Answer to Question #104015 in English for Raheem

Question

In The Raven, Identify two or three key literary devices the poet is using to help create meaning and provide textual support of each. Then explain:

Answer 1

The key literary devices the poet uses in The Raven include repetition, rhyme, and stressed and unstressed syllables to give it meaning.

Repetition in a poem captures the attention of the reader as well as formulation of ideas that the writer intends to put across. It also emphasizes the mood of the poem. In The Raven “The line quoth the Raven “Nevermore” has been repeated several times in the poem giving it a musical perspective.

The whole poem has a rhyming scheme such as ABCBBB and AA, B, CC, CB, B internal rhyming patterns. An example is the word “dreary” and “weary” in the same line. Furthermore the poem uses “lore, and door” at the end of the second, fourth and fifth lines. By using the device of rhyme, the writer is giving the poem an emotional, musical appeal as well as predictability and emphasis.

Stressed and Unstressed Syllables are seen in the line “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary”: The syllables are used in trochee in that the first is stressed and second is unstressed syllable. This pattern is seen throughout the poem. It is a reasonably efficient device, but it's that reminds the readers that it is not perfect.