The Use of Symbolism in Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven

Abstract

This study is an attempt to analyze the use of symbolism in Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" (1845). This work aims to shed the light on the symbols by identifying the various interpretations of the symbols by applying "Whitehead's theory". This study is divided into four main chapters. The first chapter presents a general survey of symbolism and its major theories such as: Ferdinand De Saussure, Sigmund Freud, and Alfred Whitehead. The second chapter contains the literary analysis of Edgar Allan Poe: biography and style and a literary analysis about Poe's masterpiece "The Raven". The third chapter focuses mainly on the use of symbols and its interpretations in the poem. The fourth chapter is the pedagogical implications that provides methods on how this poem should be studied in literature. The objective of the study is to show the motive behind the use of symbols in this work "The Raven".