the raven essay thesis

English Studies

This website is dedicated to English Literature, Literary Criticism, Literary Theory, English Language and its teaching and learning.

“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe: Analysis

The narrative poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe, originally published in 1845, is a renowned masterpiece of American Gothic literature.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
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.”
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
Nameless here for evermore.
And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
“‘Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door—
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;—
This it is and nothing more.”
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
“Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you”—here I opened wide the door;—
Darkness there and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”—
Merely this and nothing more.
Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
“Surely,” said I, “surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore—
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;—
‘Tis the wind and nothing more!”
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door—
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door—
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
“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!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door—
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as “Nevermore.”
But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing farther then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered—
Till I scarcely more than muttered “Other friends have flown before—
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.”
Then the bird said “Nevermore.”
Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
“Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore—
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
Of ‘Never—nevermore’.”
But the Raven still beguiling all my fancy into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore—
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking “Nevermore.”
This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o’er,
But whose velvet-violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o’er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!
Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
“Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore;
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”
“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—
On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore—
Is there— is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I implore!”
“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us—by that God we both adore—
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.”
“Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!” I shrieked, upstarting—
“Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted—nevermore!

Introduction: “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe

Table of Contents

The narrative poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe, originally published in 1845, is a renowned masterpiece of American Gothic literature. The poem’s evocative imagery, complex structure, and exploration of grief and the supernatural have cemented its enduring legacy. “The Raven” established Poe’s reputation as a master of the macabre and continues to resonate powerfully with readers today.

Annotations of “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe


	The narrator sets the scene by describing a dark, gloomy night during which he is feeling weak and tired.
	He is surrounded by old and interesting books.
	The narrator is half asleep when he hears a tapping sound on his chamber door.
	He assumes it’s a visitor knocking at his door and comments that it’s nothing more than that.
	The narrator reminisces about a lost love named Lenore and how much he misses her. He remembers her vividly and describes her as radiant and rare.
	The narrator hears more tapping, and he becomes scared and imagines that it’s a visitor trying to enter his room.
	The narrator summons the courage to investigate the noise and opens the door to find darkness and silence.
	The narrator becomes frightened and wonders if he is alone or if something supernatural is happening.
	He hears another noise, and this time, he thinks it’s coming from his window. He opens it and sees a Raven, which he describes in great detail.
	The Raven enters the room and perches on a bust of Pallas. The narrator finds the bird’s presence eerie.
	The Raven’s behavior intrigues the narrator, and he begins to question it, asking about its name and origins.
	The Raven’s reply confuses the narrator, who wonders if the bird’s answer holds any significance.
	The Raven only says, “Nevermore,” and the narrator grows more and more upset.
	The narrator tries to rationalize the Raven’s words and believes it is only repeating what it has learned.
	In an attempt to distract himself from the bird’s presence, the narrator tries to engage it in conversation, but the Raven only says “Nevermore.”
	The Raven continues to fascinate the narrator and make him smile.
	The narrator brings a cushioned seat in front of the bird, the bust, and the door.
	The narrator sinks onto the cushion and starts to link his thoughts together, contemplating the meaning of the Raven’s visit.
	The narrator wonders about the Raven’s significance, describing it as ominous and ghastly.
	The narrator emphasizes the bird’s ominousness by using several adjectives to describe it.
	The Raven’s repeated croak of “Nevermore” weighs heavily on the narrator’s mind.
	The narrator guesses at the Raven’s meaning but doesn’t speak to it.
	The Raven’s fiery eyes seem to burn into the narrator’s heart.
	The narrator continues to contemplate the Raven and Lenore while relaxing on the cushion.
	The cushion is described as being made of velvet, and the lamp’s light shines on it.
	The narrator notes the color of the cushion’s lining and how it shines in the light.
	The narrator declares that Lenore will never again sit on the cushion.
	The air around the narrator seems to thicken, and he smells perfume.
	The narrator imagines angels with a censer, causing the perfumed air.
	The narrator cries out to the Raven, calling it a wretch but also acknowledging that it was sent by God.
	The narrator begs for relief from the memories of Lenore.
	The narrator asks the Raven to help him forget about Lenore by drinking nepenthe.
	The Raven replies with its familiar “Nevermore.”
	The narrator addresses the Raven as a prophet of evil, questioning whether it was sent by the devil or by a storm.
	The narrator acknowledges the desolate surroundings and begs the Raven to answer his questions.
	The narrator describes his surroundings as being haunted by horror.
	The narrator implores the Raven to tell him if there is a cure for his sorrow.
	The narrator specifically asks if there is balm in Gilead, a reference to a biblical passage.
	The Raven replies again with “Nevermore.”
	The narrator repeats his accusation that the Raven is a prophet of evil.
	The narrator appeals to heaven and God for an answer to his question.
	The narrator asks if he will be reunited with Lenore in heaven.
	The narrator describes Lenore as a rare and radiant maiden named by the angels.
	The Raven responds yet again with “Nevermore.”
	The narrator accepts the Raven’s answer and declares that it’s time for the bird to leave.
	The narrator orders the Raven to leave and never come back.
	The narrator tells the Raven to leave no trace of its visit.
	The narrator emphasizes his desire to be alone by telling the Raven to leave and not disrupt his loneliness.
	The narrator demands that the Raven remove its beak from his heart and its form from his door.
	The Raven responds with “Nevermore” once more.
	The narrator screams at the Raven to leave and go back to the underworld
	The Raven is still perched on top of the bust of Pallas, not moving from its spot.
	The bust of Pallas, a symbol of wisdom and knowledge, is located just above the narrator’s chamber door.
	The Raven’s eyes appear demonic, giving it an eerie and ominous quality. They seem to be in a dream-like state.
	The light from the lamp casts a shadow of the Raven on the floor, emphasizing its haunting presence.
	The narrator’s soul seems to be trapped in the shadow of the Raven on the floor, symbolizing his obsession and despair.
	The poem ends with the narrator realizing that his soul will never be freed from the shadow of the Raven, and he will be trapped in his grief forever. The final word, “nevermore,” echoes the Raven’s repeated refrain throughout the poem.

