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, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow descent into madness. The lover, often identified as being a student,[1][2] 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 by Charles Dickens.[3] Poe borrows the complex rhythm and meter of Elizabeth Barrett's poem "Lady Geraldine's 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 poem's status, though it remains one of the most famous poems ever written.[4] Synopsis "The Raven" follows an unnamed narrator who sits reading "forgotten lore"[6] as a method to forget the loss of his love, Lenore. A "rapping at [his] chamber door"[6] reveals nothing, but excites his soul to "burning".[7] 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 raven's comically serious disposition, the man demands that the bird tell him its name. The raven's only answer is "Nevermore".[7] 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"[7] along with his previous hopes. As if answering, the raven responds again with "Nevermore".[7] The narrator reasons that the bird learned the word "Nevermore" from some "unhappy master" and that it is the only word it knows.[7] 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".[8] Finally, he asks the raven whether he will be reunited with Lenore in Heaven. When the raven responds with its typical "Nevermore", he shrieks and commands the raven to return to the "Plutonian shore",[8] though it never moves. Presumably at the time of the poem's recitation by the narrator, the raven "still is sitting"[8] on the bust of Pallas. The narrator's final admission is that his soul is trapped beneath the raven's shadow and shall be lifted "Nevermore".[8] Analysis Poe wrote the poem as a narrative, without intentionally creating an allegory or falling into didacticism.[2] The main theme of the poem is one of undying devotion.[9] The narrator experiences a perverse conflict between desire to forget and desire to remember. He seems to get some pleasure from focusing on loss.[10] The narrator assumes that the word "Nevermore" is the raven's "only stock and store", and, 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.[11] Poe leaves it unclear if the raven actually knows what it is saying or if it really intends to cause a reaction in the poem's narrator.[12] The narrator begins as weak and weary, becomes regretful and griefstricken, before passing into a frenzy and, finally, madness.[13] 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.[14] Allusions Poe says that the narrator is a young scholar.[15] 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.[1] He is reading "many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore".[6] Similar to the studies suggested in Poe's short story "Ligeia", this lore may be about the occult or black magic. This is also emphasized in the author's 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.[16] This devil image is emphasized by the narrator's belief that the raven is "from the Night's Plutonian shore", or a messenger from the afterlife, referring to Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld[10] (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.[17] Poe said the raven is meant to symbolize "Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance".[18] He was also inspired by Grip, the raven in Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty by Charles Dickens.[19] One scene in particular bears a resemblance to "The Raven": at the end of the fifth chapter of Dickens's 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."[20] Dickens's raven could speak many words and had many comic turns, including the popping of a champagne cork, but Poe emphasized the bird's more dramatic qualities. Poe had written a review of Barnaby Rudge for Graham's Magazine saying, among other things, that the raven should have served a more symbolic, prophetic purpose.[20] 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."[21]

Poe may also have been drawing upon various references to ravens in mythology and folklore. In Norse mythology, Odin possessed two ravens named Huginn and Muninn, representing thought and memory.[22] According to Hebrew folklore, Noah sends a white raven to check conditions while on the ark.[17] It learns that the floodwaters are beginning to dissipate, but it does not immediately return with the news. It is punished by being turned black and being forced to feed on carrion forever.[22] In Ovid's Metamorphoses, a raven also begins as white before Apollo punishes it by turning it black for delivering a message of a lover's unfaithfulness. The raven's role as a messenger in Poe's poem may draw from those stories.[22] 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?"[23] In that context, the 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. At another point, the narrator imagines that Seraphim (a type of angel) have entered the room. The narrator thinks they are trying to take his memories of Lenore away from him using nepenthe, a drug mentioned in Homer's Odyssey to induce forgetfulness. [edit] Poetic structure The poem is made up of 18 stanzas of six lines each. Generally, the meter is trochaic octameter eight trochaic feet per line, each foot having one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable.[3] The first line, for example (with / representing stressed syllables and x representing unstressed): Stress / x / x / x / x / x / x / x / x Syllable Once up- on a mid- night drear- y, while I pon- dered weak and wear- y Edgar Allan Poe, however, claimed the poem was a combination of octameter acatalectic, heptameter catalectic, and tetrameter catalectic.