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Taylor Golightly
English 2600
Second Close Reading
December 4, 2015
The Raven: Looking Inside its Melancholy Tone
Poetry is often difficult to read. And at times it may not be organized, but poetry can be
understood when we look to understand the different devices that poets use. When we begin to
understand devices such as assonance, alliteration, and rhyme scheme, the poem as a whole
becomes easier to understand and easier to read. These many devices can be used to construct a
feeling or idea into an organized structure. Edgar Allen Poe uses poetic devices such as,
alliteration, rhyming, and onomatopoeia, to give his poem The Raven its melancholy tone.
Tone is defined as the qualities of the language a speaker uses in social situations or in a poem
(Mays 527). In The Raven, the melancholy tone is how Poe expresses that the poem has a
depressing feel to it. I will discuss the listed devices to better understand Poes poem and how
Poe, when using those devices, give the poem its melancholy tone.
Poe uses onomatopoeia to give his poem The Raven a more melancholy tone. In the
poem we see numerous words that make sounds to add to the feeling of the poem. Words such as
tapping and rapping give a mysterious ambiance to the beginning of this poem. When the
speaker says, tapping at my chamber dooronly this and nothing more (Poe 601) we have
no idea who or what is at the speakers door, but we as readers can only imagine what could be
making a tapping sound. This allows our minds as readers to explore the mystery behind the
door. Onomatopoeic words can strengthen any short story, novel, or poem this way. By
imagining the sound (because we have either heard it before or experienced it) the onomatopoeia

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brings life to the story. The raven is also brought to a new light when Poe uses the word
croaking to describe the birds speech. Meant in croaking Nevermore (Poe 603). When we
think of a raven or any bird, we might use onomatopoeia to describe the sound they make such as
coo, caw, or even tweet. But Poe uses the word croak, as a deep and intense sound coming from
the raven. This one word makes the raven sound like an important figure in the poem.
The use of alliteration is often difficult but if used correctly, can bring a sense of flow and
internal rhythm into a poem. Poe uses alliteration all throughout his poem but uses longer vowel
sounds to drag along his alliteration. On page 602 of our anthology, the third stanza uses words
with the letter d. Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before; (Poe).
As I had said before, Poe carefully chooses his words with longer vowel sounds, such as dared,
doubt, and dream. This allows the reader to prolong saying the word when the poem is read
aloud. And the carefully chosen words bring about a dismal tone to the poem.
Rhyming is found blatantly in The Raven. We see words such as door, nevermore,
implore, floor, and napping, tapping, rapping. These are the obvious rhymes, but what about
internal rhymes that are also found in The Raven? The first stanza is full of internal rhyming.
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. (Poe 601)
We begin to see internal rhyme in the first line. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I
pondered, weak and weary (Poe 601). Both words, dreary and weary are found in different

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parts of the line, this is what defines an internal rhyme. The words that are found in the middle of
the line and towards the end of the line, and is used throughout the rest of the poem. Mays claims
that rhyme also provides a kind of discipline for the poet, a way of harnessing poetic talents and
keeping a rein on the imagination (587). When Poe uses internal rhyme, he is choosing words
that not only rhyme, but gives of uneasiness. On page 603, the poem reads, Then, methought,
the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censor (Poe). The speaker of the poem describes
the atmosphere as dark and dense coming from the unknown. These descriptions give the poem
more of a melancholy tone.
Poe has said that each of these lines taken individually [have] been employed before,
and what originality The Raven has is their combination into stanzas; nothing even remotely
approaching this combination has ever been attempted before (Nordstedt 693). Here, Poe admits
that his poem is original. No one poem has ever been like The Raven, or in other words no
poem has used alliteration, internal rhyme, and the onomatopoeic words to convey a melancholy
tone the way that Poe had done.

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Works Cited
Mays, Kelly J. "Character." The Norton Introduction to Literature. 11th ed. New York:
Norton, 2014. 527. Print.
Nordstedt, George. Prototype of The Raven. The North American Review. 224.838 (1927):
692-702. JSTOR. Web. 30 Nov 2015.
This article talks about the structure of Edgar Allen Poes The Raven and compares this
poem to another poem called Evermore by an unknown source. Nordstedt argues that Poe was
inspired by this poem and had plagiarized the meter, rhythm, stanza form and rhyme-scheme.
Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Raven." Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. New
York: Norton, 2014. 596. Print.