Narrative of “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe

The poem begins with the narrator, who is sitting alone in his chamber, feeling weak and weary as he reads old books of forgotten lore.
As he nods off, he hears a tapping at his chamber door and assumes it is just a visitor.
The tapping continues, and he begins to feel anxious about who could be knocking on his door so late at night.
He works up the courage to answer the door and finds only darkness outside.
When he returns to his chamber, he hears a whisper of the name “Lenore” and assumes it is just his imagination.
He tries to shake off his fear and convince himself that the tapping was just the wind.
Suddenly, a raven appears in his room and perches above his chamber door.
The narrator is surprised by the bird’s presence and begins to ask it questions.
He observes the raven’s somber countenance and admires its regal appearance.
He asks the bird its name, but it only replies “Nevermore.”
The narrator becomes obsessed with the bird and continues to ask it questions, even though he knows it can only answer with the word “Nevermore.”
He reflects on the sorrow he feels for the loss of Lenore and wonders if the raven was sent to him as a divine messenger.
The narrator starts to feel hopeless and believes that he will never be able to escape his grief.
He decides to ask the raven if there is any hope for him to find peace, but it only replies with the same word, “Nevermore.”
The narrator realizes that the raven is a symbol of his despair and that he will never be able to escape his sorrow.
The poem ends with the narrator being haunted by the raven’s presence and feeling trapped in his own grief.

Literary Devices in “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe


	1. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary	The repetition of initial consonant sounds creates a musical effect and emphasizes the mood of the poem.
	41. Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door	Referring to the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom, Pallas Athena, alludes to the speaker’s own knowledge and education.
	3. While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping	The repetition of vowel sounds creates a musical effect and emphasizes the mood of the poem.
	4. As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door	The repetition of consonant sounds creates a musical effect and emphasizes the mood of the poem.
	1-2. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore	The continuation of a sentence beyond a line break creates a sense of momentum and tension in the poem.
	25. Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before	An exaggeration to emphasize the intensity of the speaker’s experience.
	8. And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor	The use of sensory details creates a vivid picture in the reader’s mind.
	56. That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour	The Raven’s simple repetition of “Nevermore” is ironic because it both answers and refuses to answer the speaker’s questions.
	44. By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore	The comparison of the Raven’s appearance to that of a grave and stern person creates a dark and foreboding atmosphere.
	3. While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping	The use of words that imitate sounds creates a musical effect and emphasizes the mood of the poem.
	37. In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore	The Raven is given human-like qualities to create a sense of mystery and foreboding.
	6, 18, 30, 42, 48, 60. Only this and nothing more.	The repetition of a line at regular intervals creates a sense of structure and rhythm in the poem.
	5. “‘Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—	The repetition of a phrase creates a musical effect and emphasizes the mood of the poem.
	4-5. As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. “‘Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—	The repetition of vowel sounds at the end of lines creates a musical effect and emphasizes the mood of the poem.
	46. Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore	The comparison of the Raven to a ghastly and grim creature emphasizes its mysterious and foreboding nature.
	48. Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”	The Raven’s repetition of “Nevermore” becomes a symbol of the speaker’s grief and inability to move on from his loss.
	11. For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels

Sound and Poetic Devices in “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe


	“Once upon a midnight dreary”	The repetition of the initial sound of two or more words in a phrase. In “The Raven,” the alliteration creates a musical effect, making the poem easier to memorize, and it also adds a sense of eeriness to the setting of the poem.
	“Eagerly I wished the morrow”	The repetition of the vowel sound in a phrase. In “The Raven,” assonance creates a musical effect that adds to the melancholy tone of the poem, and it also helps to create a sense of continuity and fluidity between the lines.
	“This it is and nothing more”	The repetition of consonant sounds in a phrase. In “The Raven,” consonance adds a sense of repetition and rhythm to the poem, and it also creates a musical effect that contributes to the melancholy and eerie tone of the poem.
	“weak and weary”, “chamber door”	The repetition of similar sounds at the end of lines of poetry. In “The Raven,” end rhyme creates a musical effect that makes the poem easier to memorize, and it also helps to create a sense of continuity and flow between the lines.
	ABCBBB	The pattern of end rhymes in a poem. In “The Raven,” the rhyme scheme contributes to the musical effect of the poem, and it also helps to create a sense of continuity and structure throughout the poem.
	“quaint and curious volume”	The choice and use of words and phrases in a poem. In “The Raven,” the diction contributes to the eerie and melancholy tone of the poem, and it also helps to create a sense of setting and atmosphere.
	Trochaic Octameter	The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry. In “The Raven,” the trochaic octameter creates a musical effect and contributes to the poem’s eerie tone.
	Eight-line stanzas with a rhyme scheme of ABCBBB	The pattern of lines and rhyme scheme in a group of lines that form a stanza. In “The Raven,” the eight-line stanzas help to create a sense of structure and continuity in the poem, and the rhyme scheme helps to create a musical effect.
	Narrative poem	A poem that tells a story. In “The Raven,” Poe tells a story through the speaker’s interaction with the Raven, and he uses various literary devices to create a sense of melancholy and eerie atmosphere.
	“placid bust”	The choice and use of words and phrases in a poem. In “The Raven,” the diction contributes to the setting and atmosphere of the poem, and it also adds to the eerie tone by creating a sense of stillness and quietness.
	Melancholy and Eerie	The emotional quality or atmosphere of a poem. In “The Raven,” the tone is melancholy and eerie, and this is achieved through the use of various literary devices, such as diction, rhyme, and rhythm.

Functions of Literary Devices in “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe

Creating Atmosphere: Poe uses descriptive language and repetition to create a melancholic and ominous atmosphere throughout the poem. The opening lines set the scene with a sense of dread and unease, while the repeated tapping at the chamber door builds tension and suspense. The use of vivid imagery and sensory details, such as the “quaint and curious” volumes of forgotten lore and the “ghost” of dying embers, further contribute to the overall atmosphere of darkness and foreboding.
Establishing Theme: The main theme of the poem is the narrator’s grief and despair over the loss of his beloved Lenore. Poe uses symbolism, such as the raven representing death and the bust of Pallas representing wisdom, to reinforce this theme. The repeated refrain of “Nevermore” serves as a haunting reminder of the narrator’s inability to escape his sorrow and the inevitability of death.
Creating Tone: The use of rhyme and meter, as well as the repetition of certain phrases and sounds, contributes to the overall tone of the poem. The frequent use of internal rhyme and alliteration gives the poem a musical quality that contrasts with its dark subject matter. The raven’s monotonous repetition of “Nevermore” creates a sense of hopelessness and despair that pervades the poem.
Developing Character: The narrator’s character is revealed through his thoughts, actions, and dialogue. His obsession with Lenore and his descent into madness are conveyed through his erratic behavior and his interactions with the raven. Poe also uses irony, such as the narrator’s attempts to reason with the bird, to create a sense of absurdity that adds to the overall tragicomic tone of the poem.

Themes in “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe

Loss and Grief: One of the central themes of “The Raven” is loss and grief. The narrator is mourning the death of his beloved Lenore and is unable to find solace in anything. This is shown in the lines, “Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow/From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore” (lines 9-10). The Raven itself can also be seen as a symbol of grief, as it comes to represent the narrator’s inability to move on from his loss.
Madness and Despair: Another major theme in “The Raven” is madness and despair. The narrator is clearly struggling with his mental state, as shown in lines like “Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,/Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before” (lines 25-26). As the Raven continues to haunt him, the narrator becomes increasingly unhinged and begins to question his own sanity.
Death and Mortality: Death and mortality are also recurring themes in “The Raven”. The Raven itself is often associated with death, and the narrator repeatedly asks it about the afterlife. This is shown in the lines, “Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!” (line 47). The narrator is clearly preoccupied with the idea of death, both as it relates to his lost Lenore and to his own mortality.
Isolation and Loneliness: The final major theme in “The Raven” is isolation and loneliness. The narrator is alone in his chamber with only his grief and his thoughts for company. This is shown in lines like, “Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing” (line 25). The arrival of the Raven, while at first seeming like a comfort, only serves to increase the narrator’s sense of isolation, as the bird refuses to offer any comfort or companionship.

Literary Theories and Interpretations “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe


/New Criticism	Close reading, focus on literary devices (symbolism, metaphor, rhyme, etc.), ambiguity	Analyze the poem’s structure, sound patterns, and imagery to reveal the complex emotions of grief and despair.
	Unconscious desires, symbolism, dream analysis	Examine the poem as an expression of the narrator’s repressed desires and unconscious fears. The Raven could symbolize a repressed aspect of the narrator’s psyche.
	Role of the reader in creating meaning, varying interpretations	Explore how different readers might respond emotionally to the poem and how their own experiences shape their understanding of the themes.
	Author’s life, historical context	Consider how Poe’s own struggles with loss and his fascination with the macabre influenced the poem. Research the literary and cultural context of the 19th century.
	Power dynamics, gender roles, representation of women	Analyze the portrayal of Lenore and how the poem potentially reflects societal views on women in the 19th century.

Essay Topics, Questions and Thesis Statements about “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe

1. topic: the symbolism of “the raven”.

Question: How does Edgar Allan Poe use symbolism in “The Raven” to convey the narrator’s sense of loss and grief?
Thesis Statement: Through the use of symbolism, Edgar Allan Poe masterfully conveys the narrator’s overwhelming sense of loss and grief in “The Raven.”

2. Topic: The Narrator’s Mental State in “The Raven”

Question: What is the true nature of the narrator’s mental state in “The Raven,” and how does Poe use language and tone to convey it?
Thesis Statement: Edgar Allan Poe’s use of language and tone in “The Raven” suggests that the narrator is not only grieving, but also struggling with his own mental state, ultimately leading to his descent into madness.

3. Topic: The Gothic Elements in “The Raven”

Question: How does Edgar Allan Poe use gothic elements in “The Raven” to create a haunting and eerie atmosphere?
Thesis Statement: Edgar Allan Poe’s masterful use of gothic elements in “The Raven” contributes to the poem’s haunting and eerie atmosphere, immersing the reader in the narrator’s world of grief and despair.

4. Topic: The Theme of Death in “The Raven”

Question: What is the central theme of “The Raven,” and how does Poe use the raven as a symbol of death to explore this theme?
Thesis Statement: In “The Raven,” Edgar Allan Poe explores the theme of death through the use of the raven as a powerful symbol, ultimately revealing the narrator’s acceptance of his own mortality.

Short Question-Answer about “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe


What is the significance of the Raven’s repetition of the word “Nevermore”?	The repetition of the word “Nevermore” by the Raven holds great significance in the poem. It serves as a reminder to the speaker of his lost love and his unending grief. Each time the Raven utters the word, it intensifies the speaker’s anguish and despair. Additionally, it emphasizes the theme of the poem, which is the finality of death and the inability to escape from its grip. The Raven’s relentless repetition of “Nevermore” is also significant because it creates a sense of inevitability and hopelessness, leaving the speaker with no hope for reconciliation with his lost love.
What is the significance of the Raven’s perch on the bust of Pallas?	The Raven’s perch on the bust of Pallas serves to heighten the eerie and ominous mood of the poem. The bust of Pallas represents wisdom and knowledge, and its presence in the room provides a stark contrast to the speaker’s irrational and despairing state. The Raven’s perch on the bust, therefore, symbolizes the bird’s domination over reason and knowledge, as it replaces the statue with its own presence. Furthermore, the Raven’s perch on the bust reinforces the idea that the speaker’s world has been turned upside down, with everything he once held as certain now uncertain.
What is the significance of the speaker’s repeated questioning of the Raven?	The speaker’s repeated questioning of the Raven is significant because it reveals his desperate attempt to find meaning and understanding in his loss. The speaker’s questions are an attempt to connect with the Raven and make sense of his sorrow. However, the Raven’s responses only serve to reinforce the speaker’s despair and lack of closure. The repeated questioning also highlights the futility of human existence and the struggle to find answers to life’s most significant questions.
What is the significance of the speaker’s descent into madness?	The speaker’s descent into madness is significant because it represents the destructive power of grief and the human struggle to come to terms with loss. The speaker’s obsession with his lost love and his inability to find closure lead him to a state of irrationality and despair. The speaker’s madness also represents the theme of the poem, which is the finality of death and the inability to escape its grip. As the speaker descends into madness, he becomes increasingly isolated and cut off from the outside world, emphasizing the idea that grief can be an isolating experience. Furthermore, the speaker’s descent into madness highlights the fragility of the human mind and the devastating impact that loss can have on it.

Literary Works Similar to “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: This long narrative poem shares “The Raven”‘s focus on the supernatural, a brooding atmosphere, and themes of guilt, despair, and isolation. Both poems explore the consequences of a single act and the psychological toll it can take.
“Lenore” by Gottfried August Bürger: This German ballad was a significant influence on Poe. It explores the devastation of losing a beloved and features a similar sense of longing and unremitting grief as found in “The Raven.”
“Sonnets to Orpheus” by Rainer Maria Rilke: Though written later, these sonnets grapple with similar themes of death, mourning, and the transformative power of grief. Both “The Raven” and Rilke’s sonnets explore the human struggle to make sense of loss in a vast and indifferent universe.
“Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe: Another of Poe’s own works, this poem also focuses on lost love and a haunting sense of longing after death. It shares a similarly mournful tone and explores the idea that love can persist even beyond the grave.
“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe: While a short story, it shares thematic similarities with “The Raven” in its exploration of a character’s descent into madness and guilt. Both works delve into the darkest corners of the human psyche.
Gothic Novels ( Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole): These novels often share a similar focus on the supernatural, macabre settings, and the psychological torment of the characters. They all contribute to the same literary tradition that valued emotional intensity and the exploration of the darker side of the human experience.

Edgar Allan Poe

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

Summary & Analysis

Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.

A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Raven’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Why is a raven like a writing desk?’ This was the riddle posed by the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll ’s 1865 book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland . Probably the most famous solution proposed to this riddle (for the riddle has never been answered with a definitive solution) is: ‘Because Poe wrote on both.’ ‘The Raven’ is undoubtedly Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous poem.

It was first published under Poe’s name in January 1845, and has been popular ever since. It is the only literary work to inspire the name of a sporting team (the American Football team the Baltimore Ravens).

According to Poe himself, in a later work of literary analysis, if he hadn’t had a change of heart we might well be reading a poem called, not ‘The Raven’, but ‘The Parrot’. The poem is so famous, so widely anthologised, that perhaps a closer analysis of its features and language is necessary to strip away some of our preconceptions about it.

First, here is a summary of the poem.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore— While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, 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.’

The unnamed narrator (we can call him a narrator as ‘The Raven’ just about qualifies as a narrative poem) sits up late one December night, mourning the loss of his beloved, Lenore, when a raven appears at the window and speaks the repeated single word, ‘Nevermore’. The narrator starts to view the raven as some sort of prophet.

Throughout the poem, the narrator sits and ponders the meaning of the raven, and asks it questions, such as whether he will be see his beloved Lenore again in heaven, but the bird simply responds enigmatically each time, ‘Nevermore’. In the end, the narrator demands that the raven leave him alone, but it replies once again, ‘Nevermore.’

The poem ends:

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming, And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted—nevermore!

Poe credited two chief literary works in the genesis and composition of ‘The Raven’: he got the idea of the raven from Charles Dickens’s novel Barnaby Rudge (whose title character has a pet raven, Grip – the same name of Dickens’s own pet raven in real life), and he borrowed the metre for his poem from Elizabeth Barrett Browning ’s poem ‘Lady Geraldine’s Courtship’. Here is a stanza from Barrett Browning’s poem:

Dear my friend and fellow-student, I would lean my spirit o’er you: Down the purple of this chamber, tears should scarcely run at will: I am humbled who was humble! Friend,—I bow my head before you! You should lead me to my peasants!—but their faces are too still.

The metre of this poem, and of Poe’s ‘The Raven’, is relatively rare in English-language verse: trochaic octameter. (Trochaic because the stress falls on the first syllable in each foot, so ‘ Dear my friend and fell ow stu dent’, and ‘ Once up on a mid night drear y’; octameter because there are eight feet in each line, so ‘ Once up on a mid night drear y, while I pond ered, weak and wear y’.

But Poe added something to this rhythm, by including internal rhyme in each stanza of ‘The Raven’:

Once upon a midnight dreary , while I pondered, weak and weary , Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore— While I nodded, nearly napping , suddenly there came a tapping , 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.”

So although each stanza of ‘The Raven’ is rhymed abcbbb , with the ‘ore’ rhyme being constant throughout the poem, the a and c rhymes are complemented by a mid-line rhyme: dreary/weary , napping/tapping .

This makes ‘The Raven’ the perfect poem for reading aloud on a dark, wintry night – but it also arguably underscores the poem’s focus on speech, and on the talking raven that provides the refrain, and final word, of many of the poem’s stanzas. ‘Nevermore’ rhymes with the dead beloved of the poem’s narrator, Lenore, but it is also an inherently ‘poetic’ turn of phrase to end a poem (or successive stanzas of a poem): compare Hardy’s ‘never again’ , or Edward Thomas’s , or Tennyson’s ‘the days that are no more’ .

The word ‘Nevermore’, like ‘never again’ and ‘no more’, evokes finality, something gone from us that will not be regained: time, our youth, a lost lover. Whether Lenore in ‘The Raven’ is the narrator’s dead beloved – perhaps even his wife – is not spelt out in the poem, leaving us not so much to analyse as to speculate upon that point. But the broader point remains: a door has closed that will not be opened again.

As we mentioned at the beginning of this analysis, there is reason to believe that Poe originally planned to have a parrot, rather than a raven, utter the refrain ‘Nevermore’ in the poem. In his ‘ Philosophy of Composition ’, he wrote that in his mind there ‘arose the idea of a non-reasoning creature capable of speech; and very naturally, a parrot, in the first instance, suggested itself, but was superseded forthwith by a Raven, as equally capable of speech.’

Whether Poe was merely retrospectively having us on, or whether he was being genuine here, the parrot does seem the natural choice for a bird capable of mimicking human speech, and Poe implies that he soon dropped the idea of writing a poem called ‘The Parrot’. Ravens are closely associated with omens and with the dead: it had to be ‘The Raven’.

Discover more from Interesting Literature

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Type your email…

5 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Raven’”

Many years ago, my mum had me make a recording reading “The Raven.” And I did the best I could as far as enunciating and pausing, etc. She was teaching art in K-8, and for the older grades she played the tape and they were always silent/enraptured listening and then they were to make a drawing of the Raven, or anything from their imagination inspired by the poem. Usually she did it around Halloween and she got some really interesting illustrations/interpretations.

What an inspiring teacher she must have been, you should be proud of her.

I read that Poe did not earn but a paltry sum for this famous work due to the lack of copyright laws. It is sad how much trauma he suffered throughout his life.

Pingback: 10 of the Best Gothic Poems for Halloween | Interesting Literature
Pingback: Five Fascinating Facts about Edgar Allan Poe | Interesting Literature

Choose Your Test

Search Blogs By Category
College Admissions
AP and IB Exams
GPA and Coursework

Understanding The Raven: Expert Poem Analysis

General Education

"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most well-known poems ever written. It brought its author worldwide fame and has frequently been analyzed, performed, and parodied. But what about this poem makes it so special?

In this guide, we give you a complete overview of "The Raven," discussing everything from the sad stories behind its creation and what is actually going on between the narrator and the raven, to its themes and the poetic devices it uses so effectively.

The Raven Poem: Full Text

Below is the complete text of The Raven poem, written by Edgar Allan Poe and published in 1845. It consists of 18 stanzas and a total of 108 lines.

What Is "The Raven" About?

"The Raven" is a poem about a man who is heartbroken over the recent death of his beloved Lenore. As he passes a lonely December night in his room, a raven taps repeatedly on the door and then the window. The man first thinks the noise is caused by a late night visitor come to disturb him, and he is surprised to find the raven when he opens the window shutter. After being let in, the raven flies to and lands on a bust of Pallas (an ancient Greek goddess of wisdom).

The man is amused by how serious the raven looks, and he begins talking to the raven; however, the bird can only reply by croaking "nevermore."

The man reflects aloud that the bird will leave him soon as all the people he cared about have left him. When the raven replies "nevermore," the man takes it as the bird agreeing with him, although it's unclear if the raven actually understands what the man is saying or is just speaking the one word it knows.

As the man continues to converse with the bird, he slowly loses his grip on reality. He moves his chair directly in front of the raven and asks it despairing questions, including whether he and Lenore will be reunited in heaven. Now, instead of being merely amused by the bird, he takes the raven's repeated "nevermore" response as a sign that all his dark thoughts are true. He eventually grows angry and shrieks at the raven, calling it a devil and a thing of evil.

The poem ends with the raven still sitting on the bust of Pallas and the narrator, seemingly defeated by his grief and madness, declaring that his soul shall be lifted "nevermore."

Background on "The Raven"

Edgar Allan Poe wrote "The Raven" during a difficult period in his life. His wife, Virginia, was suffering from tuberculosis, Poe was struggling to make money as an unknown writer, and he began drinking heavily and picking fights with coworkers and other writers. It's easy to see how he could have conjured the dark and melancholy mood of "The Raven."

It's not known how long Poe spent writing "The Raven," (guesses range from anywhere to a single day to over a decade) but it's thought most likely that he wrote the poem in the summer of 1844. In his essay, "The Philosophy of Composition," Poe stated that he chose to focus the poem on the death of a beautiful woman because it is "unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world." He hoped "The Raven" would make him famous, and, in the same essay, stated that he purposely wrote the poem to appeal to both "the popular and the critical taste."

"The Raven" was published in the newspaper The New York Evening Mirror on January 29, 1845 (depending on the source, Poe was paid either $9 or $15 for it). "The Raven" brought Poe instant fame, although not the financial security he was looking for. Critical reception was mixed, with some famous writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and William Butler Yeats expressing their dislike for the poem. Despite those initial mixed reviews, The Raven poem has continued its popularity and is now one of the most well-known poems in the world. Countless parodies have been written, and the poem has been referenced in everything from The Simpsons to the NFL team the Baltimore Ravens (their mascot is even named "Poe").

Major Themes in "The Raven"

From The Raven summary, we know it's definitely a melancholy poem, and most of its themes revolve around grim topics. Here are three of the most important themes.

Theme 1: Grief

Grief is the overwhelming emotion in "The Raven, " and the narrator is absolutely consumed by his grief for his lost love, Lenore. At the beginning of the poem, he tries to distract himself from his sadness by reading a "volume of forgotten lore", but when the raven arrives, he immediately begins peppering it with questions about Lenore and becomes further lost in his grief at the raven's response of "nevermore." By the end of the poem, the narrator is seemingly broken, stating that his soul will never again be "lifted" due to his sadness.

Poe stated that the raven itself was a symbol of grief, specifically, that it represented "mournful and never-ending remembrance." He purposely chose a raven over a parrot (a bird species better known for its ability to speak) because he thought a raven suited the dark tone of the poem better.

Edgar Allan Poe had experienced a great deal of grief by the time he wrote "The Raven," and he had seen people close to him leave, fall gravely ill, or die. He would have been well aware of the consuming power that grief can have and how it has the ability to blot everything else out.

Theme 2: Devotion

It's the narrator's deep love for Lenore that causes him such grief, and later rage and madness. Even though Lenore has died, the narrator still loves her and appears unable to think of anything but her. In the poem, he speaks of Lenore in superlatives, calling her "sainted" and "radiant." In his mind, she is completely perfect, practically a saint. His love for this woman who is no longer here distracts him from everything in his current life. With this theme, Poe is showing the power of love and how it can continue to be powerful even after death.

Theme 3: Rationality vs Irrationality

At the beginning of the poem, the narrator is rational enough to understand that Lenore is dead and he will not see her again. When the raven first begins repeating "nevermore," he realizes that the answer is the bird's "only stock and store," and he won't get another response no matter what he asks. He seems to even find the bird vaguely amusing.

However, as the poem continues, the narrator's irrationality increases as he asks the raven questions it couldn't possibly know and takes its repeated response of "nevermore" to be a truthful and logical answer. He then descends further into madness, cursing the bird as a "devil" and "thing of evil" and thinking he feels angels surrounding him before sinking into his grief. He has clearly come undone by the end of the poem.

In "The Raven," Poe wanted to show the fine line between rational thought and madness and how strong emotions, such as grief, can push a person into irrationality, even during mundane interactions like the one the narrator had with the raven.

The 7 Key Poetic Devices "The Raven" Uses

Edgar Allan Poe makes use of many poetic devices in "The Raven" to create a memorable and moving piece of writing. Below we discuss seven of the most important of these devices and how they contribute to the poem.

Alliteration

An allusion is an indirect reference to something, and Poe makes multiple allusions in "The Raven." Some key ones include:

The bust of Pallas the raven sits on refers to Pallas Athena, the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom.

Nepenthe is a drug mentioned in Homer's ancient epic The Odyssey, and it is purported to erase memories.

The Balm of Gilead is a reference to a healing cream mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah in the Bible.

Aidenn refers to the Garden of Eden, although the narrator likely uses it to mean "heaven" in general, as he wants to know if that's where he and Lenore will reunite.

Ravens themselves are mentioned in many stories, including Norse mythology and Ovid's epic poem Metamorphoses.

The majority of "The Raven" follows trochaic octameter, which is when there are eight trochaic feet per line, and each foot has one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable.

However, Poe actually used several types of meter, and he is said to have based both the meter and rhyming pattern of "The Raven" off Elizabeth Barrett's poem " Lady Geraldine's Courtship." Meter is very prominent in "The Raven," and, along with other poetic devices, helps make it such a popular poem to recite.

The rhyming pattern in "The Raven" follows the pattern ABCBBB. The "B" lines all rhyme with "nevermore" and place additional emphasis on the final syllable of the line.

There is also quite a bit of internal rhyme within the poem, such as the line "But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token," where "unbroken" rhymes with "token."

Internal rhyming occurs in the first line of each stanza. It also occurs in the third line and part of the fourth line of each stanza. In the example "Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!/Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!" "token" and "spoken" in the third line of the stanza rhyme with "unbroken" in the fourth line of the stanza.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is when the name of a word is associated with the sound it makes, and it occurs throughout "The Raven," such as with the words "rapping," "tapping," "shrieked," and "whispered." It all helps add to the atmospheric quality of the poem and makes readers feel as though they are really in the room with the narrator and the raven.

What's Next?

"Ozymandias" by Percy Shelley is another famous and often-studied poem. Learn all about this poem and its famous line "look on my works, ye mighty, and despair" in our complete guide to Ozymandias .

There are many more poetic devices than those included in "The Raven." Read our guide on the 20 poetic devices you need to know so you can become an expert.

Taking AP Literature? We've got you covered! In our expert guide to the AP Literature exam, we've compiled all the information you need to know about the test and how to study for it to get a top score.

Trending Now

How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League

How to Get a Perfect 4.0 GPA

How to Write an Amazing College Essay

What Exactly Are Colleges Looking For?

ACT vs. SAT: Which Test Should You Take?

When should you take the SAT or ACT?

Get Your Free

Find Your Target SAT Score

Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests

How to Get a Perfect SAT Score, by an Expert Full Scorer

Score 800 on SAT Math

Score 800 on SAT Reading and Writing

How to Improve Your Low SAT Score

Score 600 on SAT Math

Score 600 on SAT Reading and Writing

Find Your Target ACT Score

Complete Official Free ACT Practice Tests

How to Get a Perfect ACT Score, by a 36 Full Scorer

Get a 36 on ACT English

Get a 36 on ACT Math

Get a 36 on ACT Reading

Get a 36 on ACT Science

How to Improve Your Low ACT Score

Get a 24 on ACT English

Get a 24 on ACT Math

Get a 24 on ACT Reading

Get a 24 on ACT Science

Stay Informed

Get the latest articles and test prep tips!

Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

Ask a Question Below

Have any questions about this article or other topics? Ask below and we'll reply!

“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe Analysis Rhetorical Essay

To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
As a template for you assignment

Family relationships

Love and death, structure and literary devices, works cited.

The Raven is a narrative styled poem by popular poet Poe. It is a brilliant expression of loss and the musings of the narrator about his loss are simply enchanting. The simple musicality and a sense of the supernatural theme contained in the narration are engulfing.

The flow of the poem is vividly described step by step explaining in detail every single action of the narrator. The poem manages to show the untold devotion the narrator has to a love one who has already left him. The raven that visits him briefly makes his mind deviate from the mourning but he soon resumes his old sadness (Gerald 92).

The poem is heavily based on the relationship between the narrator and Lenore with their affection being the subject of the whole poem. The narrator is presumably mourning the loss of Lenore and assumes that the raven was an angel sent to comfort him during his grief. The poem describes the sad state of the narrator and describes how the presence of the bird on his window brings him joy.

The narrator is just indoors almost napping but is awaken by a wrapping on his door that turns out to be just the wind. He most probably created the wrapping on his door by thinking, but then the raven tapping on his window turns out to be real (Gerald 88).

He is momentarily relieved of his mourning as he indulges the raven. He happens to think that the bird can talk and claims that the only answer the bird has given is the word nevermore.

This response does not go well with the narrator since he asks the bird more questions and when the raven replies nevermore to whether the narrator is going to reunite with Lenore in heaven the narrator is infuriated. The speaker is essential to the point of view from which the poem is written.

The poem has a sad tone which is the general atmosphere of sadness that characterizes the personal life journey of Poe. He faced a lot of challenges in his life and it seems he was accustomed to being sad. His father abandoned them when he was young and his relationship with his step father was a struggle. He never managed to finish college because he was a drunk and used to gamble. Even life with his relatives did not work out for him.

This vicious cycle of sadness never left him and after the failure of his first two marriages he married Virginia. This marriage was first done in secret since she was his cousin and in addition thirteen years of age making her a minor. Furthermore, it expresses the unending devotion that the narrator has for a loved one they have lost.

It is also a mourning poem like a dirge that never ends. The mournful tone could also be as result of the narrator’s grief due to his mother’s Eliza Poe’s death (Gerald, 72).

The poem describes the narrator’s deep anguish after losing a loved one. This deep feeling of loss can only result from deeper feelings of love. The strong bond that the love causes is the reason as to why the narrator is so saddened by his loss. He keeps thinking that the person who left them is going to come back hence when he hears a knock he assumes that it is Lenore.

The way the knock on the door is described as gentle and his response in a sure manner shows his anticipation that Lenore will return to him. The arrival of the bird makes him excited that he will hear from Lenore. The narrator even seems happy for a moment when the bird is there (Robert 99).

The death of Lenore seems to have devastated the narrator because his current mental state is questionable. He thinks that the bird has been sent from the afterlife with a message from Lenore. He even believes that the bird can speak and when it responds unfavorably to his question he gets agitated.

The poem is composed of eighteen stanzas each of which has five lines. It uses a lot of rhyme within and without the stanzas, for instance the more, evermore and nevermore. It also has a lot of alliteration in the lines one is rapping, tapping and napping.

There is an extensive use of repletion as the word nevermore has been repeated to end the stanzas. The main theme is death that describes loss and mourning and best represented by the sad tone maintained through out the poem (Gerald, 70).

The Raven was Poe’s first work that made him popular and the way he wrote it to satisfy both the classical readers and seasonal readers. This work made Poe a household name in American literature. The work encompasses Poe’s literary skills since he wrote both poems and narratives.

This is a poem that was written in narrative style but contains poem properties. The description is as a narrative but the literary work is done in stanzas and lines just like a poem. This poem shows Poe’s ability to combine his creative abilities to come up with a brilliant work of art (Robert 101).

Gerald, Kennedy. A Historical Guide to Edgar Allan Poe . New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.

Robert, Regan. Poe: A Collection of Critical Essays . Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice- Hall, 2007. Print.

Trifles by Susan Glaspell and The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin’s
Why Do People Swear?
Comparing Browning’s “My Last Duchess” With Poe’s “The Raven”
“The Raven”. Death of a Loved One
Edgar Allan Poe: Interpretation of "The Raven"
Willy Loman, a Poor Role Model to His Two Sons Biff and Happy
The Ethicality of an Action Jay Gatsby
Carlos Fuentes: Mexican Revolution in "The Death of Artemio Cruz"
“Mary Coin” a Novel by Marisa Silver
African Americans as ‘Outsiders or ‘Others’ in Society
Chicago (A-D)
Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, April 23). "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe Analysis. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-raven-by-edgar-allan-poe-essay/

""The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe Analysis." IvyPanda , 23 Apr. 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/the-raven-by-edgar-allan-poe-essay/.

IvyPanda . (2019) '"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe Analysis'. 23 April.

IvyPanda . 2019. ""The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe Analysis." April 23, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-raven-by-edgar-allan-poe-essay/.

1. IvyPanda . ""The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe Analysis." April 23, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-raven-by-edgar-allan-poe-essay/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . ""The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe Analysis." April 23, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-raven-by-edgar-allan-poe-essay/.

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

Basic site functions
Ensuring secure, safe transactions
Secure account login
Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
Remembering privacy and security settings
Analyzing site traffic and usage
Personalized search, content, and recommendations
Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

Remembering general and regional preferences
Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy .

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy .

Official site for poet and critic Dana Gioia

On edgar allan poe’s “the raven”.

From the moment of its first publication in the New York Evening Mirror on January 29, 1845, “The Raven” has been a famous poem. It caused an immediate national sensation and was widely reprinted, discussed, parodied, and performed–catapulting its penurious and dejected thirty-six-year-old author into celebrity. The poem was soon translated into many European languages, most notably by the French Symbolist poet, Stéphane Mallarmé, who insisted on using prose because French could not recreate the original’s verbal magic. By 1885 one American critic could plausibly call Poe’s work “the most popular lyric poem in the world.” Even today “The Raven” still remains one of the few poems millions of Americans can quote from memory. Despite the poem’s enduring fame and extraordinary influence, however, leading critics have rarely found much to say in its favor. They have objected to its gothic atmosphere, ornate musicality, horror-tale narrative, even its meter. And yet, a century and a half after its first appearance, the poem survives with its popularity undiminished.

We can begin to understand the poem’s strange authority by isolating at least four key elements–its compelling narrative structure, darkly evocative atmosphere, hypnotic verbal music, and archetypal symbolism. What is the secret of “The Raven’s” uniquely powerful appeal? The question may be unanswerable in any final sense, but we can begin to understand the poem’s strange authority by isolating at least four key elements–its compelling narrative structure, darkly evocative atmosphere, hypnotic verbal music, and archetypal symbolism. Although none of these elements was original to “The Raven,” their masterful combination created a strikingly original and singularly arresting poem.

The key to understanding “The Raven” is to read it as a narrative poem. It is a narrative of haunting lyricality, to be sure, but its central impulse is to tell a memorable story. The hypnotic swing of the trochaic meter, the insistent chime of the internal rhymes, and its unforgettable refrain of “Nevermore” provide each stanza with a song-like intensity, but the poem’s structure remains undeviatingly narrative. Stanza by stanza, “The Raven” moves sequentially through the situation it describes. Any reader familiar with short stories like “The Tell-Tale Heart” or “The Fall of the House of Usher” will recognize Poe’s innovative narrative method. By imbuing a simple, linear story with brooding atmosphere of intricately arranged details, Poe perfected a style that allowed every moment to reinforce the tale’s ultimate effect.

The time and setting of “The Raven” are as much a part of the story as the actions that take place. (In Poe’s work the physical setting often reflects the inner personality or emotion of the central character.) The poem begins at midnight in December–the last moment of a spent day in the final month of the year. Internally and externally, it is a time of death and decay. Even the “dying” fireplace embers reflect the moribund atmosphere. The setting is contained and claustrophobic–a single room. The narrator himself mirrors the time and locale. “Weak and weary,” he seems trapped in his richly furnished prison. He hopes for the morning–the return of light and life–but tonight all he can do is brood on his dead love, “the lost Lenore,” and feel the tangible horror of his current situation.

The story that now unfolds is simple, terrifying, and tragic. The narrator hears a mysterious tapping at his chamber door. He thinks at first it is a late night visitor, but opening the door, he finds only “Darkness there, and nothing more.” (This initial glimpse into black nothingness will prove prophetic of his ultimate fate.) Half afraid, half wishful, the speaker whispers the name of his dead lover. Irrationally he hopes the visitor is her ghost. There comes no reply, however, except the echo of his own voice. Soon the tapping resumes–now at his window. Opening the shutter, he finds a Raven. (Poe capitalizes the bird to suggest it is no ordinary raven.) The bird flutters in and immediately perches on the bust of Pallas Athena, the classical goddess of wisdom.

By now Poe has already established the basic symbolic framework of the poem, which–characteristically for him–is both structurally simple and elaborately detailed. “The Raven” divides its characters and imagery into two conflicting worlds of light and darkness. Virtually every detail in the poem reflects one world or the other. Lenore, who is repeatedly described as “radiant” epitomizes the world of light–along with angels she has now joined. Other images of light include the white bust of Pallas and the lamplight that illumines the speaker’s chamber, his haven from the outer darkness. The Raven, however, represents the seemingly larger and more powerful forces of darkness on this black December midnight. His shadow, the final image of the poem, demonstrates his power to darken the weak and dying light of the speaker’s refuge. The ebony bird’s ironic perch on the bust of Pallas also underscores the inability of reason and learning (further symbolized by the narrator’s unconsoling books) to combat the powers of blackness and despair. The contrasting worlds of light and darkness gradually acquire additional symbolic resonances: they also represent life and death–the speaker’s vain hope of an afterlife with Lenore and the terrifying vision of eternal nothingness.

The movement of “The Raven’s” plot reinforces the poem’s essentially symbolic nature, and all of Poe’s idiosyncratic linguistic genius endows the story with supernatural significance. The narrative situation is, of course, not implausible in strictly naturalistic terms. The speaker may simply have encountered an escaped pet whose previous owner had taught the bird to repeat the word, nevermore . Poe’s language, however, gradually convinces us that a purely rational explanation will not suffice, however neatly it fits the external facts. The conflicting worlds of light and darkness suggest their transcendent counterparts–heaven and hell. In contrast to the heavenly and angelic Lenore, the Raven is repeatedly and explicitly characterized in demonic terms. This imperious and implacable visitor has come from the land of death, “the Night’s Plutonian shore.” He seems–at least to the agitated narrator–a devil sent to claim the speaker for the underworld. The speaker’s dawning awareness of his hellish doom is reflected in the poem’s changing refrain, which begins as nothing more and evermore , but darkens once the bird speaks his prophetic nevermore . By the poem’s last line, the narrator has accepted the bird’s dire prophecy. Echoing his shadowy tormentor, he declares his soul “Shall be lifted–nevermore!”

Indeed, the conclusion of “The Raven” stands as one of the most harrowing moments in American poetry–a vision of psychological, emotional, and spiritual paralysis and despair. The gothic decor and high rhetoric do not disguise the emotional authenticity of the final tableau. As Baudelaire, Verlaine, Mallarmé, and the other Symbolists understood, “The Raven” is the signature work of un poète maudit , “a cursed poet.” They honored Poe as a brilliant artist who was destroyed by his very gifts of heightened perception. Like its author, the poem’s protagonist is an aesthete and intellectual whose mental gifts provide no protection against tragedy. The depth of his love for the lost Lenore only makes his suffering more intense and enduring.

“The Raven” has a singular claim in nineteenth-century American literary history. Poe left a detailed (if also often unconvincing) account of the poem’s genesis. Elated by its trans-Atlantic acclaim, Poe published in April, 1846 “The Philosophy of Composition,” which purports to “explain step by step” the process by which he wrote “The Raven.” Inspiration or chance, Poe claimed, played no part in the poem’s composition. “The Raven” emerged from a deliberate and conscious process that progressed “with the precision and rigid consequence of a mathematical problem.” Hardly anyone has taken Poe’s rational view of poetic composition at face value, but psychological critics have justifiably viewed its arguments as a classic case of compensation. An obsessive and emotionally wounded poet, Poe preferred to present himself as controlled, deliberate, and logical. Even if we accept the basic premise of Poe’s claim that he created the poem systematically from abstract goals, we are entitled to comment that only an author full of raging emotions would insist on the necessity for such complete artistic control.