[15] The rhyme scheme is ABCBBB, or AA,B,CC,CB,B,B when accounting for internal rhyme. In every stanza, the 'B' lines rhyme with the word 'nevermore' and are catalectic, placing extra emphasis on the final syllable. The poem also makes heavy use of alliteration ("Doubting, dreaming dreams...").[24] 20th century American poet Daniel Hoffman suggested that the poem's structure and meter is so formulaic that it is artificial, though its mesmeric quality overrides that.[25] Poe based the structure of "The Raven" on the complicated rhyme and rhythm of Elizabeth Barrett's poem "Lady Geraldine's Courtship".[15] Poe had reviewed Barrett's work in the January 1845 issue of the Broadway Journal[26] and said that "her poetic inspiration is the highestwe can conceive of nothing more august. Her sense of Art is pure in itself."[27] As is typical with Poe, his review also criticizes her lack of originality and what he considers the repetitive nature of some of her poetry.[28] About "Lady Geraldine's Courtship", he said, "I have never read a poem combining so much of the fiercest passion with so much of the most delicate imagination."[27] Publication history

Poe first brought "The Raven" to his friend and former employer George Rex Graham of Graham's Magazine in Philadelphia. Graham declined the poem, which may not have been in its final version, though he gave Poe $15 as charity.[29] Poe then sold the poem to The American Review, which paid him $9 for it,[30] and printed "The Raven" in its February 1845 issue under the pseudonym "Quarles", a reference to the English poet Francis Quarles.[31] The poem's first publication with Poe's name was in the Evening Mirror on January 29, 1845, as an "advance copy".[15] Nathaniel Parker Willis, editor of the Mirror, introduced it as "unsurpassed in English poetry for subtle conception, masterly ingenuity of versification, and consistent, sustaining of imaginative lift... It will stick to the memory of everybody who reads it."[4] Following this publication the poem appeared in periodicals across the United States, including the New York Tribune (February 4, 1845), Broadway Journal (vol. 1, February 8, 1845), Southern Literary Messenger (vol. 11, March 1845), Literary Emporium (vol. 2, December 1845), Saturday Courier, 16 (July 25, 1846), and the Richmond Examiner (September 25, 1849).[32] It has also appeared in numerous anthologies, starting with Poets and Poetry of America edited by Rufus Wilmot Griswold in 1847. The immediate success of "The Raven" prompted Wiley and Putnam to publish a collection of Poe's prose called Tales in June 1845; it was his first book in five years.[33] They also published a collection of his poetry called The Raven and Other Poems on November 19 by Wiley and Putnam which included a dedication to Barrett as "the Noblest of her Sex".[34] The small volume, his first book of poetry in 14 years,[35] was 100 pages and sold for 31 cents.[36] In addition to the title poem, it included "The Valley of Unrest", "Bridal Ballad", "The City in the Sea", "Eulalie", "The Conqueror Worm", "The Haunted Palace" and eleven others.[37] In the preface, Poe referred to them as "trifles" which had been altered without his permission as they made "the rounds of the press".[34] Composition Main article: The Philosophy of Composition Poe capitalized on the success of "The Raven" by following it up with his essay "The Philosophy of Composition" (1846), in which he detailed the poem's creation. His description of its writing is probably exaggerated, though the essay serves as an important overview of Poe's literary theory.[43] He explains that every component of the poem is based on logic: the raven enters the chamber to avoid a storm (the "midnight dreary" in the "bleak December"), and its perch on a pallid white bust was to create visual contrast against the dark black bird. No aspect of the poem was an accident, he claims, but is based on total control by the author.[44] Even the term "Nevermore", he says, is used because of the effect created by the long vowel sounds (though Poe may have been inspired to use the word by the works of Lord Byron or Henry Wadsworth Longfellow[45]). Poe had experimented with the long o sound throughout many other poems: "no more" in "Silence", "evermore" in "The Conqueror Worm".[1] The topic itself, Poe says, was chosen because "the death... of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world." Told from "the lips... of a bereaved lover" is best suited to achieve the desired effect.[2] Beyond the poetics of it, the lost Lenore may have been inspired by events in Poe's own life as well, either to the early loss of his mother, Eliza Poe, or the long illness endured by his wife, Virginia.[10] Ultimately, Poe considered "The Raven" an experiment to "suit at once the popular and critical taste", accessible to both the

mainstream and high literary worlds.[2] It is unknown how long Poe worked on "The Raven"; speculation ranges from a single day to ten years. Poe recited a poem believed to be an early version with an alternate ending of "The Raven" in 1843 in Saratoga, New York.[3] An early draft may have featured an owl.[46] Critical reception In part due to its dual printing, "The Raven" made Edgar Allan Poe a household name almost immediately[47] and turned Poe into a national celebrity.[48] Readers began to identify poem with poet, earning Poe the nickname "The Raven".[49] The poem was soon widely reprinted, imitated, and parodied.[47] Though it made Poe popular in his day, it did not bring him significant financial success.[50] As he later lamented, "I have made no money. I am as poor now as ever I was in my life except in hope, which is by no means bankable".