Done and Dusted

Well Finished Now.

And I thought that I’d post everything up on here.

Rays of Expectation
Shannon Das

Conjured up and vision bleary, the sun’s rays are seen all but clearly,
To manifest a heinous haze, of which has choked and bor’d,
Aghast, the haze seeks the inner, albeit the worse than grimmer,
So forth, snaring, struggling, startling the victim to the floor,
It is deemed as some weakness and to be ignored,
Solitude, strength, certainty is here, forevermore.

Questioned by none other,
So desperately feared;
One after another,
They are solely endeared.

But what is the smallest, and needs the sun to the greatest?
For the sun’s radiant rays are its very ore,
Without these rays, the famine starts; all function parts.
Henceforth, the greater structure trances into a solemn snore,
So to endure such pain and false hope, I wonder, wherefore?
The humble leaf of life that I speak of is now and forevermore.

Questioned by none other,
So desperately feared;
One after another,
They are solely endeared.

Destined to such dashing heights, the exposed world is full of frights,
So open, so alone, this sole leaf has all but to explore,
A wild wind here makes it dance, yet a dry day leaves things to chance,
Surely, this leaf must seek to go indoors?
Away from the wild winds and the dry days,
Away from the turmoil; it wants only this forevermore.

Questioned by none other,
So desperately feared;
One after another,
They are solely endeared.

But its need for this sovereign sun has all but begun;
Such desire for this treasure is lost in awe,
Necessity prevails as success almost certainly fails,
So that the lack of this radiant figure creates uproar,
Transforming this leaf to such sore;
Change will be forced to occur forevermore

Questioned by none other,
So desperately feared;
One after another,
They are solely endeared.

Wilted and now shredding, this leaf has come to dreading,
The state of its lived life and its grown sore,
No longer is it the young bud; loosely covered in mud,
But now a sage to all attained lore,
As it sways, its knowledge, it does indeed out pour,
Wisdom is, endless here, forevermore.

Questioned by none other,
So desperately feared;
One after another,
They are solely endeared.

Throughout these delirious days, this leaf is completing its maze,
Pondering on thoughts that it is yet to explore,
This time is spent whilst growing, definitely slowing,
Pondering these thoughts of wherefore,
“Where art thou? – My precious saviour”
Its life is destined to these thoughts now and forevermore.

Questioned by none other,
So desperately feared;
One after another,
They are solely endeared.

But a leaf cannot be this plain; its essence, it cannot refrain,
To take these rays of light, and create magic to implore.
It is a true master of this skill; a definite conviction of freewill,
As useful as Chiron, the great centaur;
Hark to these qualities that have gently flown to the floor.
Solitude, strength, certainty is here, forevermore.

Questioned by none other,
So desperately feared;
One after another,
They are solely endeared.

Statement of Rationale:
The two dominant symbolisms that I have employed through the text are the sun and the leaf. In my text, they are in a symbiotic relationship with one another; whereby if one is altered, the other changes. Therefore, the leaf represents the main character; small and a part of a greater system. The greater system is the sun which symbolises the main character’s emotions. So what I’m getting at here is the main character is completely dominated by his emotions and lacking in rational thought.
With that in mind, my purpose for my appropriation was to look at the denying of a vital necessity in another context. So in the original Raven, the main character is denied the right to express rational though due to grieving over his late wife. I wanted to experience this type of separation in something that I could understand; having never been in a relationship like the main character, I had to choose something that made sense to me. That’s where I got the metaphor of the leaf and sun.
I think that I have achieved my purpose in most parts of the appropriations; most of it made enough sense so that my classmates could understand what I was talking about. The parts that didn’t make as much sense to them were parts that I refer to as ‘line-fillers’. These were lines where nothing seemed to fit into place and I had to choose the closest meaning in accordance to the rhyme/meter of the poem.
Due to the purely arbitrary nature of this task, I was able to delve into issues that I found interesting. Therefore, one of the main things that I gained from this assignment was understanding the feelings of this main character; something that I had a lot of trouble doing through my own means. Through the metaphor that I employed, I was able to look at the main character trough a perspective that I could understand.

But what is the smallest, and needs the sun to the greatest?

Being tentative just isn’t my thing. As all of you will have no doubt seen, I haven’t written a post in quite some time. Partially becuase I have been busy on the days that I would write my posts, but mainly because I’d decided to take a different route in terms of writing a post. As the length between the last post and this one would indicate, I’ve been thinking about what I am going to write.

