Edgar Allen Poe

Poe is an interesting fellow. I watched a biography on him a couple months ago, on a whim, and found his life to be pretty forlorn. With the death of nearly everyone he ever loved, my life would be pitiful, as well.

There was a lot of discussion in class about whether or not his life played a role in what he was writing about. I would have to say, without a doubt, that yes his life did play a part. At least in respects to the poetry we read for today.

The Raven is fascinating poem, at least to me. I like the psychological aspect in terms of "is this man really all there?". Probably not, is my answer. And if we're already saying that Poe's art imitated his life, then we might as well reason that the man in this poem is probably drunk. And with intoxication comes looniness and thus, I'm going to say that this man was wasted, feeling depressed, at odds with himself, and this bird happened to be there to take the wrath.

Just my opinion.