[35] The New World said, "Everyone reads the Poem and praises it... justly, we think, for it seems to us full of originality and power."[4] The Pennsylvania Inquirer reprinted it with the heading "A Beautiful Poem".[4] Elizabeth Barrett wrote to Poe, "Your 'Raven' has produced a sensation, a fit o' horror, here in England. Some of my friends are taken by the fear of it and some by the music. I hear of persons haunted by 'Nevermore'."[51] Poe's popularity resulted in invitations to recite "The Raven" and to lecture in public and at private social gatherings. At one literary salon, a guest noted, "to hear [Poe] repeat the Raven... is an event in one's life."[52] It was recalled by someone who experienced it, "He would turn down the lamps till the room was almost dark, then standing in the center of the apartment he would recite... in the most melodious of voices... So marvelous was his power as a reader that the auditors would be afraid to draw breath lest the enchanted spell be broken."[53] Parodies sprung up especially in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia and included "The Craven" by "Poh!", "The Gazelle", "The Whippoorwill", and "The Turkey".[49] One parody, "The Pole-Cat", caught the attention of Andrew Johnston, a lawyer who sent it on to Abraham Lincoln. Though Lincoln admitted he had "several hearty laughs", he had not, at that point read "The Raven".[54] However, Lincoln eventually read and memorized the poem.[55] "The Raven" was praised by fellow writers William Gilmore Simms and Margaret Fuller,[56] though it was denounced by William Butler Yeats, who called it "insincere and vulgar... its execution a rhythmical trick".[2] Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I see nothing in it."[57] A critic for the Southern Quarterly Review wrote in July 1848 that the poem was ruined by "a wild and unbridled extravagance" and that minor things like a rapping at the door and a fluttering curtain would only affect "a child who had been frightened to the verge of idiocy by terrible ghost stories".[58] An anonymous writer going by the pseudonym "Outis" suggested in the Evening Mirror that "The Raven" was plagiarized from a poem called "The Bird of the Dream" by an unnamed author. The writer showed 18 similarities between the poems and was made as a response to Poe's accusations of plagiarism against Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It has been suggested Outis was really Cornelius Conway Felton, if not Poe himself.[59] After Poe's death, his friend Thomas Holley Chivers said "The Raven" was plagiarized from one of his poems.[60] In particular, he claimed to have been the inspiration for the meter of the poem as well as the refrain "nevermore".[61] "The Raven" has influenced many modern works, including Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita in 1955, Bernard Malamud's "The Jewbird" in 1963 and Ray Bradbury's "The Parrot Who Knew Papa" in 1976.[62] The poem is additionally referenced throughout popular culture in films, television, music and more. Summary A lonely man tries to ease his "sorrow for the lost Lenore," by distracting his mind with old books of "forgotten lore." He is interrupted while he is "nearly napping," by a "tapping on [his] chamber door." As he opens up the door, he finds "darkness there and nothing more." Into the darkness he whispers, "Lenore," hoping his lost love had come back, but all that could be heard was "an echo [that] murmured back the word 'Lenore!'" With a burning soul, the man returns to his chamber, and this time he can hear a tapping at the window lattice. As he "flung [open] the shutter," "in [there] stepped a stately Raven," the bird of ill-omen (Poe, 1850). The raven perched on the bust of Pallas, the goddess of wisdom in Greek mythology, above his chamber door. The man asks the Raven for his name, and surprisingly it answers, and croaks "Nevermore." The man knows that the bird does not speak from wisdom, but has been taught by "some unhappy master," and that the word "nevermore" is its only "stock and store." The man welcomes the raven, and is afraid that the raven will be gone in the morning, "as [his] Hopes have flown before"; however, the raven answers, "Nevermore." The man smiled, and pulled up a chair, interested in what the raven "meant in croaking, Nevermore. " The chair, where Lenore once sat, brought back painful memories. The man, who knows the irrational nature in the raven s speech, still cannot help but ask the raven questions. Since the narrator is aware that the raven only knows one word, he can anticipate the bird's responses. "Is there balm in Gilead?" - "Nevermore." Can Lenore be found in paradise? - "Nevermore." "Take thy form from off my door!" - "Nevermore." Finally the man concedes, realizing that to continue this dialogue would be pointless. And his "soul from out that shadow" that the raven throws on the floor, "Shall be lifted -- Nevermore!" Symbols In this poem, one of the most famous American poems ever, Poe uses several symbols to take the poem to a higher level. The most obvious symbol is, of course, the raven itself. 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, since the human could reason to answer the questions (Poe, 1850). In "The Raven" it is important that the answers to the questions are already known, to illustrate the selftorture to which the narrator exposes himself. This way of interpreting signs that do not bear a real meaning, is "one of the most profound impulses of human nature" (Quinn, 1998:441). Poe also considered a parrot as the bird instead of the raven; however, because of the melancholy tone, and the symbolism of ravens as birds of ill-omen, he found the raven more suitable for the mood in the poem (Poe, 1850). Quoth the Parrot, "Nevermore?"

