A Critical Analysis Of The Raven Essay, Research Paper

Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, representing Poe’s own crisis, is oddly moving and eye-catching to the reader. In his essay entitled The Philosophy of Composition, Poe reveals his purpose in writing The Raven and also describes the work of constructing the poem as being calculated in all aspects. Of all the distressing topics, Poe wished to use the one that was universally understood, death, specifically death involving a loved one.

The tone seemingly represents a very painful state of mind, an intellect receptive to insanity and the void of depression brought upon by the death of a beloved woman. When Poe had decided to use a refrain that repeated the word “nevermore,” he found that it would be most effective if he used a non-reasoning creature to utter the word. It would make little sense to use a human being, since another person could reason to answer the questions.

The narrator tells what he remembers about the setting and action at the time of the Raven’s visit. It was December, the first month of winter and a time when the nights are longest, creating a mood of mystery. Both midnight and December symbolize closure, as midnight is the last hour of the day and December is the last month of the year. “Midnight” and “December” also represent the anticipation of something new, a change to happen.

To set the mood, Poe uses mysterious and depressing words in these descriptions: “bleak,” “dying,” and “ghost.” To escape his heavy mood, the speaker has been reading; he says it was a vain attempt to “borrow / From my books surcease of sorrow,” that is, to find something in his books that would take his mind off the sadness he feels about his lost love, Lenore. He reveals that Lenore has died when he says that the angels call her by name. The phrase “from out my heart,” Poe claims, is used, in combination with the answer “Nevermore,” to let the narrator realize that he should not try to seek a moral in what has been previously narrated.

The chamber in which the narrator is situated, is used to imply the loneliness of the man, and the mourning he feels for the loss of Lenore. The room is richly furnished, and reminds the narrator of his lost love, which helps to create an effect of beauty in the poem. The tempest outside is used to even more indicate the isolation of this man, to show a sharp contrast between the calmness in the chamber and the tempestuous night. Confined in the chamber are memories of her who had frequented it. These ghostly memories plant a motive in the reader to know of the bewilderment that plagues the narrator and consequently Poe himself; the narrator contemplates whether he will see his wife in the afterlife”

A strong device for the sorrowful tone is Poe’s use of the first person. Poe used the first person by virtue of the situations in The Raven being directly influenced by Poe’s life experiences. Among many other misfortunes, including living a life of poverty and being orphaned at a young age, Poe’s beloved wife Virginia died after a long illness. After Virginia’s death, Poe tried to relieve his grief by drinking. A parallel is formed in The Raven between the arrogant actions of the raven towards the narrator and the taunting of alcohol towards Poe. The raven condescends that Poe will never see his lost love again when uttering, “forget this lost Lenore”. Alcohol taunts Poe into never-ending depression and caused him to have a life-long problem with alcoholism, which eventually led to his death.

The raven directs most of the action in the poem, it ridicules and patronizes the narrator throughout the poem and its evil force fills the air and causes suffering and torture within the character. The raven is established as a symbol for the narrator’s mournful and endless remembrance of his lost love. The raven is important to the sorrowful theme because it is often seen as being a herald of death. A raven is usually the symbol of something dark and sinister. This poem also deals with losing hope, even though the narrator has no right to even have the small amount. This poem deals with his dead love Lenore, and how the raven torments him into insanity.

Once the thought of Lenore re-enters the speaker’s mind, his imagination and emotions again became active. He imagines that he smells the incense of angels. He prefers to think of the scent as a gift from God, noticing it provides a comforting understanding that may help him forget his misery. He cries out to himself, calling himself “Wretch.” By this he means that he has sunk to a wretched state of grief. But now he hopes that with the angels’ help he has a chance to rest from the grief, to forget Lenore. When he suggests this out loud, the Raven who has also almost been forgotten, reasserts his presence with his one word, “Nevermore.” In the context of the lover’s thoughts, the bird’s statement means that the speaker will never have a moment’s rest from the sadness he feels over Lenore’s death.

In reaction to the raven the speaker calls the bird a “Prophet,” and because the prophecy foretells of more suffering for the speaker, he calls the bird “evil” and suggests that it may be a “devil.” He does not know if the Raven is merely a bird seeking refuge after a tempest or if it is an evil being sent by the “Tempter.”

In the poem it is important that the answers to the questions are already known, to illustrate the self-torture to which the narrator endures. Repetition of “Nevermore” hinders the speaker’s mindfulness in all actions, and stumps him into a mistreated state of mind. The raven’s utterance of language, especially the sole phrase in the refrain is crucial, for the exchange of dialogue would not advance without the persona having something to respond to.

The poem has a series of repeated stanzas ending with the line “Quoth the Raven Nevermore,” which serves to establish the constant dominance of the raven, and defines the sorrowful condition of the narrator. Through focusing on the raven and its raspy “Nevermore,” an effect is developed that highlights a gloomy and depressed state of mind. A refrain is used throughout to give emphasis to the developing tone of sadness.

Through The Raven, Poe makes a personal, withdrawn torment strangely interesting and tasteful to all. The realism of his torment is brilliantly defined by the arrival of the raven. We the reader can only sit and enjoy how one man can delve into the void of insanity, as Poe makes a harsh and personal situation into something that can be presentable and enjoyable for the reader.