What point of view does the poet express in these lines?

Question

"Avaunt! to-night my heart is light. No dirge will I upraise, But waft the angel on her flight with a pæan of old days!
Let no bell toll!—lest her sweet soul, amid its hallowed mirth,
Should catch the note, as it doth float up from the damned Earth.
To friends above, from fiends below, the indignant ghost is riven—
From Hell unto a high estate far up within the Heaven—
From grief and groan to a golden throne beside the King of Heaven."
(from "Lenore" by Edgar Allan Poe)

 

a. Death reincarnates humans back on earth.

b. Death provides humans an easy escape from reality.

c. Death pushes humans into darkness and pain.

d. Death brings humans to a new beginning.

Answer 1

Hi Leeah--

 

Love this poem. (  Poe-m? :-)  )

 

Anyway, it's D, and here's why:

 

A is wrong because there is nothing in the poem about being reborn _on earth_. The whole point is she is going to heaven.

 

B doesn't work because there is nothing indicating that it's an _easy_ escape. In fact escaping "from fiends [evil people and/or devils] is probably NOT easy.

 

C doesn't work because he is actually celebrating the fact that she will be in heaven, in a throne next to God [the King of Heaven]

 

D works because she is in a new place, away from the troubles of earthly life (kind of presented as a hell-on-earth scenario here) and taking her place in a new and much more glorious life.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Matt in NY