Poetry has and forever will be a method of depicting a poets emotions and producing an emotional response in the reader. Readers throughout the ages have experienced heartache and joy through poet's poetry. This is true in the works of Alfred Noyes and Edgar Allan Poe and their themes depicting the death of a woman who is loved, which they describe with different perspectives. In Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven, the poet looks at how hard it will be to live without his wife Lenore, and focuses on the despair, and heartache that would loom over the poet's life for the rest of his days. In Alfred Noyes poem, The Highwayman, it conveys that life is not even worth living without your loved one, and the love can be more important than life itself. This poem produces more of a romantic feeling than that of The Raven. These poems show how the death of a loved one can affect people in different ways and that this and that this may be depicted. The themes of these poems have accurately be portrayed through the use of literary devices, poetic style and inspired by the poets past.

In poetry a one way of developing a theme is with the poets choice of literary devices. Literary devices give a poem a feel a tone and impacts the reader. Alfred Noyes poem The Highwayman 's primary literary device used was alliteration. Over thirty three instances of instances of alliteration appear in the poem. This can make the poem a much easier read and far more easy to read. The following quote is a pristine example of alliteration, " The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas ". The poem the Highwayman has somewhat of an eerie and dark tone, onomatopoeia adds to this. Onomatopoeia is when a word sounds similar to the action it describes. This eliminates possible confusion from the poem and can make it easier to understand. Onomatopoeia is evident in the word clattered in the following quote " Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in dark inyard ". The Highwayman also contains some examples of the literary device,simile. Simile in this poem adds to the aforementioned eerie tone of the poem. The use of a literary device such as a simile can also make a poem easier to read. By making a poem easier to read you make it easier to understand so a laymen could understand it better. One example of how similes are used in this poem is " His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like moldy hay ". This gives the reader a point of reference to describe Tim's eyes. It describes how eerie and creepy the man actually is. It makes the poem a far easier read. The poem The Raven used many of these same literary devices. The next paragraph will show how these same literary devices are used in The Raven primarily contrary to the way they are used in The Highwayman.

Poems can be different but very much the same. A poem can have the same theme, use many of the same literary devices and be very different. What makes the poem different is how the literary device is used and how it adds to the work of poetry. Alliteration is also the prominent literary device in Edgar Allan Poe's the Raven. There are over twenty-one instances of alliteration in Poe's poem. The various examples of alliteration in this poem lend themselves differently to the poem. The "weak and weary" example of alliteration specifically gives the effect of unsteadiness.The literary device onomatopoeia is also used in Poe's poem. Poe's the Raven has more of a scary and chilling tone than that of The Highwayman. Onomatopoeia adds

to this tone. The use of the word " rustling " in line 13. This refers to the curtains it's sort of

eerie. In the poem The Highwayman the use of simile added to the eerie tone of the poem making it scarier and mad the poem easier to read and understand. Simile in The Raven added to the emotional feeling created by the poet. The Raven is a far more emotional poem than The Highwayman. The solitary example of simile in the poem shows this, " That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour ". This quote speaks of the raven, representing the despair that will haunt the speaker for the rest of his life. The raven had said " nevermore ". The raven said this saying things will never gain be the same.Things will never be like they were before, when his wife, Lenore was still alive. The use of simile in the poem not only adds to the depressing theme creating emotion in the reader, it like in The Highwayman makes the poem easier to read. It gives a good description of the angst that the speaker is feeling. The next paragraph will outline the use of poetic style in both poems.

In any sort of medium word choice is important. Poetry is not the exception to the rule. In poetry word choice is referred to as a poets diction. A poets choice in words can portray a mood and a tone in a poem. In the poem The Highwayman the word choice plays a pivitol role. In the poem there is a lot of repetition. One example of this is the repetition of the word " tlot ", this word gives a visual of the highwayman riding down the paths, " Tlot Tlot, Tlot tlot ! Had they heard it ? The horse-hooves, ringing clear ". This adds to the eerie feeling, making the reader hear the approaching. In the poem The Highwayman most lines have an average of fifteen beats per line, " The wind was a torrent of darkness upon the gusty trees ". Fifteen beats per line is quite slow. This adds to the creepy feeling and tone of the poem. This also has the added bonus of having the reader slow down and take the poem in. In this poem the poet, Alfred Noyes used the rhyme scheme (AABCCB). The following quote which is the poems first stanza demonstrates the rhyme scheme adequately.

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, (A )
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, (A)
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, (B)
And the highwayman came riding— (C)
Riding—riding— (C)
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door. (B)

This rhyme scheme much like other things in the poem adds to the eerie tone.

The poem The Raven is a tragic story of a man who had lost his wife. Word choice was an important factor in portraying the tragedy of the poem. One word Poe seemed to enjoy using in this piece is the word " nevermore ". This word is repeated at the end of the last ten stanza's. The repetition of the word is depressing to say the least. The repetition also brings the stanza's to a close in the same way, this way we know that they all come to the same conclusion. All the stanza's contribute to the same theme. This poem unlike, The Highwayman contains an average of seventeen beets per line. This is evident in the following quotes, " Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary ". This poem is a little bit faster. This poem is more up beat. It's scarier and more exciting. This poem has a far different rhyme scheme than that of The Highwayman. This poems rhyme scheme is (ABCBBB) as seen below.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, (A)

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, (B)

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, (C)

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. "' (B)

Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door - (B

Only this, and nothing more." (B)

The rhyme scheme adds to the fast pace of the poem as it does to the eerie and scary feeling of the poem.

Poetry is often a byproduct of a poets past or present life. This is true in many poems and with many poets and is not untrue of Alfred Noyes. Alfred Noyes was somewhat of a romantic. This is evidently true in his collected works but especially in his poem The Highwayman. The poem speaks of an undying love in death In the poem the highwayman comes to see his dying wife when he was sure he would die too, " He spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky ". The poet Noyes was also a large proponent of law and government. The highwayman was a criminal. Since Noyes was such a proponent of law the highwayman, a main character in the poem dies, " When they shot him down in the highway ". Although proof cannot be found due to the date of this poems publication it can be inferred that Alfred Noyes perhaps had an affection for horses. Horses played a pivotal role in the film. They have a consistent role in the involvement of the reader with the repetition of the word " tlot " symbolizing the horses hooves hitting the ground below. The background of a poet influences all poems not excluding Poe and his poem The Raven.

The past of Edgar Allen Poe plays a pivotal role in his critically acclaimed poem the Raven. Death plays a major role in this poem. The poets past was riddled with death influencing the poem. Both of Edgar Allen Poe's parents had died before he reached the tender age of three. His wife who also happened to be his cousin died of tuberculosis. " Lenore " represents Poe's wife, " For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore ". The death of his wife and apparent cousin was the main focus of this poem. No one can know this for sure but it has been said that Poe was a faithful and religious man. This can be inferred from many of his poems including The Raven, " By that Heaven that bends above us-by that God we both adore". From this reader may infer that he and his wife were not God fearing people. It has been rumored all though never proven with fact because Poe is dead and it is nearly impossible to

prove that Poe did indeed suffer from automatism or in laymen's terms, Poe sleepwalked. This might explain while so much of the poem involves Poe lingering between sleep and awake, " I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before ". Our personal lives effect everything we do, it would only be logical to assume it would effect a poets poetry.

Poetry has always been an important method of self expression. A poem can better be expressed with the use of a literary device. A poem can have a deeper meaning with a knowledge of a poets life. A poem can evoke a completely different response if told in a variety of ways.

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