other important literary devices that Poe exploits in his poem include allusion and internal rhyme.

Poe incorporates repetition in every single stanza the poem: “rapping at my chamber door… tapping at my chamber door...sorrow for the lost Lenore…whom the angels name Lenore...” (4-5, 10-11). The author repeats the fourth and fifth line of every single stanza to create a tense mood which generates suspense. Repetition is important in any written work since the reader will more likely focus on the duplicated phrases once and will, therefore, pay the greatest attention to the most valuable and essential words.

Another literary device that Edgar Allan Poe encompasses in his poem is allusion. The use of allusion in any poem is to aid the reader’s understanding in what the author’s mood is. For example, the author writes as follows: “Respite-respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore/ Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore/ Quoth the Raven ‘Nevermore’ ” (82-84). This fits the poem extremely well since nepenthe is a drug, introduced

The general mood of his poem is imprisonment of grief; Poe’s use of internal rhyme creates a more imaginary feeling. The author is attempting to escape from “The Raven” so he attempts to make the memory more imaginary; the type of thing one can easily escape from. “The Raven” has two unique internal rhyme schemes – one in the 1st line of each stanza, and another in the 3rd line: “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary...While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping…” (1,3). This use of internal rhyme helps readers understand what Edgar Allan Poe is going