IsrafelBy: Edgar Allan Poe

Presentation done by: Bryce Bond

Poet- Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809. Poe’s parents left him early on in his life, his father left when he was born and the mother died when he was three. As an orphan he was adopted by the Allan family who were tobacco traders. Poe soon moved down to Richmond, Virginia. Poe’s father would always want Poe to be a man of mercantilism, but Poe always preferred to write poetry instead of making money off of trading. Poe later in life went to the College of Virginia which he had to drop out due to John Allan's lack of funding for him. So Poe after leaving the college came back to Richmond, and found out that the person he was engaged to was a actually engaged with someone else. So because of this and the hatred he had with John, he decided to leave the Allan family. Poe after leaving the Allan's decided to enlist in the military but was kicked out due to lack of completing his chores. After being kicked out of the military Poe went to live with his Aunt, and her daughter Virginia. Poe would fall in love with her and marry her in 1836. Before this Poe moved to Richmond and was hired as a magazine critic.

He was well know at the time for being a cut throat critic and telling the truth to people about their writing. By doing this Poe would make enemies with a lot of other writers. This would affect him mostly after his death when one of his enemies gets to write his obituary which would ruin his reputation and peoples outlook on him. But there is a few more things that happen to him before his mysterious death. The first thing that happened to Poe was when he released his most famous poem called “The Raven” which was released in 1845. About two years later Poe’s wife Virginia dies of tuberculosis. This would lead Poe to his death on October 7, 1849.

Israfel (structure)

Israfel By Edgar Allan PoeIn Heaven a spirit doth dwell “Whose heart-strings are a lute”; None sing so wildly well As the angel Israfel, And the giddy stars (so legends tell), Ceasing their hymns, attend the spell Of his voice, all mute.

StructurePoe used 8 stanzas in his description of Israfel and the idea around him.Poe also used 7 lines in each stanza this would equal a total length of 56 lines.

Israfel (Stanza 1)

In Heaven a spirit doth dwell “Whose heart-strings are a lute”; None sing so wildly well As the angel Israfel, And the giddy stars (so legends tell), Ceasing their hymns, attend the spell Of his voice, all mute.

End Rhyme: In this poem Poe uses end rhyme to keep a rhythmPersonification: “the giddy stars” in real life stars can not be giddy, they are just a giant ball of burning gasMetaphor: “heart-strings are a lute” someone's heart strings can not be a lute, it would be impossible.Personification: “legends tell” legends can not tell they are a thought and historical knowledge.

ABAAAAB

Israfel (stanza 2)

Tottering above In her highest noon, The enamoured moon Blushes with love, While, to listen, the red levin (With the rapid Pleiads, even, Which were seven,) Pauses in Heaven.

End rhyme: uses end rhyme in this poem to keep a nice orderly flow or rhythm through out.Personification: “enamoured moon” the moon can not be enamoured in any way shape or form no matter what you do it is impossible only humans can do that.Imagery: “Pleiades; a star cluster that contains seven stars, also known as the Seven Sisters.

ABBACCCC

Israfel (stanza 3)And they say (the starry choir And the other listening things) That Israfeli’s fire Is owing to that lyre By which he sits and sings— The trembling living wire Of those unusual strings.

End Rhyme: Poe continues to use End Rhyme to keep people interested and continue the rhythm metaphor:”trembling living wire” this is an example of Poe making a comparison between a living thing like an animal and an inanimate object, to describe it

ABAABAB

Israfel (stanza 4)

But the skies that angel trod, Where deep thoughts are a duty, Where Love’s a grown-up God, Where the Houri glances are Imbued with all the beauty Which we worship in a star.

End Rhyme: Poe uses Rhyme in this poem to be able to keep the rhythm and allow the poem to have a deeper meaningImagery: Poe uses “star” and “skies” to help describe the position of importance that the angel Israfel is.

ABACBC

Imagery

• Imagery: “Pleiades; a star cluster that contains seven stars, also known as the Seven Sisters.

• Imagery: “Israfeli’s fire” makes me think of how the sky lights up at night like in the aria borealis.

• Imagery: Poe uses “star” and “skies” to help describe the position of importance that the angel Israfel is.

Israfel (literal meaning)

• The literal meaning of this poem is that their was this angel called Israfel who was one of the seven archangels in the Islamic faith. He says that Israfel has the most beautiful voice , the best position and everything great about him. But then if he switched positions with Poe he would lose these great things like a great voice and position. He says how if he was were Israfel was, he would not be able to handle what Israfel does.

Israfel(figurative meaning)

• The speaker in this poem is basically saying what the literal meaning is stating in how Israfel is in a great position and has to deal with all these things such as not being able to control their emotions or actions to much, but he was on the other hand able to keep doing all of these great things like singing in a beautiful voice and having a large holy position. If Israfel did trade positions with the speaker, he would not be able to do any of those things.

Israfel(Speaker/purpose/Theme)

• The speaker of this poem would most likely be a Muslim or a student of Islam. I say this because of how the poem is talking about a Islamic archangel. Mostly only the people of that faith would really talk about it in that type of manor, unless they were critiquing the angles of Islam.

• The purpose of writing this poem was to say how the Islamic angels are not capable to do what the Christian angels do and would be worse in doing so compared to them.

• The theme of this poem is that their was this angel called Israfel. He is this great figure of Islam and he is not able to do the great things he can do in heaven as on Earth.

Citations"Poetry Out Loud." Poetry Out Loud. Web. 7 Nov. 2014. <http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poet/edgar-allan-poe>.Other images from Tag Galaxy.