It’s almost as if I’ve completely undermined the metaphor that I used in my last post of the ‘diving board’; willing myself to go do it, I take the risk and plunge. It appears as though I have done the complete opposite of that by being tentative and unsure of what to write. I’m not sure whether I’ve had a lull in terms of my creative and reflective train of thoughts, but I haven’t felt particularly sure of which path to venture down and continue my journey that is extension English.

I know that I could have spoke to my teacher, Dr. Shann, about the issues that I was/am facing, but it just didn’t dawn on me that I was in a bit of a predicament;where nothing was flowing into my mind that I could talk about. It was only when he said that, “Shannon you’ve gone silent”, that I realised that I had been very unproductive for the past few days and hadn’t collected myself into a working state. Incidentally, it was then I came to the quick decision that this hibernation that I had employed, where I looked to gather my thoughts, was just not going to work because it simply wasn’t me. I don’t think there has ever been a time where I’ve sat down to write a reflective piece of writing where I’ve covered all the points that I’d thought of. Usually, I pick something and write down whatever comes to my head. This way, I am not restricted to a certain train of though and write whatever comes to my head, so that I can then bring it all back together. It seems to work a whole lot better than this new method that I’d thought up. I’m really not sure why I decided to change my reflective writing method when it had previously been working so well for me. Oh well, I thought that I’d clear that up before I get into my actual post for today.

On with the show.

So with due date for the submission of the appropriations very rapidly approaching, I thought that it’d be a good idea to use a method that Dr. Shann told me about. It stems off the issues that I had originally had in terms of ambiguity and vagueness of the subject matter. They weren’t really issues, but certain troubles that I had in understanding what parts were good and what parts needed working on. When I read the appropriation to the class and left it to open season and got that initial response from everyone, I came to the conclusion that I was on the right track; just a few nuts and bolts needed a good tightening. I say that because, in culmination, the class got the feeling, symbolisms and nearly all the specific literary techniques that I had placed in there. For example but not limited to, Daniel P alluded to derogatory sarcasm in one of his comments about it; I was really surprised that it was brought up because it was one of the less obvious facets that I had laced into the appropriation. The quote he was referencing was:

So forth, snaring, struggling, startling the victim to the floor,
Tis deemed as some weakness and to be ignored,
Solitude, strength, certainty is here, forevermore.

If I were not to have written this, I would have no hope of detecting the intended sarcasm in this extract. But I have written  it and, to me, it’s obvious. So just a breif exaplaination of this. You’ve got the negatively portrayed “snaring, struggling, startling the victim to the floor”, which is then retorted with those actions as being “ignored”. And after that is the sarcastic part where despite the negative actions “Solitude, strength, certainty is here, forevermore”.

That was just one example of the class coming together to make a meaning of the appropriation; there were many others. The thing that alarms me is the uncertainty at which some of my classmates approached their interpreation. This tells me that there is still a lot of work to do on the appropriation before it is ready to be submitted.

The fact that I had ‘completed’ it so early meant that I was able to coast for a while, which really didn’t help my prospects. When I relfect on what I have done for this task I am reminded of the quote

If you’re coasting, you’re either losing momentum or else you’re headed downhill. ~ Joan Welsh

I don’t think that I’m headed downhill per se but I do think that the first part of the quote sums up my assignment to a tea. I’ve let things a bit late and now I’ve got to cram for the due date on Tuesday. Bu this time around, if I treat this as a fresh start, having gathered all my thoughts up again, through this post, I’ve got a plan.

So the first thing’s first is that I’m going to use Dr. Shann’s method and take a line (s) from the approppriation and just simply talk about it, just as I did a few paragraphs ago. This will help me to see whether I am actually understanding what I’ve written.

But what is the smallest, and needs the sun to the greatest?

Ok so this is the first line to the opening stanza and as you can imagine is still in a slight mood setting phase. I’ve purposely juxtaposed this stanza with the first and second stanza of the original Raven. Becuase I’ve written a heavily simplified version, not every stanza is alluded to in this. So the first and second stanza of the original go something along the lines of:

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`’Tis some visitor,’ I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.’

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; – vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow – sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.”

Before I get into the paralleling of both text, I would like to briefly talk about the the two dominant symbolisms that I have employed through the text’ the sun and the leaf. In this quote ‘the smallest’ eventuates to this leaf figure and the sun is… well, the sun. In my text, the are in a symbiotic relationship with one another; whereby if one is altered, they other changes. That doesn’t quite happen in life, but you get the idea. Therefore, the leaf represents the main character; small and apart of a greater system. The greater system is the sun which symbolises the main character’s emotions. So what I’m getting at here is the main character is completely dominated by his emotions and lacking in rational thought.

