Journal 7

Journal Assignment #7

William Cullen Bryant’s “To a Waterfowl” (p.151) and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” (p.181)

Read the selections and write a detailed response to the following:

1. Compare/contrast the different views of nature that are being presented in the poems.  Refer to the list of classical and romantic characteristics and provide specific examples from the poems to support your analysis.       

“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe uses a more romantic sense of nature than “To a Waterfowl” does. Poe’s poem has spontaneity when there is a tapping on the door and a bird flies into the house. Bryant’s poem has more harmony between man and nature in his poem because the speaker is taking a positive message out of nature, unlike “The Raven” where the message taken is negative.  The poem by Bryant was driven by his mind because the speaker was thinking about how the waterfowl compared to him. The poem by Poe was driven by emotion because of the loss of his loved one. He thought that Raven was relating him to the despair from his loss. “The Raven” has a gloomy tone while the poem “To a Waterfowl” has a happy and optimistic tone. The speakers have different tones towards nature by the end of each poem. “The Raven” takes place at an eerie time of darkness while “To a Waterfowl” is a sunrise which is beautiful and peaceful. The speaker in Poe’s poem has a conflict because of his loss of his love. The conflict in Bryant’s poem is not his own, it is just a question of where the bird goes. He gets an answer that he wants by the end of the poem; the speaker in Poe’s poem does not get an answer that he wants. The imagery and symbolism in “The Raven” puts a dark, dreary image in the readers mind. The poem “To a Waterfowl” puts images of a loving God and success in the readers mind.