Another obvious symbol is the bust of Pallas. Why did the raven decide to perch on the goddess of wisdom? One reason could be, because it would lead the narrator to believe that the raven spoke from wisdom, and was not just repeating its only "stock and store," and to signify the scholarship of the narrator. Another reason for using "Pallas" in the poem was, according to Poe himself, simply because of the "sonorousness of the word, Pallas, itself" (Poe, 1850). A less obvious symbol, might be the use of "midnight" in the first verse, and "December" in the second verse. Both midnight and December, symbolize an end of something, and also the anticipation of something new, a change, to happen. The midnight in December, might very well be New Year s eve, a date most of us connect with change. This also seems to be what Viktor Rydberg believes when he is translating "The Raven" to Swedish, since he uses the phrase "rets sista natt var inne, " ("The last night of the year had arrived"). Kenneth Silverman connected the use of December with the death of Edgar s mother (Silverman, 1992:241), who died in that month; whether this is true or not is, however, not significant to its meaning in the poem. The chamber in which the narrator is positioned, is used to signify the loneliness of the man, and the sorrow 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 signify the isolation of this man, to show a sharp contrast between the calmness in the chamber and the tempestuous night. 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 (Poe, 1850). Words Poe had an extensive vocabulary, which is obvious to the readers of both his poetry as well as his fiction. Sometimes this meant introducing words that were not commonly used. In "The Raven," the use of ancient and poetic language seems appropriate, since the poem is about a man spending most of his time with books of "forgotten lore." y "Seraphim," in the fourteenth verse, "perfumed by an unseen censer / Swung by seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled..." is used to illustrate the swift, invisible way a scent spreads in a room. A seraphim is one of the six-winged angels standing in the presence of God. y "Nepenthe," from the same verse, is a potion, used by ancients to induce forgetfullnes of pain or sorrow. y "Balm in Gilead," from the following verse, is a soothing ointment made in Gilead, a mountainous region of Palestine east of the Jordan river. y "Aidenn," from the sixteenth verse, is an Arabic word for Eden or paradise. y "Plutonian," characteristic of Pluto, the god of the underworld in Roman mythology. The Philosphy of Composition Edgar Allan Poe wrote an essay on the creation of "The Raven," entitled "The Philosophy of Composition." In that essay Poe describes the work of composing the poem as if it were a mathematical problem, and derides the poets that claim that they compose "by a species of fine frenzy - an ecstatic intuition - and would positively shudder at letting the public take a peep behind the scenes." Whether Poe was as calculating as he claims when he wrote "The Raven" or not is a question that cannot be answered; it is, however, unlikely that he created it exactly like he described in his essay. The thoughts occurring in the essay might well have occurred to Poe while he was composing it. In "The Philosophy of Composition," Poe stresses the need to express a single effect when the literary work is to be read in one sitting. A poem should always be written short enough to be read in one sitting, and should, therefore, strive to achieve this single, unique effect. Consequently, Poe figured that the length of a poem should stay around one hundred lines, and "The Raven" is 108 lines. The most important thing to consider in "Philosophy" is the fact that "The Raven," as well as many of Poe's tales, is written backwards. The effect is determined first, and the whole plot is set; then the web grows backwards from that single effect. Poe's "tales of ratiocination," e.g. the Dupin tales, are written in the same manner. "Nothing is more clear than that every plot, worth the name, must be elaborated to its denouement before anything be attempted with the pen" (Poe, 1850). It was important to Poe to make "The Raven" "universally appreciable." It should be appreciated by the public, as well as the critics. Poe chose Beauty to be the theme of the poem, since "Beauty is the sole legitimate province of the poem" (Poe, 1850). After choosing Beauty as the province, Poe considered sadness to be the highest manifestation of beauty. "Beauty of whatever kind in its supreme development invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears. Melancholy is thus the most legitimate of all the poetical tones" (Poe, 1850). Of all melancholy topics, Poe wanted to use the one that was universally understood, and therefore, he chose Death as his topic. Poe (along with other writers) believed that the death of a beautiful woman was the most poetical use of death, because it closely allies itself with Beauty. After establishing subjects and tones of the poem, Poe started by writing the stanza that brought the narrator's "interrogation" of the raven to a climax, the third verse from the end, and he made sure that no preceeding stanza would "surpass this in rythmical effect." Poe then worked

backwards from this stanza and used the word "Nevermore" in many different ways, so that even with the repetition of this word, it would not prove to be monotonous. Poe builds the tension in this poem up, stanza by stanza, but after the climaxing stanza he tears the whole thing down, and lets the narrator know that there is no meaning in searching for a moral in the raven's "nevermore". The Raven is established as a symbol for the narrator's "Mournful and never-ending remembrance." "And my soul from out that shadow, that lies floating on the floor, shall be lifted - nevermore!" The Raven: Introduction