Back to the quote, I have chosen to represent, initially, the main character as a leaf; something that is insignificant and apart of the greater system, a tree or plant. The only way this leaf can survive is through the sun or the main characters emotions; he is an emotionally driven person. This is reflected in the later stages of the poem, where reflection and emotion are the only way it can deal with its life. It must sounds pretentious, considering it is a leaf, something that doesn’t actually have a brain or speak for that matter.

In the the Raven, this notion of being an emotionally charged person is exemplified also. Initially, we are introduced to this main character who is performing the mundane task of having to sift through “volumes of forgotten lore”. But interestingly, he calls them quaint and curious. I have taken this as an inkling to the fact that he doesn’t really have a life. So not knowing, of whether this was a common practice or not (the sifting through of lore), possibly a 19th century nerd?

So, therefore, he possibly lacks a social life and the loss of his only social possession, his wife, accentuates the strong emotions that he actually has.

It may seem as though I have moved away a great deal from the quote that I’m s’pose to be discussing, but this is exactly what I’m talking about when I say that I have compressed this so tightly.

So before this gets any longer, which I’m sure it could have, I’m going to call it a day. I think it’s amazing though, I move back to my old process of writing reflective writing, and I just can’t seem to stop; put it this way, it’s been a massive effort to finish this post, because so many ideas have all come flowing back into my head. It’s a proven method; writing everything that comes into your head and then relating it all together, as opposed to trying to think stuff up off the top of your head actually works.

Last Thursday’s Session

So this is probably going to be a slightly shorter post than usual, mainly because I was a bit lazy and hadn’t reflected on my presentation that I had did in class last thurday.

Without further adieu.

I can describe my experience of thursday as something that I have never done before. And, as consequence, something that I am relieved to have completed.

I can describe my experience in a simple but highly applicable metaphor.

Like toes on the edge of a diveboard, Shaking and gittering, as they clasp, The very edge of this rocking platform. Rocking and bouncing this platform shakes, It appears so violent, but those are your nerves. Willing yourself to do it, But your body just says no, But soon enough, there is now a queue So surely now, you must go.

So that’s how I felt prior to this lesson commencing, let alone my various plannings on what I would talk about on the night before. I wasn’t overly confident and this was by no means helped by the two previous presentations of Will and Amani.

But, as it so often does, time went very quickly and I found myself pacing around room 101 attempting to remember what I was going to talk about. I could feel my face turn to a very awkward shade of red and, before long, everyone was seated and ready to get on with the show.

Your toes now curl around the rocking board, all eyes now begin to stare so emptily. There is the queue behind and the the masses below. You think, it is now or never. Creeping forward, the nerves sitr a buzz, willing, thrilling but now easing. Your mind clears as you like it. Plunge. Your choice is made.

Now, it’s almost as if the minute Dr. Shann said, “we’re ready, when you are”, that cleared my mind. All the thoughts that had binded me so tightly up dissapered and I had a clear mind. Albeit, a red face, but a certainly a clear mind.

The freefalling journey is one that takes you down. And yet, diffuses in different directions. As you gracefully tumble, your body contorts itself into so many positions. Odd, they are, but they seem so natural. As if that’s the comfortable way to go.

I meandered my way vaguely through the points that I wanted to discuss. And all seemed to be going fine. I had everyone’s attention and no one seemed to be dozing or interested in other occurrences. I dunno why that was, because even though I tried to make my presentation as appealing as possible by not speaking in a monotone, I was, in the end, talking about stuff that no one had any clue on. BUT I should have seen it coming… disaster.

As you begin to feel the comfort of falling, you now begin to wonder. Meanless and themeless thoughts of which only time kill. So boring, it is, to fall and contort, you find something to do. Until, you see the water.

It seems as though the combination of seeing the finish line of this presentation and seeing people just start to drift of brought me to an abrupt halt in my thought processes. When I saw some of my classmates become preoccupied in other things, I took the hint, that I needed to move on. The problem was though, I hadn’t finished talking about that point and to move on so quickly put me off course.

This vast of great blue beckons you into its clutches. Swirling and crashing, you see all its violence. Fear spreads as in your turns, you see only glimpses that spark your fear. Closer and closer you see your very own demise. The ill-thoughts brew as you ponder anew. As if it appears on slow motion, you brace for impact.

It was a painful thing to go through; I new that I was struggling to articulate myself and yet I new that I had to push on through. I still don’t know what really happened. But it was as if my brain had ceased to function and all that I could come up with was slurry of repetition. Luckily though I was saved.

The first seconds under the water are the most painful. Lacking of direction, amidst the blue murk, you search for the way out. Twisting and turning and a feeling to scream, only to release all this precious air. Fear entreats your demeaner as the seconds pass. Until you slowly start to rise. Confused and fearful, your slight body begins to rise so that the water is breached and you can now breathe.

I was really lucky because it wasn’t too long before Dr. Shann released what was happening and very quickly came to my aid. It was such a relief and I could continue on with the main part of my presentation; my appropriation.

So the appropriation. This was the part of the presentation that I was looking forward to. And, incidentally, where my metaphor ends. So I came into class with the dieing need to have an answer to one question; was/is my appropriation too ambiguous.

So I read it through for the first time and was really surprised by the reaction that I had got when I looked up from my page. Everyone was motionless, Dr. Shann’s mouth was slightly open and his eyes staring directly at me. I was extremely confused. Had I said something bad, mispronounced a word accidentally, or was there something going on behind me. It was as if I had committed a felony and the class was the jury. I felt as though this incredibly awkward silence could have gone on for the rest of the lesson.

The ice was broken when Dr. Shann had a quick talk about it and then asked my classmates what their interpretations were of it. His voice cutting the silence was almost like a godsend for me at that time and I began to relax again. UNTIL…

The first few of my classmates remarked that, when it was time to give their interpreation, that they had ‘no clue’. One or two and I would have been fine, it’s just that there were at least 4-5 boys that said that and made me really anxious.

But what a rollercoaster this has been. Just as I was loosing all hope, the boys began to relise things and almost develop an appreciation for it. I can’t come up with specific examples of this. But by the second time of reading, it appeared as though everyone had their own opinion and interpreation of it. My confidance was begining to storm back in the droves. And this was accentuated by the fact that the boys sources of interpreations were coming from textual devices and alusiosn that I had directly laced into it.

It was almost as if the initial few boys were almost scared to express their opinions in the case that they would be ridiculed.

Written enough for now.

But I emphasise, what a rollercoaster this is. For a course that only has 4 lessons a cycle… it’s intense.

Lenore…Again!

After the trouble(s) that I faced with the original Lenore, I feel especially tentative about this post on the Lenore portrayed in the film.

I still haven’t got a meaning for the original Lenore. And this is after my endeavors trying to seek a meaning from myself, rather than one from Poe’s contexts.

You may ask why I would venture down this path again; one that has previously cuased me so much trouble. But it simply must be done, because I need to vent anger once again at this film.

Mindless anger is not the trend that I want to get across here. But I think I need to get all my concerns off my chest before I look at text culture, value(s) for this film. Lacing my findings of text culture, value(s) with continued venting, is probably not the best way to articulate my thoughts.

So. All that having been said,

It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?’

I think not!

After watching Corman’s film version of The Raven, there is no better way to say this other than to say that, “I feel violated’

The portrayal of Lenore as a gold-digging, self centered, and emotionless (woman) was, is, and will be a major shock to me. And further instills a dieing hatred of this film that will make never watch this film for entertainment purposes AGAIN.

I say that I feel violated because, as a Poe fan, I have come to adore this mysterious and yet beautiful woman or, for that matter, idea. To have depicted her as the aforementioned qualities is something that I can’t strike an accord with, so, as you can imagine, it just makes me angry.

Yeah sure, it’s just a movie. But the other reason that I wrote this post was to work out why this ‘value’ from Corman has fired me up so much. I’ve toyed with a few ideas, none of which are worthwhile and detailed enough to detail. Except for one relates to empathy created by the original Raven.

I wouldn’t be getting this fired up over the film if I hadn’t built up such a high value for the original text, right; I feel violated becuase something that i love to bits has been tranformed into something that is so ‘ill-desired’ by me. With this in

With this in mind, I think that I’ve got to a point where I’ve got a single example of that happening. In the original text, I empathise with the narrator because he is in such a saddened state and I would feel to need console him, had he been a real person. The source of his feeling is the loss of his ‘beautiful, radiant, and elegant’, wife. Now, because of this established empathy, it’s almost as if me and the narrator are linked in some odd way. To have Lenore portrayed as a gold digger and only after the wealth of the narrator plays on me, just as it plays on the narrator. It’s also interesting to note the fact that by the end of the film, when Lenore tries to regain Dr. Craven’s love (the grieving husband), and he of course rejects her, just how much my mood changes. Hmm. It’s almost as I get muddled up been appropriation and text to some degree.

Well I’ve highlighted everything that I wanted to say in this post; it probably hasn’t made a great deal of sense, considering that all that is written above is just me trying to make sense of my own emotions generated form this film.

I’ve vented all the anger off my chest that has accumulated from this film and now, I think, I can move onto looking at some of the reasonings behind it and looking, to a greater depth, why this has clashed with me. What culture, and values have changed from then to now.

My own appropriation as it stand curently

So yeah. Since my last post on my appropriation, I’ve written three more stanzas. And I’m still in as much of a confused state of mind as ever. I really want to know if it is too vague and if I’m pushing the ambiguous motif too strongly. Take a look. Thoughts on whether it is too vague would really be appreciated. Also, I would like to know how it’s shaping up as a poem; are the language techniques working well; what isn’t? AND FINALLY interpretations please.

Conjured up and vision bleary, the sun’s rays are seen all but clearly,
To manifest a heinous haze, of which has choked and bor’d,
Aghast, the haze seeks the inner, albeit the worse than grimmer,
So forth, snaring, struggling, startling the victim to the floor,
Tis deemed as some weakness and to be ignored,
Solitude, strength, certainty is here, forevermore.

But what is the smallest, and needs the sun to the greatest?
For the sun’s radiant rays are its very ore,
Without these rays, the famine starts; all function parts.
Henceforth, the greater structure trances into a solemn snore,
So to endure such pain and false hope, I wonder, wherefore?
The humble leaf of life that I speak of is now and forevermore.

Destined to such dashing heights, the exposed world is full of frights,
So open, so alone, this sole leaf has all but to explore,
A wild wind here makes it dance, yet a dry day leaves things to chance,
Surely, this leaf must seek to go indoor?
Away from the wild winds and the dry days,
Away from the turmoil; it wants only this forevermore.

Wilted and now shredding, this leaf has come to dreading,
The state of its lived life and its grown sore,
No longer is it the young bud; loosely covered in mud,
But now a sage to all attained lore,
As it sways, its knowledge, it does indeed out pour,
Wisdom is, endless here forevermore.

But a leaf cannot be this plain; its essence, it cannot refrain,
To take these rays of light, and create magic to implore.
It is a true master of this skill; a definite conviction of freewill,
As useful as Chiron, the great centaur;
Hark to these qualities that have gently flown to the floor.

Roger Corman’s Film

Ok. Well. I’ve decided that now is the time to look at my appropriations; firstly the film by Roger Corman.

I don’t quite know what to make of this appropriation; it’s interesting and yet utterly frustrating at the same time. Here is a brief summary of the film from imdb.

In this tongue-in-cheek movie inspired by Poe’s poem, Dr. Craven is the son of a great sorcerer (now dead) who was once himself quite skilled at that profession, but has since abandoned it. One evening, a cowardly fool of a magician named Bedlo comes to Craven for help- the evil Scarabus has turned him into a raven and he needs someone to change him back. He also tells the reluctant wizard that Craven’s long-lost wife Lenore, whom he loved greatly and thought dead, is living with the despised Scarabus.

The essential elements of Poe’s text is still there. You’ve got:

1. The grieving husband
2. The mysterious raven
3. And an even more mysterious, borderline scary, wife.

Now, I’m happy that the film is an appropriation and not straight adaptation of the Poe’s poem; its not just retelling the storyline of the poem, but taking elements such as the husband, wife and raven and placing their characters into this situation (I know I’ll be contradicting myself later on in this post, as you will see). This means that the viewers, like me, are introduced to something that is new and interesting.

But I just can’t help but to feel that something has gone terribly wrong; wires have been crossed and I really can’t stand this appropriation. Put it this way, I will never pick this movie up again whilst being in the mood for recreational, and fun viewing. There are elements of it that are really good, but, for the most part, there will be never enough to make place me in a less loathing disposition.

Probably the first of the two ‘good elements’ is the opening sequence of events where we hear Vincent Price narrating as the grieving husband and in very deep thought. He paces his chamber and we are introduced to the lost Lenore, the radiant Lenore. Emotion and passion are really strong motifs here and, as becomes apparent in the rest of the film, ruined by something so small and stupid. In this instance, it’s the bumping into the telescope that ruins this feeling and makes me angry as opposed to intended humor.

