Blog Entry 1.3 Poetry Symbolism

The Raven By: Edgar Allan Poe

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!- prophet still, if bird or devil!-
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted-
On this home by horror haunted- tell me truly, I implore-
Is there- is there balm in Gilead?- tell me- tell me, I implore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

The Poem that I have decided to choose is The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. Due to the length of the poem I pick a little part from the poem. I have found some symbols in the poem such as the devil, which is a subordinate evil spirit at enmity with god, and having power to afflict humans, both with bodily disease and with spiritual corruption. Which symbolizes sin or in this case a evil source of power. Another symbol is evil, morally wrong or bad; immoral; wicked. Which symbolizes is a devious minded something that lacking integrity, feelings of hate anger. Poe calls the bird evil and a devil from its responds to him questions. A prophet is a person who speaks for god for example Moses. He calls the bird a raven because when the bird says "nevermore" it some how answers the question Poe asks the bird. The Tespest with is a windstorm and symbolizes worries about the uncertain future and has to do with stress and anxiety. The raven has to be one of the biggest objects in this poem. The black bird with a harsh call is the symbol is ideas for the future or a omen of something that could happen or could have happen, in this case would be the “balm n Gilead”. The plot of this poem is a little confusing, the word desert which is a region so arid because of little rainfall that it supports only sparse and widely spaced vegetation or no vegetation at all. The symbol for this is having no feelings, meaningless, unenjoyably, lack of respect, lack of real friendship. I really don’t know how this as to do anything to do with the poem.

To me this passage of the poem, Poe is yelling at the raven thinking it is some kind of demon or hell bird which is answering him and wondering how the raven came to him if it was some kind of storm on purpose as if someone or something made the raven came and speak to him. In his house that no one lives in where it's just him and his thoughts and then a bird comes to tease him with it's words and He begs the bird to tell him where the birds from and what is it doing here and if there "is there balm in Gilead" which seems to me to be a paradise or some kind of happy place where Poe's dead lover would be. But the Raven answers "nevermore" cause Poe to lose it.


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The Raven By: Edgar Allan Poe

Entry 1.2: Internet Research

I recently have seen the trailer for the new superhero movie Thor which comes out during 2011. I always been a fan of him so I decided to research of the thunder god. While I was researching I came upon a story of Thor losing his hammer. I used google to research the story and I came upon two sites that had a similar stories. The First site was LINK HERE, I found it interesting but short, it didn't go into that much detail but the story on the second site I found LINK HERE had more detail to the story which gave me more of a image in my head while reading it.

In the story, Thor wakes up to realize his hammer is missing. He looks for it far and wide but no luck, he goes to visit his half-brother "Loki" who is known for steal, lying and being up to no good. Thor beats Loki up demanding his hammer. Loki tells Thor he doesn't have it but helps him look for it. Loki goes to visit the goddess Freyja and asks her to borrow her white feather cloak because Thor lost his hammer. Realizing the danger in this she gives it to him and Loki plucks a feather out and transforms into a white bird, where he flies all over looking for the hammer until he reaches the land of the giants, who are the gods/goddess enemies. Loki sees the king of the giants Jontheim who tells him he has stolen the hammer and hide it and will only give it back if Freyja weds him. Loki goes back to tell Thor and Thor runs to Freyja and demands her to put on her wedding vail and to wedded to Jontheim. Freyja gets anger and denies doing it and the Gods hold a meeting and decide that Thor must dress as a Freyja and get his hammer back with the help of Loki. Thor says no but does it anyway because he can't defend Asgard his home. Thor and Loki left dressed as women and reached Jontheim. The king not being to bright didn't notice it was Thor. They had a feast in the mead-hall where Thor eat and drank everything in sight where Loki covered for him saying "she was so happy to be your bride that she didn't eat for eight nights" and the king went for a kiss but was scared of Thor's fierce eyes where Loki again covered saying "she was so happy to be your bride that she hasn't slept in eight nights". Jonthiem again not being too bright fell for Loki's trick and was so thrill for her joy and he started the wedding and told his servants to get Thor's hammer which he places on Thor/Freyja's lap. As soon as the hammer was in his lap Thor grabs it and struck the King killing him and preceded to clear the hall.

There is a little extra I found in the other story. During Loki's excuses about Thor, Jontheim sister asked Thor for a bridal gift and asked for his red ring. But after Thor killed the king he also killed the sister.

About Me.

My name is Tajinder William Singh. I reside in Corona, Queens, New York. I'm a student at LaGuardia CC. I am taking the course of EMT to become a New York City Fire Fighter (FDNY). I love Hip-Hop and music in general. I'm a Philadelphia Phillies Fan and New York Giants Fan. I have three huskys. Anything else just ask me.