Analysis of the Raven free essay sample

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 ravens mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the mans slow descent into madness. The lover, often identified as being a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. Sitting on a bust of Pallas, the raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repetition of the word Nevermore. The poem makes use of a number of folk and classical references. Poe claimed to have written the poem very logically and methodically, intending to create a poem that would appeal to both critical and popular tastes, as he explained in his 1846 follow-up essay The Philosophy of Composition. The poem was inspired in part by a talking raven in the novel Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty byCharles Dickens. We will write a custom essay sample on Analysis of the Raven or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Poe borrows the complex rhythm and meter of Elizabeth Barretts poem Lady Geraldines Courtship, and makes use of internal rhyme as well as alliteration throughout. The Raven was first attributed to Poe in print in the New York Evening Mirror on January 29, 1845. Its publication made Poe widely popular in his lifetime, though it did not bring him much financial success. Soon reprinted, parodied, and illustrated, critical opinion is divided as to the poems status, though it remains one of the most famous poems ever written. Synopsis The Raven follows an unnamed narrator who sits reading forgotten lore as a method to forget the loss of his love, Lenore. A rapping at [his] chamber doorreveals nothing, but excites his soul to burning. A similar rapping, slightly louder, is heard at his window. When he goes to investigate, a raven steps into his chamber. Paying no attention to the man, the raven perches on a bust of Pallas. Amused by the ravens comically serious disposition, the man demands that the bird tell him its name. The ravens only answer is Nevermore. The narrator is surprised that the raven can talk, though it says nothing further. The narrator remarks to himself that his friend the raven will soon fly out of his life, Just as other friends have flown before along with his previous hopes. As if answering, the raven responds again with Nevermore. The narrator reasons that the bird learned the word Nevermore from some unhappy master and that it is the only word it knows. Even so, the narrator pulls his chair directly in front of the raven, determined to learn more about it. He thinks for a moment, not saying anything, but his mind wanders back to his lost Lenore. He thinks the air grows denser and feels the presence of angels. Confused by the association of the angels with the bird, the narrator becomes angry, calling the raven a thing of evil and a prophet. As he yells at the raven it only responds, Nevermore. Finally, he asks the raven whether he will be reunited with Lenore in Heaven. When the raven responds with its typical Nevermore, he hrieks and commands the raven to return to the Plutonian shore, though it never still is sitting on the bust of Pallas. The narrators final admission is that his soul is trapped beneath the ravens shadow and shall be lifted Nevermore. Analysis Poe wrote the poem as a narrative, without intentionally creating an allegory or falling into didacticism. The main theme of the poem is one of undying devotion. The narrator experiences a perverse conflictbetween desire to forget and desire to remember. He seems to get some pleasure from focusing on loss. The narrator assumes that the word Nevermore is the ravens only stock and store, nd, yet, he continues to ask it questions, knowing what the answer will be. His questions, then, are purposely self-deprecating and further incite his feelings of loss. Poe leaves it unclear if the raven actually knows what it is saying or if it really intends to cause a reaction in the poems narrator. The narrator begins as weak and weary, becomes regretful and grief-stricken, before passing into a frenzy and, finally, madness. Christopher F. S. Maligec suggests the poem is a type of elegiac paraclausithyron, an ancient Greek and Roman poetic form consisting of the lament of an excluded, locked-out lover at the sealed door of his beloved. Allusion Poe says that the narrator is a young scholar. Though this is not explicitly stated in the poem, it is mentioned in The Philosophy of Composition. It is also suggested by the narrator reading books of lore as well as by the bust of Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom. He is reading many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore. Similar to the studies suggested in Poes short story Ligeia, this lore may be about the occult or black magic. This is also emphasized in the authors choice to set the poem in December, a month which is traditionally associated with the forces of darkness. The use of the raven † the devil bird † also suggests this. This devil image is emphasized by the narrators belief that the raven is from the Nights Plutonian shore, or a messenger from the afterlife, referring to Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld (also known as Hades in Greek mythology). Poe chose a raven as the central symbol in the story because he wanted a non- reasoning creature capable of speech. He decided on a raven, which he considered equally capable of speech as a parrot, because it matched the intended tone of the poem. Poe said the raven is meant to symbolize Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance. He was also inspired by Grip, the raven in Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty by Charles Dickens. One scene in particular bears a resemblance to The Raven: at the end of the fifth chapter of Dickenss novel, Grip makes a noise and someone says, What was that him tapping at the door? The response is, Tis someone knocking softly at the shutter. Dickenss raven could speak many words and had many comic turns, including the popping of a champagne cork, but Poe emphasized the birds more dramatic qualities. Poe had written a review of Barnaby Rudge for Grahams Magazine saying, among other things, that the raven should ave served a more symbolic, prophetic pu rpose. The similarity did not go unnoticed: James Russell Lowell in his A Fable for Critics wrote the verse, Here comes Poe with his raven, like Barnaby Rudge / Three-fifths of him genius and two- fifths sheer fudge. Poe may also have been drawing upon various references to named Huginn and Muninn, representing thought and memory. The raven also gets a reputation as a bird of ill omen in the story of Genesis. According to Hebrew folklore, Noah sends a white raven to check conditions while on the ark. It learns that the floodwaters are beginning to dissipate, but it does not immediately eturn with the news. It is punished by being turned black and being forced to feed on carrion forever. In Ovids Metamorphoses, a raven also begins as white before Apollo punishes it by turning it black for delivering a message of a lovers unfaithfulness. The ravens role as a messenger in Poes poem may draw from those stories. Poe also mentions the Balm of Gilead, a reference to the Book of Jeremiah (8:22) in the Bible: Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? In that context, he Balm of Gilead is a resin used for medicinal purposes (suggesting, perhaps, that the narrator needs to be healed after the loss of Lenore). He also refers to Aidenn, another word for the Garden of Eden, though Poe uses it to ask if Lenore has been accepted into Heaven.