"The Raven" and "The Roll-Call of the Reef"

An academic essay comparing the similarities in two tales of horror; "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe and "The Roll-Call of the Reef" by Sir Arthur Quiller Couch.

                Many are familiar with ghost stories and tales of horror. These stories have been told many different ways since the dawn of civilization. Two such tales of the paranormal, designed to send chills down the spines of their readers are “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe and “The Roll-Call of the Reef”, by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch. Both of these chilling tales share striking similarities. “The Raven” and “The Roll-Call of the Reef” share similarities, such as the disbelief of the protagonist, the style of writing, and encounters with the paranormal.

                “The Raven” and “The Roll-Call of the Reef” share the similarity of denial in the protagonists, which is characteristic of a classic ghost story. In “The Raven”, the main character tries to deny his guilt of what he did to his late wife, Lenore. The raven, symbolizing the burden of what he’s done, keeps reminding him of his sin and the man tries to deny that the raven is in fact speaking to him. In “The Roll-Call of the Reef”, the man in the story being told does not believe what he is seeing. At first he thinks he is dreaming, then he thinks he’s gone mad. A quote from “The Roll-Call of the Reef” to support this is “Well sir, they buried him three days after: and at first my father was minded to say nothing about his dream (as he thought it).” . A quote from “The Raven” to support this is “`Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, / thou,' I said, `art sure no craven. / Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore - / Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'” Through blatant denial and delusions of the subconscious, the disbelief of the protagonists are apparent.

                “The Raven” and The Roll-Call of the Reef share similar writing styles. In “The Raven”, Edgar Allen Poe chooses to use an Old English style of narrative and dialect. In “The Roll-Call of the Reef”, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch also uses a more traditional narrative and dialect, however he uses more of an Old Irish style, rather than English. A quote from “The Roll-Call of the Reef” to support this is “`Have `ee heard the news the coach brought down this mornin`?`” . A quote from “The Raven” to support this is “As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. / `'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door - Only this, and nothing more.'” Through the classic writing style of both stories, it becomes apparent that both stories share the same classic writing style.

                “The Raven” and “The Roll-Call of the Reef” both share the theme of the paranormal. In “The Raven”, the protagonist is driven insane by his guilt, which takes the form of the raven. The raven reminds him of what he did to Lenore and he isn’t willing to confess to it so his guilt keeps eating away at him until he goes mad. In “The Roll-Call of the Reef”, two sailors who become friends in life continue to remain so after their death, locking their secret away forever in the tiny locket. A quote from “The Raven” to support this is “Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore.” . A quote from “The Roll-Call of the Reef” to support this is “For the drummer turned in the lantern-light- and my father could see the blood still welling out of the hole in his breast- and took the trumpet-sling from around the other’s neck, and locked drum and trumpet together again, choosing the letters on the lock very carefully.” Through remorse-driven insanity in “The Raven” and a friendship between two dead sailors in “The Roll-Call of the Reef”, the theme of the supernatural in both stories becomes evident.

                Through the theme of the supernatural, the styles of writing, and the denial of the protagonists in “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe and "The Roll-Call of the Reef" by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, it is apparent that both stories are very similar. These stories are meant to scare their readers as chilling ghost stories. Ghost stories have been told in various forms for many years and a great number of people are familiar with such tales.

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Works Cited

 

Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Raven”. Accessed 2007.

               <http://www.horrormasters.com/Text/a2336.pdf>

Quiller-Couch, Arthur. “The Roll-Call of the Reef”. Accessed 2007.

               <http://www.heise.de/ix/raven/Literature/Lore/TheRaven.html>