Symbolism and Tone (Essay 2)

Today in literature, our interpretations can vary due to different prier experiences. How ever the literary context that makes you feel this way remains the same. In literature, writers develop ways to capture the audience by using elements like symbolism and tone to simulate the readers. In good literary pieces the tone will set the mood and make the targeted audiences feel a connection of some sort to the story. Along with the tone, symbols or things used to refer to something are utilized to deepen our imaginations.


Author Edgar Allen Poe is well known for his work which consist of poems, short stories and satires. Most of his writing deals with death and tragedy. Poe often brings his stories to life with dark romantic tones. In Poe's narrative poem titled Annabel Lee, the tone is gloomy and painful. Poe writes about a couple whom was struck with an untimely death which left a lover lost and empty. Poe sets the tone with his description of the characters heart break. In the first line of the last stanza, Poe wrote "For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee"; this quote expresses the suffering that is brought to him when he thinks about his beloved Annabel Lee. The character's anguish takes over his life after her death, proven when he states"And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee"; for he believes he has nothing else to live for now that she's gone.


Incorporated into his work Poe also presents symbols of a non uniform style. In the poem Annabel Lee, Poe uses symbols like angels and demons to signify the people who were jealous of the couples love and blames their envy for her death. The importance of portraying the people as angels and demons show that people of all kinds, whether they were good hearted or evil spirited people; they both shared the same "covet (stanza 2, line 12)". Also in the forth stanza, Poe uses the symbol of wind to be the cause of Annabel Lee's death : "That the wind came out of the cloud by night chilling and killing my Annabel Lee". With the knowledge of wind having the capability to be sudden and something you can see to the naked eye, the inference of Annabel Lees death can be made that it was unexpected to the couple.

With the contribution of symbols and tones, writing can be transformed into powerful mental imagines that help crystallize your understanding. Symbols and tones can be used to explain what the author is trying to articulate while leaving an everlasting impression on the readers mind.