The Impact on Poe?s Writing Edgar Allan Poe was an anti-transcendental writer that wrote dark, moving poetry throughout his lifetime. He paid close attention to creating a setting, as shown in the poem, The Raven, which developed the mood, conflict, and symbolic meaning.
The atmosphere of The Raven helps set the tone at the beginning of the poem. Poe builds a mystic, ?midnight dreary,? scene on a windy, December night. The speaker in the poem rests inside his chamber on a gloomy night while thinking of his past. The tone of the saddened speaker reveals the mood of the poem to be depressing and full of sorrow. He sulks by his lonesome self, and ?sought to borrow from [the] books surcease of sorrow.? The room remains silent until there is a tapping at his chamber door. The sadness in the room fills his body with terrors from his fears of being alone after the death of his beloved Lenore.
1848 Daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe at 39, a yea...
Edgar Allan Poe Museum (Richmond, Virginia)
Poe Cottage (LOC)Opening the door, he?s faced with nothing more than darkness and becomes frightened. Poe?s anti-transcendental characteristics include his negative outlook on death, which he describes as an evil action done by nature. Nature?s cycle of death leaves the poem dreary and upsetting as he faces the reality of the idea behind death and the pain that comes along with it. Like Poe, ?Transcendentalists viewed nature as a doorway to a mystical world holding important truths?.? However, he sees it in a negative view.
Setting and mood directly relate with the conflict of the poem. When the Raven comes knocking at the speaker?s door, he wishes for it to be Lenore. The pain he feels is an internal conflict that occurs because of Lenore?s death. He tries to connect the presence of the bird with God, hoping that he will once again...