The City In The Sea Explication

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In ‘The City in the Sea’, Edgar Allan Poe concentrates on the topic of death. This is made apparent by the personalization of ‘Death’ in the poem. In addition, Poe use of the City in symbolizes everything human including religion and class. Edgar Allan Poe illustrates the power of Death by concentrating on the effect of death on ‘The City in the Sea’. “Lo! Death has reared himself a throne,” (1) illustrates not only the already mentioned personalization of Death but the relationship of Death and the City. Poe elaborates on the authority and inevitability of the personified Death by gothically illustrating that religion and money are insignificant in the face of Death. “Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best, have gone to their eternal rest” (4-5) exemplifies exactly how powerful Death is. The lines convey to readers that nothing, including the best things and people, escapes Death’s reach. The lines introduce the symbolism of the City in the sea. Poe wants his readers to acknowledge, in the first stanza, that the city, having everything, is a great city. He states, “There shrines and palaces and towers (Time-eaten towers that tremble not!) Resemble nothing that is ours. (6-8)” The fact that the towers ‘tremble not’ after being age-bitten by time shows the advanced nature of structures in the city. In turn the towers support the fact that Poe wants readers and analyzers to realize the strength and advanced nature of the City in the Sea. The City in the Sea is therefore not a weak City subject to easy destruction but an illustrated “New York” that would not fall easily. Thus, in stressing the strength of the City, Poe demonstrations the power of Death; a power that creates, “(Time-eaten towers that tremble not!) Resemble nothing that is ours.” The second stanza of the poem then illuminates the state that Death has left the City in the sea in. Poe also
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