The second is probably the special effects. Yes, it was 1963. But no, they are very intriguing to a very interesting degree.  I am, primarily refering to the first bit of magic that we see from Dr. Erasmus Craven. Just take a look at the picture and remind yourself of the year that this film was made.

I wonder why he draws a raven.

From here on in we are introduced to this Raven character and by this stage of the movie I feel as though I am in desperate need of a shoe to throw at the television. Anger churns inside me as the emotion charged opening scene vanishes and we are introduced into a poorly thought out storyline and a very annoying Jack Nicholson character in the form of Dr. Bedlow. The accent, the character, the rudeness and demanding nature of Dr. Bedlow makes me want to stop watching the film and vent my anger on a pillow.

I hate it when you get that feeling after watching a film that leaves you on a down tone. You almost seem to repeat  in your head the inevitable mantra,’ oh, well they did this, then they did that, and in the end, the bad guy dies”. I get that feeling after watching this film; it’s as if I haven’t taken anythign from it, at all, and have no consequent value for it. But this storyline doesn’t seem to go anywhere; the plot develops in just a few shots and the essence of the original poem is lost in translation.

I s’pose that one could argue that the emerging straight adaptation, that was the first few scenes, could by no means be continued in sync with the rest of the poem. But it doesn’t mean that they had to create something so off-piste. It’s going to take a few blog posts to get my head around this interesting film appropriation. Because in my next post, I’m going to look at the completely different portrayal of Lenore.

Lenore

Well it’s been a while since my last post. This is partly because I’ve been sick for the past few days and haven’t been able to think clearly and also becuase there’s been a lot of other things going on at school. Nonetheless, rest assured, I’m back!

I’ve decided that after this post I’m going to move away from direct analysis of the main text because I’ve focused on it enough for now, and I’ve got the two appropriations to discuss.

So I’ve decided to ‘finish’ on the topic of Lenore within the main text, because, just like the actual physical, this recurring thought (motif?) is always prominent in the text; whether actually mentioned or not. Also, I’ve decided to ‘finish’ on the topic of Lenore because I want to segue into the film by Roger Corman, where Lenore is a completely and utterly different person from the text.

So. Lenore?- Why is she so special? Why her? Does she mean anything personally to Poe, himself?

It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?’

This figure that we (I) read about in the text is so prominent and goddess like, but we don’t even ‘see’ her. “Radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?’”; she seems so beautiful and perfect despite the fact that there isn’t a physical description of her, just inferences from the narrator.

Now, to have such a profound impact on me without so much as a physical description of this wonderful lady, then surely, she must have meant a great deal to Poe himself, if he were to write something so heartfelt in such a sombre and scary text. Once again, it’s like it has flowed from his pen and onto the paper so smoothly despite the fact that it isn’t particularly ‘normal’; in this case, a breakaway from the sombre and sad state of the rest of the poem is not the norm when compared to these positive words. This is all indicating to me that the choice of Lenore was just as important as the actual choosing of a raven.

So what I propose that I should do now is to conduct some research into this figure. Because, although pondering on Lenore was not in the forefront of my mind when I wanted to analyse parts of the text, I realise now that I have become engrossed in this infatuation that Poe has. Unlike the last time when I needed to seek for knowledge out of my own, I’m not going to feel guilty about it now because I know that I will have to do some research on this beautiful figure that Poe has portrayed.

This is going to be a very different approach from me in this post because I’m going to sprawl down anything of notice that I come across right now.

So the first thing that has struck me is that there isn’t a fixed answer or a set of answers that allude to the same thing; similar to the use of a raven. Instead, a lot of people appear to think and believe in a lot of different things. This is definitely making my job difficult because I don’t know enough about Poe’s life to separate truth from ‘dodgyness’. Period.

That’s it!- I can’t seem to distinguish one certain Lenore for sure. Some people think Lenore that “the letters “o” and “r” had a sonorous, melancholy feel and chose the name for that reason. There was no original for Lenore.” Others believe that “Lenore is a name he uses for Virginia his wife who is also his cousin.” I must admit that the last ‘Lenore’ is the one that I agree with the most; there seems to be a resounding amongst others and less backlash as compared with other theories.