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The Raven was first published in the New York Evening Mirror on January 29, 1845, and received popular and critical praise. Sources of The Raven have been suggested, such as Lady Geraldines 1843 Courtship by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens, and two poems, To Allegra Florence and Isadore by Thomas Holly Chivers. Over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, The Raven has become one of Americas most famous poems, partly as a result, of its easily remembered refrain, Nevermore. The speaker, a man who pines for his deceased love, Lenore, has been visited by a talking bird who knows only the word, Nevermore. The narrator feels so grieved over the loss of his love that he allows his imagination to transform the bird into a prophet bringing news that the lovers will Nevermore be reunited, not even in heaven. In The Philosophy of Composition, Poe's own essay about The Raven, he describes the poem as one that reveals the human penchant for self-torture as evidenced by the speakers tendency to weigh himself down with grief. In the essay Poe also discusses his method of composing The Raven. He claims to have given much thought to his selection of the refrain, recognizing in it the pivot upon which the whole structure might turn. His selection of the word Nevermore came after considering his need for a single, easily remembered word that would allow him to vary the meaning of the lines leading up to it. The poem uses this refrain, or variations of it, as the closing word for each stanza. The stanzas become increasingly dramatic as the speaker makes observations or asks questions that reveal his growing tension and diminishing reason. The narrator begins with innocent and amusing remarks that build in a steady crescendo to intense expressions of grief, all of which conclude with Nevermore or one of its variants. The Raven Summary Lines 1-2: The opening lines identify the speaker as someone who feels tired and weak but is still awake in the middle of a gloomy night. He passes the time by reading a strange book of ancient knowledge. The first line of the poem contains alliteration of w in while, weak, and weary to produce the effect of unsteadiness. This line also sets the poems rhythmical pattern and provides the first example of the use of internal rhyme in dreary and weary. Lines 3-6: The speaker tells of becoming more tired and beginning to doze but being wakened by a sound that he assumes is a quiet knock. Internal rhymes of napping, tapping, and rapping along with repetition of these last two words, create a musical effect. This effect is also produced by alliteration of n. These sound devices and the steady rhythm of these lines are almost hypnotic. The use of nothing more is the first example of what will evolve into the refrain Nevermore. In this first instance, the speaker presents the phrase in a low key, attached to his bland explanation that the tapping sound is nothing more than a late visitor knocking at his door. Lines 7-12: In this second stanza the narrator tells what he remembers about the setting and action at the time of the Ravens visit. It was December, the first month of winter and a time when the nights are longest, creating a mood of mystery. A fireplace had been lit, but now the fire was going out, and it cast an eerie glow. 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. This time the word evermore is used in the refrain. Lines 13-18: The speaker tells that he was in a state of heightened sensibility because of his mood, the late hour, and the eerie setting. Reading ancient folklore, possibly of a supernatural nature, may also have added to his emotional state. The sound of the curtains as they move strikes his imagination wildly. Poe creates this sound by using onomatopoeia, or words that sound like what they describe (rustling), and alliteration, repeating s in line 13 and f in line 14. The speaker tries to calm down by telling himself twice that the tapping noise (introduced in stanza one) is only the sound of a visitor knocking on his door and nothing more. The refrain works here as it did in the first stanza, but now it has been attached to a more emotionally charged situation. Lines 19-24: The speaker overcomes his emotional state and rationally calls out to the supposed visitor. But when he opens the door he finds only darkness there and nothing more. The refrain this time has been employed to create a sense of mystery that follows a moment of rational behavior, overshadowing it. Lines 25-30: The lover tells that he stood looking out of his door, transfixed by the darkness, the silence, and the stillness while his imagination increased. Finally he whispered the name of his deceased lover, Lenore, and he heard it echoed in the night. An abundance of words that use the sound d produces an

