Edward G Pettit

I very much enjoyed this short essay by Dana Gioia on Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.”

The time and setting of "The Raven" are as much a part of the story as the actions that take place. (In Poe's work the physical setting often reflects the inner personality or emotion of the central character.) The poem begins at midnight in December–the last moment of a spent day in the final month of the year. Internally and externally, it is a time of death and decay. Even the "dying" fireplace embers reflect the moribund atmosphere. The setting is contained and claustrophobic–a single room. The narrator himself mirrors the time and locale. "Weak and weary," he seems trapped in his richly furnished prison. He hopes for the morning–the return of light and life–but tonight all he can do is brood on his dead love, "the lost Lenore," and feel the tangible horror of his current situation.

I think I’m going to have my students read this piece (along with the poem) in my Advanced Comp class this semester. Gioia focuses on the narrative force and the effects of the symbolic images in the poem, rather than just prosody. Just as Mallarmé could only translate “The Raven” into prose, I think the kinds of things Gioia writes about can be very easily adapted to students writing prose.

Today's reading is by Vincent Price: