Blog 3(Essay 2):Tone and symbolism

The poets are able to guide us through the whole poem with the literature techniques like tone and symbolism and all of the poems have hidden meaning. I choose the poem “The Sleeper” by Edgar Allan Poe because I believe in spirits. Also I believe in love that exists inside every human, the love that every person feels towards the loved one, the love that never dies. In this poem the author Edgar Allan Poe uses the symbols to represent the death of his loved one.
The poet Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most remarkable writers in the history.He became popular in Europe for his fiction tales in the 19 Century. He reinvented science-fiction, the genre in his work is Gothic romance, horror fiction, and detective fiction. After his wife’s death he became unstable and started to write poems with theme “death”. Except horror Poe wrote humor tales and hoaxes, with theme irony. With the poem “The Raven”, Poe had instant success. Poe died on October 7, 1849,sources have said that his final words were “Lord help my poor soul”.
Tone is the attitude the poet takes towards his work in the poem. Tone is used to show emotions for example optimism, seriousness, irony, love, humorous and other feelings. With the tone we understand how the poet feels. In this poem the poet uses the words shadows, opiate, slumber, ghosts, which gives a feeling that he is in a dreamlike scene, he is in denial, doesn’t want to accept the reality. He is in a misty valley with a lake and a cemetery, and wondering in which grave Irene is laying. He still feels the love towards Irene.
Symbolism is the written word in the poem that represents something else. Characters and actions can be used as symbols. Most of the symbols used in poetry have the same meaning to all readers. Poe uses the symbol “sleep” in this poem which represents death. Through the whole poem Poe claims that the beautiful Irene is sleeping and also uses the symbol “soul” that represents her dead body. In the poem “rosemary” is a symbol of remembrance. The name of the beautiful women Irene symbolizes the Goddess of peace in Greek mythology."Looking like Lethe, see!the lake", Lethe in Greek mythology is a river in Hades, in the poem the water of the lake is symbolizing the deep and forgetful sleep.
With Poe using the literature elements tone and symbol we understand the emotions and the meaning of the poem. Being able to understand the poem also means being able to understand the poet, and what he is trying to say to us. As a reader I know and feel how the poet feels, denying the reality. Irene is not dead but she is sleeping and like Poe I hope that this beautiful lady will have heavenly eternal rest without suffering.

The literary elements and the image can be found on this websites: http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/yorba/literary_elements.htm
http://behance.vo.llnwd.net/profiles5/115834/projects/270287/1158341248214995.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_allan_poe