Forgotten Town- Noah Silver

Forgotten Town

By Noah Silver

The fluorescent, cerulean lights twitch in the pitch-black gloom The pale moonlight shines on the midnight wanderers Trees are blown in the breeze like swaying giants lost at sea Neglected, chalky buildings tower over the open road Blue hydrangeas add color to the eerie, ashen town The rumbling from distant trains forms a melody in our heads The bright gas station sign blares in the distance Midnight wanderers disappear into the black void that is the night sky

Fowl of the Grieving

By Madeline Jones

Edgar Allan Poe is famed for his macabre poetry and melancholy tone. Undeniably his most famous work, “The Raven” tells the tale of a mysterious fowl whose presence reveals the nature of grief. Readers learn of this strange encounter which, shallow at first, gradually becomes more deeply entwined with the speaker’s subconscious. By contrasting darkness and light, Poe warns the reader of the ways in which grief, uniquely displayed in this poem as a coveted emotion, can distort the mind’s perception of reality.

Throughout the entirety of “The Raven, ” there is a contrast between dark and light imagery. The image of darkness is initially introduced in the first line with the idea of a lonely, dreary midnight. Poe also ties in the concept of emptiness by using the phrase, “it was in the bleak December” and the line, “Darkness there, and nothing more. ” At the end of the poem, the Raven itself becomes the central image of darkness, as the speaker describes its shadow enveloping his soul. The speaker also describes the bird with words like ebony and grim which illustrate an eerie ambiance that is emphasized within the speaker’s moments of fear. In contrast to these dark images, Poe also includes hints of warmth. The image of fire is dotted throughout the poem in phrases such as, “As each separate dying ember” and “all my soul within me burning. ” During what can be considered as the internal turning point for the speaker, the theme of heat is more strongly represented. The line, “To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core” and the repetition of the phrase “the lamp-light gloated o’er” reinforce the theme in this stanza.

After recognizing this contrast, readers can begin to look at it metaphorically. The speaker is grappling with grief and has a daunting choice: sink deeper into his own sadness and never let himself heal or accept Lenore’s death and move forward. These two choices seem to be symbolized by the contrasting themes of darkness and light. For example, when the speaker opens his door and stares into the darkness, he whispers Lenore’s name. This represents his denial of Lenore’s death, whereas in the next stanza, after receiving no answer, the speaker metaphorically comes back to the light. This could be perceived as the light of his chamber or the light of his soul through the line “all my soul within me burning. ” Either way, his return both figuratively and literally closes the door on his brief moment of denial.

The speaker seems to waver between reality and his grieving mind’s perception of it throughout the poem. In the first and third stanzas, he reassures himself that the knocking is only a visitor, and he claims it is only the wind in the sixth stanza. This contradicts his earlier assumption that the knocking is Lenore. His self-reassurance unites with his deep denial as he repeatedly emphasizes Lenore’s absence. He describes Lenore as “Nameless here for evermore” early in the poem, which indicates that he knows she is dead, but he does not necessarily believe she is gone. He also says, “She shall press, ah, nevermore!” referring to the chair he is sitting in. Whether these efforts to ground himself are conscious or not is proven to be irrelevant; grief inevitably consumes him.

Burying himself in books, the speaker seems to somewhat successfully distract himself from his grief at the beginning of the poem. It becomes increasingly clear, however, that his pain demands to be felt. He is reminded of Lenore’s death at every turn, and he becomes volatile in response. In the final stanzas, the speaker interprets the Raven’s response as God offering him relief from his despair as seen in the phrase “‘thy God hath lent

thee - by these angels he hath sent thee / Respite - respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore!” One would assume that a grief-stricken person would welcome relief, but the speaker does not.

He has a death grip on his grief because he fears losing all ties to Lenore. His hostility towards the Raven can be ascribed to this, as he fears God will erase the memories of his love. His attachment to the grief poses a threat to his own sanity.

This festering grief produces within the speaker’s mind a twisted version of reality. When the Raven initially enters, the speaker is almost tickled by the bird. He even claims that the name “Nevermore” has “little meaning - little relevancy bore” which shows that this word does not affect him in any way. A few stanzas later, however, the bird becomes a lurid image of evil which is a stark contrast from its early comical persona. The speaker is steadily losing his grip on reality. The Raven is truly just parroting a word heard from another person, which the speaker states in the phrase, “‘what it utters is it’s only stock and store, / Caught from some unhappy master... ” . The speaker, however, perceives this word to be a direct response to his outburst in the final stanzas which only fuels his downward spiral.

Buried in the artfully written lines of “The Raven” is a cautionary lesson. Poe uses intricate imagery to set up a contrast that is deeper than the simple idea of dark versus light. The result is a speaker who is crafted to be an example of what happens when the opportunity to heal is not taken. Although this poem can be interpreted in many ways, a looming shadow, much like that of the Raven itself, hangs over every reader. It imposes a grim warning: grief is detrimental to the soul, and once a person sinks too deep, it can be impossible to return to the surface.

The Night Terrors

By Johniya Barnes

I hear the thrashing of rain, Then I hear a loud pang and the sound is deafening I turn on the lights and expect to fight, so I put the titanium bat in my right hand I walk down the stairs and then suddenly I hear the loudest shriek I’ve ever heard in my life The blood is rushing through my ears, the tears almost drown me, and I’m frozen with fear. I walk down the corridor and hear the scratching on the walls, there are voices ringing throughout the hall. They call out to me saying “No, turn away, you’re in danger,” but curiosity always gets the best of me. All of a sudden the rain and the scratching and the voices stop and I think that I was just being paranoid and then I turn around to return to bed and suddenly, There's a void that sucks me in like a black hole, sucks every source of light in close proximity. All of a sudden, there’s a ringing in my ears, and it gets louder and louder till my head rolls back and my skull shatters into a thousand little insignificant pieces like a glass table. All of my nightmares and everything I’ve been afraid of since I was a child are facing me and looking at me straight in the eyes. Somehow, I’m no longer afraid of them because I know that they could never scare me more than I scare myself. Suddenly, I thrash back awake, and I’m in my bed, just a sweaty and heaving mess. The monsters are no longer visible, and the voices no longer exist. But since that night nothing has been the same, and I don’t think it ever will be.