alliteration that suggests the strong, rhythmical heartbeat of an excited person. The refrain has now been used after a mysterious and also slightly frightening experience, the nothing more contradicting the speakers agitated state. Lines 31-36: At this point the speaker has not completely regained his composure, as shown by the image of his soul ... burning. He returns to his room, but the tapping sound resumes, even louder, and the speaker determines this time to investigate the window. Lines 1-2: The opening lines identify the speaker as someone who feels tired and weak but is still awake in the middle of a gloomy night. He passes the time by reading a strange book of ancient knowledge. The first line of the poem contains alliteration of w in while, weak, and weary to produce the effect of unsteadiness. This line also sets the poem s rhythmical pattern and provides the first example of the use of internal rhyme in dreary and weary. Analysis Of The Raven By Edgar Allan Poe "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, prove to be of little help, as his night becomes a nightmare and his solitude is shattered by a single visitor, the raven. Through this poem, Poe uses symbolism, imagery and tone, as well as a variety of poetic elements to enforce his theme of sadness and death of the one he loves. Within the poem Poe divides the characters and imagery into two conflicting aspects of light and dark. Almost everything in the poem reflects one world or the other. For example, Lenore, who is repeatedly described as "radiant" epitomizes the world of light along with the angels she has joined. Another image of light would be the lamplight the character uses to ligthe outside. However, The Raven, as well as the dreary December night shows signs of darkness. These images of light and darkness go even further to represent life and death, the man's hope of an afterlife with Lenore and his fear of everlasting loneliness. The poem consists of an undeniable narrative structure. Told from the third person, Poe also uses symbolism to create a strong melancholy tone. For instance, both midnight and December symbolize an end of something and the hope of something new to happen. Another example is the chamber in which the narrator is placed; this is used to show the loneliness of the man. Along with imagery and symbolism, Poe incorporates many poetic elements to express his feeling. These include assonance, alliteration, and rhyme. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds. For example "For the race and radiant maiden, whom the angels name Lenore." This repeats the vowel sound of "a". Poe also used a lot of alliteration. For example, "Doubting... ht his chamber, his refuge from the darkness of

The Raven By Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) A Study Guide Setting The chamber of a house at midnight. Poe uses the word chamber rather than bedroom apparently because chamber has a dark and mysterious connotation. First-Person Narrator (Persona) A man who has lost his beloved, a woman named Lenore. He is depressed, lonely, and possibly mentally unstable as a result of his bereavement. Date of Publication Jan. 29, 1845, in The New York Mirror from a copy prepared for The American Review. Source of Inspiration The raven in Charles Dickens' 1841 novel, Barnaby Rudge, a historical novel about anti-Catholic riots in London in 1780 in which a mentally retarded person (Barnaby) is falsely accused of participating. Barnaby owns a pet raven, Grip, which can speak. In the fifth chapter of the novel, Grip taps at a shutter (as in Poe's poem). The model for Grip was Dickens' own talking raven, which was the delight of his children. It was the first of three ravens owned by Dickens, all named Grip. After the first Grip died, it was stuffed and mounted. An admirer of Poe's works acquired the mounted the bird and donated it to the Free Library of Philadelphia, where it is on display today. Raven, a Glorified Crow A raven, which can be up to two feet long, is a type of crow. Ravens eat small animals, carrion, fruit, and seeds. They often appear in legend and literature as sinister omens. Theme The death of a beautiful woman, as lamented by her bereaved lover. Word Choice As in his short stories, Poe is careful to use primarily words that contribute to the overall atmosphere and tone of the poem. These words include weary, dreary, bleak, dying, sorrow, sad, darkness, stillness, mystery, ebony, grave, stern, lonely, grim, ghastly, and gaunt. Sound and Rhythm The melancholy tone of "The Raven" relies as much on its musical sound and rhythmic pattern as on the meaning of the words. To achieve his musical effect, Poe uses rhyming words in the same line (internal rhyme), a word at the end of one line that rhymes with a word at the end of another line (end rhyme), alliteration (a figure of speech that repeats a consonant sound), and a regular pattern of accented and unaccented syllables. This pattern uses a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, with a total of sixteen syllables in each line. Here is an example (the first line of the poem): .......ONCE u PON a MID night DREAR y, WHILE i POND ered WEAK and WEAR y

In this line, the capitalized letters represent the stressed syllables and the lower-cased letters, the unstressed ones. Notice that the line has sixteen syllables in all. Notice, too, that the line has internal rhyme (dreary and weary) and alliteration (while, weak, weary). Who Is Lenore? It is possible that Lenore, the idealized deceased woman in the poem, represents Poes beloved wife, Virginia, who was in poor health when Poe wrote "The Raven." She died two years after the publication of the poem, when she was only in her mid-twenties. Criticism Some reviewers in Poes day, including poet Walt Whitman, criticized The Raven for its sing-song, highly emotional quality. The poem is still criticized todayand often parodiedfor the same reason. However, the consensus of critics and ordinary readers appears to be that the poem is a meticulously crafted work of genius and fully deserves its standing as one of the most popular poems in American literature. It is indeed a great work. Summary It is midnight on a cold evening in December in the 1840s. In a dark and shadowy bedroom, wood burns in the fireplace as a man laments the death of Lenore, a woman he deeply loved. To occupy his mind, he reads a book of ancient stories. But a tapping noise disturbs him. When he opens the door to the bedroom, he sees nothingonly darkness. When the tapping persists, he opens the shutter of the window and discovers a raven, which flies into the room and lands above the door on a bust of Athena (Pallas in the poem), the goddess of wisdom and war in Greek mythology. It says Nevermore to all his thoughts and longings. The raven, a symbol of death, tells the man he will never again ("nevermore") see his beloved, never again hold hereven in heaven.

The Raven By Edgar Allan Poe Published on January 29, 1847 Complete Text With Annotation and Endnotes by Michael J. Cummings Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,............[meditated, studied] Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,....................[archaic, old] [book of knowledge or myths] While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,...............[example of alliteration] As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door....................[bedroom or study] "'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber doorOnly this, and nothing more."................................................................... Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,.......................[internal rhyme] And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor...........[glowing wood fragment in fireplace] [formed ash] Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had sought to borrow.....................[next day] From my books surcease of sorrowsorrow for the lost Lenore-..............[an end, a pause, a delay] For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name LenoreNameless here for evermore. And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain.......................[example of alliteration] Thrilled mefilled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;....................[unreal, imaginary; weird, strange] So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating, "'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door-..... ...............[begging, pleading for] 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;.........................[beg, ask for] 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 mortals 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................................................................[Lines 2, 4, 5, and 6 of each stanza rhyme, as here]

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:.................[shutter] Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore-.....................[there, at that place] 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,.................[jerk] In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore;........................[majestic][the distant past] Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;........[bow, gesture of respect] But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door-..................[manner] Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door- ......................[small sculpture showing the head, shoulders, and chest Perched, and sat, and nothing more...........................................................of a person][Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom] Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, ........................[black][charming, coaxing] By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore. ..................[look on its face] "Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven,..[tuft of feathers on head][cut] [coward] Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore-.....[See Note 1 below the end of the poem.] Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!" Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore.".................................................................[Said, spoke] Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,........[The narrator is surprised that the raven can speak.] Though its answer little meaning- little relevancy bore;.............................[The raven's answer made little sense.] For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being Ever yet was blest with seeing bird above his chamber doorBird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door, With such name as "Nevermore."..........................................................[See Note 2 below the end of the poem.] But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only .........................[peaceful] That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. Nothing further then he uttered- not a feather then he flutteredTill I scarcely more than muttered, "other friends have flown beforeOn 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, ....................[the only words it can speak] Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster ....................[learned] Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden boreTill the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore ...............................[funeral hymns] 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- .........................[sinister, threatening] What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore ...........[the bird is now the image of death] 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; ................[metaphor comparing the gaze to a fire] This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining .......................[trying to figure out] On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamplight gloated o'er, .....................[personification] But whose velvet violet lining with the lamplight gloating o'er, She shall press, ah, nevermore!.............................................................