The Raven - Analysis

Edgar Allan Poe was a very well known Dark Romanticism writer, and one of his very famous poems is "The Raven." Poe used many different techniques to make the poem feel very scary, giving it characteristics of Dark Romanticism writing. There are many different broad themes throughout the poem that help contribute to the "scary" aspect of the poem. A very profound theme is madness. The main character in the poem talks to a bird. Just that fact alone makes him sound like a crazy person. Since the poem is supposed to be an eerie story, it makes the reader wonder, is the bird really talking? Is there really a bird at all? Just those few aspects make the poem seem scary to the reader, bringing it closer to Dark Romanticism. This poem, much like one of Poe's other poems, contains the mention of a lost love. "And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!' This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!'" (Poe 28-29). Poe, while using what is usually a happy aspect of life, uses a very depressing look on love. The main character in the poem really wants to be back with the one woman he loved, but that is something that he simply cannot have. Poe used that same technique in his poem "Anabel Lee."

Poe sets the setting of the poem saying that it is late at night and he is falling asleep by the fire. He even says that the embers of the fire form a ghost on the floor as he nods off to sleep. He then says how he is woken by a tapping at the door, but he decides that it is only a late friend (Poe 1-8). The man calls out to the "visitor" at the door, asking who is at the door. "So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating `'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door" (Poe 15-16). Poe creates a scary mood by describing how the man's heart is beating. Poe wrote almost 2 stanzas just leading up to the man opening the door, and when he finally does, there is no one there (Poe 13-24). That also helped to create a scary mood over the poem.

A few stanzas later, the main character finally encounters the title of the poem, the raven. When he sees it, the raven is "Perched upon a bust of Pallas" (Poe 41) which is another name for the Greek Goddess Athena. Athena is mainly known as the goddess of wisdom, which signifies that the raven will be knowledgeable. The main character asks the raven a series of questions, but the raven answers each one with the word "nevermore." As the questions get more personal, the man slowly loses contact with reality, and breaks down. He finally tells the raven to leave and come back to where it came from, and the raven replied "nevermore" (Poe 101-102). The poem ends with the main character repeating that the raven is still sitting on his statue, and that it will never leave.

Poe, Edgar A. "Edgar Allan Poe: The Raven." Heise Online | IT-News, C't, IX, Technology Review, Telepolis. Web. 18 Jan. 2012. <http://www.heise.de/ix/raven/Literature/Lore/TheRaven.html>.