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 Waterfowl and The Raven were both very different poems with little to compare. Both did have a type of bird in the story, but different birds that gave you various feelings. However, both birds did give you ideas to think about.
The Waterfowl makes you feel calm and optimistic. The narrator helps you to reflect on your life and where your life should or could be heading. Because the setting was at dusk, it created a lighter atmosphere. The Waterfowl causes the narrator to think of his life and how God fits into it. In the end, there is conclusion where as in The Raven you’re still a bit confused. The Raven creates a dark, menacing feeling that does not make you feel happy. The setting is at midnight or in other words the ‘witching hour’. Edgar Allen Poe creates an emotional story of his long lost love Lenore that he rhymes with ‘nevermore’. He wishes to be with her again and he envisions her. He mourns in his room for Lenore instead of being outside in nature like the narrator in the Waterfowl is.
These two poems are similar, but have many more differences. They each share a different reaction of a man when a bird visits them. The Waterfowl brings a happy response from God, but The Raven brings a sad, emotional response to the narrator.