BUT! Is the origin of Poe’s Lenore the sole factor that is important in this recurring image? Sure it’s important. But look, irrespective of whether she was a poetic form that Poe felt strongly about or a represensation of someone very dear to him, he obviously had a reason for writing such elated and praising words on ‘her’ despite this sombre and sad text. I have no answer to the second question that I asked earlier, asking Why her, and it’s going to pain me because I feel it to be on the tip of my tongue and yet so far from my brain. HELP- If anyone has some ideas, it would really be appreciated.

I think I should stop asking question like these at the top of my posts; they roll me up into a big stress ball when i can’t answer them.

The Raven

Why a Raven? Why entitle this poem as such? What could a simple Corvus corax (common raven) possibly represent in this piece?

These questions are ones that I would really like to get to the bottom of, becuase this Raven figure appears to play a very crucial role in the text, but is so mysterious and undefinable at the same time. I guess the first thing that I would like to work out is why would Mr. Poe choose a Raven; what does it represent in the poem and what did it personally mean to him.

Now, as much as I would like to perform my own investigation and hypothesis to answer to this, I just can’t. For some reason or another nothing is flowing into my mind at this moment and, hence, I can’t investigate anything. I know what you’re all thinking; “mental block, right”?. Well it’s not because I’ve sat down and tried to address this question on numerous occasions in the past to no real or helpful avail.

So, what I think I should do is look at what other people have hypothesised about this and try to add or, if worst comes to worst, ponder on what they think.

The first set of ideas come from Christoffer Hallqvist (a computer scientist from Sweden with a passion for Poe’s writing). In his essay about The Raven, he talks about the bird’s signigificance in the text and, consequently, why it was chosen in this central role. His ideas are really useful, because he has referenced most of them from essays that Poe wrote about the Raven text.

When Poe had decided to use a refrain that repeated the word “nevermore,” he found that it would be most effective if he used a non-reasoning creature to utter the word. It would make little sense to use a human, since the human could reason to answer the questions (Poe, 1850).

So wait, what was that?! – Is Poe saying that one of the reasonings that he used to choose a raven was that it was meager and just a bird? I’m so taken aback by that because from an earlier post I said that, “it is almost as if he is fixating on the bird to find answers about his late wife; he needs this meager and non-capable of speech Raven to tell him that his wife is dead and he needs to move on…”. Here I was, struggling to find explainations, and I was staring at it right in the face, it just wasn’t a developed idea.

What’s more, they’re are many other highly plausible ideas that Hallqvist has stumbled across; the first one being the actual choice of animal. Well, let’s face it, if I were going to portray the life of a emotionally crippled lonely man, I would not want my driving piece of symbolism to not ‘stuff up’ the rest of the text.

Poe also considered a parrot as the bird instead of the raven; however, because of the melancholy tone, and the symbolism of ravens as birds of ill-omen, he found the raven more suitable for the mood in the poem (Poe, 1850). Quoth the Parrot, “Nevermore?”

Once again, it seems as though I have really stressed my brain out too much, as, from previous blog posts, I have already rambled on about the mood of the text and how meticulously it is used. It just seems as though I have not applied any of that stuff that I’ve worked out towards real queries that I have.

Just quickly though, the quote, “and the symbolism of ravens as birds of ill-omen”, relates directly back to my point, a blog post ago, that superstitions were a dominant part of the human psyche back then and would have been at the forefront of Poe’s mind when he wrote the text.

But anyway, one more thing that I would like to add onto that point pertains to the actual physical appearance of a raven. If I were to have written the Raven, I would have wanted my my main symbol to not only be associated with bad things, such as omens, but also look accordingly. Just as a point of reference, have a long at the picture.

Which would you choose?

So to sum up. I would like to say how much this blog has helped me; not only in answering the questions at the top of this post, but also in showing me how to link previous ideas with ones that I am thinking of now. After all of this, it seems to obvious as to why Poe chose to  use a Raven, and name the poem to suit.

Are you Scared?

Has it occurred to anyone that The Raven is actually meant to be a really scary story?

I don’t know if it’s just me, but the text just doesn’t make me feel scared. I’ve got a feeling this blog post is going to be the first one where I look at text, culture, value(s). Because, if this was written in 1845 with the intention to scare and instil fear, but that effect is not seen “today’, the surely there has been a definite shift of opinions and values from then to now. I have been really intrigued by this concept since I first watched the Simpsons’ episode when Lisa, at the end, muses whether people were easier to scare back then.

I can definitely see a truth to this in the sense that back in 1845, people appeared to be more easily scared than people are now. With such supernatural occurrences as ghosts and consequent superstitions accepted in daily life with not as much skepticism as we see today, what else were people of then to believe other than what the heard and, in this case, what they read. I guess that this wasn’t really helped by the lack of certain scientific explainations for these occurrences.