“The Raven” is not a tragedy in the conventional sense, but the drama of the poem possesses a genuinely tragic element. The speaker does not turn away from the horrifying void. He tries to act reasonably in a situation where reason provides no defense. Even if the protagonist does not rise fully to the heroic demands of tragedy by struggling against his fate, neither does he try to escape it. He steadfastly faces his tormentor, a demonic emblem (to quote Poe’s own italicized description from “The Philosophy of Composition”) of “ Mournful and Neverending Remembrance .” Trapped and doomed, the protagonist nonetheless articulates what it is like to endure the limits of psychological suffering. Whether Poe himself fully shared those agonies we cannot say, but however rational the composition of “The Raven” truly was, the well-springs of human pain and loss feeding it were vastly deep and authentic. As Walt Whitman wrote of his own work, “Who touches this touches a man.” Few poems have touched so many readers so deeply as “The Raven.”

First published in Poetry for Students, Volume 1 (Gale 1998).

Experience the Joy of Learning

Just Great DataBase
Study Guides

The Raven Essays

The poem of Edgar Allen Poe entitled “The Raven” is a beautiful poem that tries to vividly describe the depths of melancholic emotion that is part and parcel of human experience although there may be some less blessed mortal, in a remote possibility, that would never go through such inner turmoil...

1 189 words

<center><b>Sorrow for the Lost Annabel Lee</b></center> <br> <br>With insistent meter and captivating rhyme schemes, Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee" and "The Raven" are both very similar. However, in their views of love, namely the loss and mourning of beautiful...

The Meanings of the Raven Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" employs a raven itself as a symbol of the torture, mainly the self-inflicted torture, of the narrator over his lost love, Lenore. The raven, it can be argued, is possibly a figment of the imagination of the narrator, obviously distraught over...

1 296 words

Creating the Melancholic Tone in "The Raven" Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven," representing Poe's own introverted crisis of hell, is unusually moving and attractive to the reader. In his essay entitled "The Philosophy of Composition," Poe reveals his purpose in writing "The Raven" and also describes...

1 120 words

The first Human Cloned Embryo Article written by: Jose B. Cibelli, Robert P. Lanza and Michael D West, with Carol Ezzell (summary) Parthenogenesis is a process of generating human embryos from only eggs put therapeutic cloning within reach On October 13, 2001 the scientist of Advance Cell...

The era of romanticism spans from the late 1700's to the mid 1800's following the French Revolution; therefore, "Romanticism" encompasses characteristics of the human mind in addition to the particular time in history when these qualities became dominant in culture. Romanticism depicts an artistic...

The writer of these words was enchanted by darkness... thrilled by death. What sort of person would spend their whole life linking hands with Death and her counterparts? Quite possibly a literary genius by the name of Edgar Allan Poe. Famous for romanticizing the darker, more Gothic side of life, E...

2 053 words

In this essay, I will discuss the elements involved and my interpretation of the poem The Raven, by Edgar Allen Poe. Many poems, including this particular one, are made up of a number of elements which are combined to give the reader a certain thought or feeling. I will also discuss the poet's...

"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" is a dark reflection on lost love, death, and loss of hope. The poem examines the emotions of a young man who has lost his lover to death and who tries unsuccessfully to distract himself from his sadness through books. Books, however...

“The Raven” Conspiracy, unkindness, and death are a few words associated with one of the most popular birds in the world. The raven is commonly seen in works of art, literature, and movies to set the tone or scenario for things that are coming next. In Poe’s, “The Raven”, the ebony bird symbolizes...

Comparative Analysis of the Tell Tale Heart and the Raven Edgar Allen Poe was the author of several daunting works of literature. Two examples of Edgar Allen Poe's literature are "The Tell Tale Heart" and "The Raven. " If we compare these two works, one a short story and the other a poem, we will...

1 240 words

“The Raven” and “Annabel Lee” Edgar Allen Poe known as a poet and critic but most famous as the first master of the short-story form, especially tales of the mysterious and macabre. The literary merits of Poe's writings have been debated since his death, but his works have remained popular and...

The Raven "The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in January 1845. It is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, andsupernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow descent...

1 866 words

"Poe's Life Reflected in The Raven" Edgar Allen Poe is a well known writer and poet. He wrotemany tales of mystery and macabre. I once read his book, 'The Masqueof the Red Death'. The story was so heavy and dark that I felt scaredwhile reading the book. When I was about to read his poem 'TheRaven'...

1 117 words

Annabel Lee And The Raven Comparison Sorrow for the Lost Annabel Lee With insistent meter and captivating rhyme schemes, Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee" and "The Raven" are both very similar. However, in their views of love, namely the loss and mourning of beautiful women, they differ greatly...

The Raven Edgar Allans Poe's, The Raven, made a significant impact, not only in American literature, but the world as well. With Poe's influence, short fictions were more accepted in literary circles. Edgar Allan Poe's contributions to American literature have become increasingly more prominent as...

Raven vs. Lenore when the writer talks about Lenore he makes her seem like a god like person. She is like untouchable almost. The writer seems to have had a bond with Lenore, almost as if she was his wife. Lenore in the poem is portrayed as a person who couldn’t do any wrong and was perfect. The...

Callie Graham English 3H p2 Detailed Outline I. Thesis – why and how Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven is a vital literary piece to the start of the era of gothic literature, and how it embodies the traits of basic gothic literature II. The basic elements of gothic literature a. Intricate plot i...

1 486 words

“The Raven” While reading “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe, the narrator’s increasingly anxious tone sets an eerie mood throughout the story. At the beginning, a royal narrator, who is unnamed, relaxes in his chair, but something disturbs him by tapping on his chamber door; he tries to ignore the...

Home / Essay Samples / Literature / The Raven / Rhetorical Analysis ‘The Raven’

Rhetorical Analysis 'The Raven'

Category: Literature
Topic: Literature Review , The Raven

Pages: 2 (1006 words)

Downloads: -->

--> ⚠️ Remember: This essay was written and uploaded by an--> click here.

Found a great essay sample but want a unique one?

are ready to help you with your essay

You won’t be charged yet!

The Outsiders Essays

Catcher in The Rye Essays

Antigone Essays

A Modest Proposal Essays

Metamorphosis Essays

Related Essays

We are glad that you like it, but you cannot copy from our website. Just insert your email and this sample will be sent to you.

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Your essay sample has been sent.

In fact, there is a way to get an original essay! Turn to our writers and order a plagiarism-free paper.

samplius.com uses cookies to offer you the best service possible.By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .--> -->