The Loving Supernatural Death and Edgar Allen Poe

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The Loving Supernatural Death and Edgar Allen Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an editor, journalist, critic and a well known supernatural poet. In his work there is a common gothic and supernatural theme to a lot of his work. The reader is able to to distinguish this common theme throughout most of his work including The Raven and Annabel Lee. Poe uses the supernatural to show how strong the love was between the characters in his poems. Poe was a romantic poet and it shows throughout his writing.

Edgar Allan Poe made a career on poetry that has a supernatural and gothic feel. There is a reaccuring theme that involves death or the thought of it. Supernatural elements either occur before the death, be the cuase of death as in Annabel Lee and can occur after the death as with The Raven. He was a romantic poet and his poetry came from a place of emotion as well to cause an emotional response from the reader. Altschuler said “Poe was a remarkable writer– a master of prose, poetry and non-fiction–and an innovator of genres such as the detective and horror story.”

Poe says that the most universal and melencholy thing for mankind is death and is most poetical “When it most closely allies itself to Beauty: the death then of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world, and equally is it beyond doubt that the lips best suited for such topic are those of a bereaved lover.” The supernatural and gothic are not always considered to be scary but can come from a place of love or even used to show how deep a love can be.

Annabel Lee supernatural elements include his common theme, death. Annabel Lee is a story about her strong love told by the narrator, her lover. The supernatural comes in the form of the Angels killing her. The Angels were so jealous of how strong their love was that they killed her. Even in death their love could not be taken away. It was dark but can be considered beautiful. The love of the narrator and Annabel Lee was considered so strong that the Angels wanted it. They were soul mates and just like many tales told before it ended up a tragic love story.

To have so much work of Edgar Allen Poe have this dark feel makes sense from a point of view. The common factor of a losing a love one in some cases can bring out dark thoughts. In Annabel Lee the Angels were so jealous of their love and are blamed for the death. Giammarco writes “He is best known for his dark, gruesome depictions of emotionally haunted characters. His most famous poem, The Raven, exemplifies this style.” In the Raven the narrator at one point believes the raven was sent to him as torture for his lost love. His poems may be a little gothic but in times of grief minds can and will begin to wonder. Thoughts of losing a love one can turn to something or a supernatural element to blame for the loss as well as a mind playing tricks on themselves. Poe is able to use this very effectively.

In The Raven Edgar Allen Poe uses the same Supernatural theme filled with a lost love. The narrarotor has lost his love Lenore. He starts to hear some random knocking and eventually discovers a Raven when he opens his window. Now if the Raven is actually real or not is not known. The only reply the Raven will give the narrator is “Nevermore.” He thinks it was a learned word for the Raven but the more it says the more he feels its something else. The Raven is teasing him and was sent to him personally as a tourment for his lost love Lenore. The possible supernatural bird being sent and the lost love is a common thime that we saw in Annabel Lee as well.

Poe was accurate in the understanding that the darkest thing he could write about and everyone still understand was death. Losing a loved one is relatable for everyone at some point. Poe shows the supernatural as jealous of love causing death or using death to torment someone of a lost love. Using his supernatural elements to show this lost love was a brilliant way to show how strong it really was. The supernatural in The Raven and in the Annabel Lee uses the supernatural to push this point home.

Works Cited

Hutchisson, James M., and Branam, Amy C. Edgar Allan Poe : Beyond Gothicism . Lanham, Maryland: University of Delaware Press, 2011. Print. Accessed 23 December 2019

Poe, Edgar Allan. “Essay on Poetic Theory, ThePhilosohy of Composition” Poetryfoundation.Org. Published Oct 13, 2009. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69390/the-philosophy-of-composition. Accessed 23 December 2019

Giammarco, Erica. “Edgar Allan Poe: A Psychological Profile.” Personality and Individual Differences 54.1 (2013): 3–6. Web. Accessed 23 December 2019

Altschuler, Eric Lewin. “Informed Consent in an Edgar Allen Poe Tale.” The Lancet 362.9394 (2003): 1504–1504. Web. Accessed 23 December 2019

Poe, Edgar Allan, “The Raven” poets.org, https://poets.org/poem/raven Accessed 24 December 2019

Poe, Edgar Allan, “Annabel Lee” Poets.org, https://poets.org/poem/annabel-lee Accessed 24 December 2019