Now, relating all this back to the actual poem of The Raven, we see that much of this superstition is used. Although, something that is really interesting is the fact that Poe actually doesn’t imply that he thinks these supernatural things exist, through what he writes. Instead, what he appears to have done is subtly alluded to these occurrences and things as if it is a logical progression of thought; something that may be falsified today, but understood back then. What I’m trying to get at here is the vernacular that Poe uses. The use of ghosts, souls, and angels seems so flowing in what he has written, but would be such a struggle to replicate today. The line “And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.” from the second stanza just seems to flow, but the use of the word ‘ghosts‘ seems almost foreign to me in such a phrase. And yet, appears to have just simply flown from Poe’s pen.

So basically, all of that stuff that I have written above boils down to the fact that Poe was writing to conventions and standards that are completely different from this day and age’s literature. Irrespective of whether it is scary or not now, that’s how it was back then; he may not have known how to scare people further, due to these superstitions and supernatural occurrences not having ‘plausible’ scientific explainations.

I feel as though I have really wasted the first four paragraphs of this blog post, because in the end the answer is so simple, and I can’t believe that I made such a big deal out of something that I could have explained in three lines. But I’m sure that there are other explainations; so does anyone have other ideas as to why this isn’t as scary as it was back then?

Puzzled

I don’t know what it is about this poem, but the more and more that I read it, the more and more I am drawn into it, but also realise how shallow the plot of this text is.

Now, it’s an arguable fact as to whether The Raven is a short story, but just written in poetic form. But if I take the argument that it is a short story, I am confounded by the sheer lack of a plotline in this text; the start to the finish just doesn’t seem to go anywhere.

I’m not saying this to pick faults in in The Raven, because we all know that it’s a great text; it’s still taught and talked about despite the fact that it was written in 1845. Rather, I’m just really confused as to why it draws me in so much whilst reading, but seems such a setback when I ponder and look back on what I’ve just read.

I think it relates back to this whole language thing that I won’t stop talking about. It’s the only possible explanation that I can come up with. Because, look at it this way, all suspense isn’t brought up by a villain’s mastermind plan being revealed (or something to that effect), rather, through really careful choices in regards to matching words. I think that the third stanza is a really good example of this, although there are a lot of other examples.

“And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me – filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`’Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -
This it is, and nothing more,’”

This whole stanza contributes nothing to the actual storyline (but to something else that I’ll talk about later). It’s the language though! It’s so engaging that it almost doesn’t matter what it’s saying. “Thrilled me – filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before“, it’s truly riveting despite the fact that he’s talking about a simple curtain that really doesn’t contribute to the story… at all.

Ok. Well we’ve established that if this is a narrative it is lacking of a storyline, but that is by no means a negative thing. So the language subsidises for this by being very elaborate and highly entertaining.

There is one more thing that I think really makes the storyline redundant and consequently inexistent; the fact that the emotional state of the character is something to genuinely regard when reading the text.

Although we know nothing about this character through the text descriptions except for the fact that he lost his love, Lenore, we seem to know so much about him. Ok, here me out. Instead of learning about him through what the text directly says about him, we learn through his actions and thought; I can’t really explain it better than that.

The simple fact that he is still so distraught about the the death of his wife is not highlighted directly by the text. We, as readers of Poe, have to piece together the clues, so it seems; and that’s what has been drawing me in. Because look at it this way, this guy, the narrator, is so tied down with unshed grief that to take his mind of things he contemplates random thoughts about meager and pointless things.

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered – not a feather then he fluttered -
Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before -
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.’
Then the bird said, `Nevermore.’

Here, it is almost as if he is fixating on the bird to find answers about his late wife; he needs this meager and non-capable of speech Raven to tell him that his wife is dead and he needs to move on, his actions are enthralling to us. Now, if the end words of The Raven are supposedly uttered from the mouth of the narrator, “Shall be lifted – nevermore!”, it implies that he now ackknowedleges the death of his wife purely because this Raven has convinced him to do so. If indeed the recurring use of the word nevermore pertains to the fact that he will never see his wife again; a form of closure, I s’pose

So yeah, basically what you have, hopefully, just read is me writing down everything that comes to my head. It’s been a really productive blog post for me because I’ve really cracked open this whole inexistent plotline thing that’s been doing the rounds in my head since the start of the holidays.