The physical setting of
    this poem is the narrator's den.  He describes this room only as a "chamber," but
    because it houses books and a bust of Athena, it seems to be a study of some kind (line 16).  In
    terms of time, the setting is late December, a "bleak" month that is often symbolic of
    the end of life because it is, literally, the end of the year (7).  Further, it is midnight, and
    a "dreary" one -- it is probably cold and windy and kind of creepy and bare outside
    (1).  Midnight is also often used as a symbol of death because it is the end, or death, of
    day.
 The poem's conflict seems to be one of the character vs. Nature
    variety. ...
 
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