my introduction to gothic literature story summary

Poe may be alluding to Charles Dickens' Barnaby Rudge: ' What was that, him tapping at the door?' and been inspired by Dickens' raven, Grip Tapping at my chamber door: The chamber represents loneliness and sorrow. Nevermore - The name the narrator gives the bird when he refuses to leave, it becomes a warning that he will never again see Lenore (or get rid of the bird!) 'The death of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world.' Lost Lenore - Represents loss of his own loved ones: Poe's mother died and his wife Virginia suffered a long, painful illness. 'Whither Tempter sent' - Satan may have sent the raven 'Night's Plutonian shore' - Pluto, god of the underworld, referencing the raven as a messenger from the afterlife Pallas - The raven lands on the head of the bust representing Athena, the goddess of wisdom, meant to imply the narrator is a scholarĭecember and midnight - Month usually associated with dark forces, midnight in December could be New Year's eve, representing the brink of change or something new Hebrew folklore: Noah sends a white raven to check on weather conditions, but when he is late returning it turns black and is forced to feed on carrion forever.īook of Lore - Poe represents this as the scholar of the narrator, probably referencing books about the occult or black magic.Greek mythology: Ovid's The Metamorphoses of Ovid, tells of a white raven turned black by Apollo as punishment for delivering a message of a lover's betrayal.Various mythological and folklore allusions, including: Poe chose it for the bird's dramatic, melancholy qualities, representing 'mournful and never-ending remembrance.' The narrator's name-calling of the bird escalates into a rant by the narrator, including: wretch, thing of evil, ill-omen, prophet, devil. The Raven - The central symbol of the story that represents depression and evil. Poe employs rich symbols and allusions to deepen his reader's appreciation for the narrator's (or Poe's?) intellect. The Raven can speak, answering the man's question about his name with the word repeated: 'nevermore.' Is the whole scene an hallucination marking his quick decent into madness? He goes back to his chamber and hears tapping on his window, where appeared a stately Raven, who lands on the bust of Pallas above his chamber door.

Hoping it's his dead wife returning, all he hears is an echo. Lost Lenore - The dead wife, representing tragic lost love, referenced reverently as 'a radiant maiden' and ' a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore'Ī lonely man who misses his lost Lenore tries to distract his mind by reading old books, when he hears tapping at his door. The Raven - The non-reasoning creature is the main symbol of the poem, representing depression and death, who can speak (only one word) and won't leave the narrator alone! The narrator calls him many things, including: prophet, wretch, an ill-omen, thing of evil, 'whether tempter sent' (probably sent by Satan) and a lot-we mean a lot of suspenseful and even offensive emotional appeals.Narrator - A young scholar who reads books of 'lore' perhaps about the occult or black magic.a few otherworldly (usually from Hell) creatures.a crazy-evil villain with no apparent redeemable qualities.a creepy locale inspired by Medieval buildings.In 1764, Horace Walpole wrote The Castle of Otranto, and in it, he planted the seeds for every Gothic novel to follow: It took up all of these values and gave them…well…a shadier spin. Why are we yammering on about all this? Well, Gothicism was kind of the nightmarish kid sibling of Romanticism. Why get lost in a crowd when you could shine alone? Romantics were also super focused on the individual. Fuggedabout development and industry wilderness and the unknown is where it's at for them. They demanded that emotions be valued, and they sought to reclaim Imagination-with-a-capital-I. The Romantics were pretty sick of the Enlightenment and what they saw as its insistence on cool, detached interaction with the wider world. founding fathers tried to imbue the constitution with these values. Enlightenment thinkers had a lot of influence in the birth of America, and the U.S. Proponents of this movement valued objectivity, reason, and a light sherry. The 18th century nourished two opposing trends: Yep, that dyed hair has a centuries-old tradition behind it. We're guessing your list looks something like this:īut get this: behind the derivative black-and-spikey look is a movement that started in 1764. We're going to say a word, and you're going to tell us what it makes you think of.

My introduction to gothic literature story summary