- 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.
‘To a Waterfowl’ is about going wherever god takes you. This is a didactic poem while ‘The Raven’ does not. Poe, the author of ‘The Raven’ views nature as his conscious, which ends up upsetting and depressing him. ‘To a Waterfowl’ uses anaphora, alliteration, and personification. Just as God guides the waterfowl to its summer home, He guides the speaker of the poem through life to his ultimate destination, heaven. In the end, one will be able to say about the speaker what the speaker says about the waterfowl: "the abyss of heaven / Hath swallowed up thy form" (lines 25-26). The poem is a profession of faith in God. The Raven is about a man who has lost his wife to death and is struggling to deal with his loneliness, and despair. He is also trying to come to terms on whether or not there is a God, therefore a heaven to meet his dead wife in. The raven, the actual bird, is basically him and his conscious wrestling each other for the answer.
. ‘The Raven’ has midnight, which is negative, while ‘To a Waterfowl’ has a sunrise.” ‘The Raven’ also has a tone of gloom and despair, while ‘To a Waterfowl’ has an optimistic tone. ‘The Raven’ is very individual, and focuses on the specific bird, while ‘To a Waterfowl’ focuses on birds in general. The bird in ‘To a Waterfowl’ is a good bird with nice qualities, while ‘The Raven’ is a harmful bird. A certain mystery is given to both birds. The Waterfowl bird is somehow able to follow the correct path. The raven represents some irrational force, and is almost a sign of evil. Each speaker of the poems are on opposite ends on an extreme.
