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It traces choices of beauty, sadness, and tone, the use of refrains with varied thought, and the mechanical repetition embodied by “Nevermore.” The essay links the refrain’s structure to the poem’s plot progression and culminates in death as its most poetical topic, ending with the poem’s publication 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principle did Poe follow when planning “The Raven”?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Porges describes Poe as aiming first for a single unified impression or effect, then building the poem’s atmosphere around it rather than treating truth or passion as the primary goal.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How did Poe decide to use the refrain in the poem?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The essay explains that Poe chose a refrain repeated at the end of every stanza, but rejected a purely simple approach, opting instead to vary the thought while keeping the sound monotone through a single repeated word.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"Why is the poem’s topic of death considered the most poetical?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Porges states that Poe believed death becomes most poetical when closely allied to beauty, specifically framing it as the death of a beautiful woman and the subject’s response as the grief of a bereaved 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\"the house where The Raven was written. \" Since the days when he swam in the James River and tramped the nearby woods, he had always loved the countryside. Now, for a while at least, Edgar and Virginia and his aunt were to live in a farmhouse owned by Patrick Brennan. The farm occupied 216 acres adjacent to the Hudson, and high in the garret, where he and his young wife stayed, they could look down at the gleaming river and glimpse the green of the woods and meadows. Here, in his study, the inspiration that had been born when he first encountered poor Barnaby Rudge and his pet raven Grip was slowly taking shape. As he pondered over the poem, many strange images passed through his mind. Somehow, the bust of Pallas which stood on a shelf above the doorway seemed to be interwoven with these images.  \nThe analytical faculty that he displayed in his stories controlled his thoughts. But his mind was a rare combination of theory and order balanced by unrestrained flights into fantasy. In creating his new poem, he would plan-­‐-­‐but without rigidity. First must come the single, unified impression or effect that he advocated. It could not be Truth, \"the satisfaction of the intellect,\"or Passion, \"the excitement of the heart. \" These are best attained in prose, not poetry. Without question, Beauty is the \"atmosphere and essence of the poem. \"  \nBut a poem must have tone. What should be the tone of this poem? To Edgar, the answer was instantly apparent. No other tone was possible but that of sadness. \"Melancholy is ... the most legitimate of all the poetical tones. \"  \nWhat of the structure of the poem? To his mind came a device often used in poetry and song-­‐-­‐ the refrain. Repeated at the end of every stanza, the refrain is enjoyed by the reader or listener because of its repetition-­‐-­‐and the sense of identity that it gives. The refrain is bound to make an impression; the audience learns it quickly because of \"the force of monotone-­‐-­‐both in sound and thought. \" Nevertheless, Edgar shook his head over it. The refrain is too simple-­‐-­‐too primitive; it must be varied. The idea came to him. Of course! Use the monotone of sound-­‐-­‐but vary the thought. And since the thought must be varied in the refrain, one further point was obvious: the refrain must be a single word; this would make it easier to vary the thought.  \nThe analysis went on. He wanted a \"non-­‐reasoning\" creature to repeat the refrain mechanically. The first thought, naturally, was of a parrot. But then Barnaby Rudge's croaking raven made a clamor in his mind. The black, ugly raven, the bird of ill-­‐omen-­‐-­‐this creature was far better thana parrot. The word he would repeat at the end of each stanza was \"Nevermore!\" and in a melancholy poem, what topic is the most melancholy of all? The answer sprang to his lips-­‐-­‐ death! All that remains to be answered is this question: When is the topic of death most poetical? Edgar gave the reply that he knew by heart; it came from the agony and fear that had grown inside him from the moment of his first tragedy:  \nWhen it most closely allies itself to Beauty: the death then of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world, and equally is it beyond doubt that the lips best suited for such topic are those of a bereaved lover.  \nHe pictured the setting, with the Raven entering the room and perching above his chamber door on the bust of Pallas. The lover, seated alone and dreaming of his \"lost Lenore,\" at first asks the \"ghastly grim and ancient Raven\" a commonplace question: \"Tell me what thy lordly name is ... \" The Raven answers, \"Nevermore!\" The lover believes he is merely hearing a bird\"repeating a lesson learned by rote. \"  \nThe plot of the poem became clearer to Edgar. As the Raven continues to answer with the same\"Nevermore,\" the lover is excited by the repetition and the \"melanc","cbCaisPThN85a6Le","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisPThN85a6Le","pdf",275406,"English","# The Raven and the Peak of Tragedy\n## Unifying impression, beauty, and sadness\n## Tone and refrain as structural devices\n## Death, Lenore, and the progression of questions\n## Planning the climax and publishing history","[{\"question\":\"What principle did Poe follow when planning “The Raven”?\",\"answer\":\"Porges describes Poe as aiming first for a single unified impression or effect, then building the poem’s atmosphere around it rather than treating truth or passion as the primary goal.\"},{\"question\":\"How did Poe decide to use the refrain in the poem?\",\"answer\":\"The essay explains that Poe chose a refrain repeated at the end of every stanza, but rejected a purely simple approach, opting instead to vary the thought while keeping the sound monotone through a single repeated word.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is the poem’s topic of death considered the most poetical?\",\"answer\":\"Porges states that Poe believed death becomes most poetical when closely allied to beauty, specifically framing it as the death of a beautiful woman and the subject’s response as the grief of a bereaved lover.\"}]","The Raven and the Peak of Tragedy - excerpt from a critical essay | PDF",1790158706,11]