[She will never again press her head to the cushion.] Then methought the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer..........[vessel in which incense is burned] Swung by Seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor.........................[Angels of the highest rank] "Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee- by these angels he hath sent thee [the narrator is referring to himself] Respite- respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore!.......................[Rest, pause][Drug causing forgetfulness] Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!".......................[Drink] Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!- prophet still, if bird or devil!...........................[Poetic license: evil and devil don't rhyme] Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchantedOn this home by horror haunted- tell me truly, I imploreIs there- is there balm in Gilead?- tell me- tell me, I implore!".......................[Is there any cure for my deep depression? Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."......................................................................See the Bible, Jeremiah 8:22] "Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil- prophet still, if bird or devil! By that Heaven that bends above us- by that God we both adoreTell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,...........................[Paradise, heaven, Eden] It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name LenoreClasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore." Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." "Be that word our sign in 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!" Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." 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 lamplight 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!........................................................................[The narrator will never again see Lenore.] . THE END Note 1 The narrator believes the raven is from the shore of the River Styx in the Underworld, the abode of the dead in Greek mythology. Plutonian is a reference to Pluto, the god of the Underworld. Note 2 The narrator at first thinks the raven's name is "Nevermore." However, he later finds out that "Nevermore" means that he will never again see the woman he loved.

Poetry analysis: The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe The dark and haunting narrative poem The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe is one of those poems which has effortlessly absorbed itself into popular culture. Famed for its internal musicality and macabre imagery, it is a piece which seems to have a lasting impression upon all those who read it. Like many things penned by Poe, The Raven shrouds itself in a dreamlike atmosphere from the start, as the character in the poem (possibly a student) clearly drifts within the realms of sleep. We are told from the third line that he nodded nearly napping which is a clear suggestion by Poe that we are to take what follows in the poem as a product of the dream world and the strange events which will occur in the poem, would seem to strengthen such a reading.

However it is the painful and longing cry of lament to Lenore which is echoed throughout the piece the lost Lenore, the radiant maiden which offers the best clues to the students state of mind. Perhaps it is the longing and painful loss of a loved one, combined with that of disruptive sleep and study of curious volumes of forgotten lore which brings forth the internal turmoil of our protagonist and offers some degree of explanation to events related within the poem? The internal musicality is clearly apparent even within the first stanza. The almost overwhelming use of alliteration, onomatopoeia and internal rhyme in such uses of nodded, nearly napping and rapping, tapping and napping would otherwise in lesser poems seem overly contrived. However, in this poem, Poe seems to be able to get away with this level of musicality and instead of weakening the piece; it seems to lend itself well to Poes visionary world. Such overt internal rhyme also clearly lends itself well to oral renditions for which Poe himself was famed for relating. In the second stanza Poe cleverly frames the piece as a memory and further invokes the bleakness of the hour by relating Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December. This line is also a great example of how Poe balances the weight of each line perfectly, the level of symmetry clearly apparent on both a visual and auditory level. It is also clear that Poes word choice shows the bleak state of the narrator as he sees death around him in all neutral elements. For example it is no coincidencethat the dying embers of the fire are depicted as ghosts upon the floor the possibility is clear that the suggestive elements are all there within the mind of the narrator, even before he opens the door to the mysterious raven. The opening of the door to the visitor could also be a symbolic representation of an opening of the door to the mind or the conscious, through which the raven operates. Clearly the raven itself is representative of the darker side of human nature and towards the end of the poem the narrator figures chief concern seems to be in trying to come to terms with death and the mystery behind life. Profit he says thing of evil is there balm in Gilead? The narrator seeking of comfort in the spiritual realm for his lost love and shows just how far he thinks and feels for her. This is one element; the deep sympathy and longing of love that is often overlooked within the poem as a whole. It may well be a piece which evokes the gothic, the nightmare and certainly the macabre, but within there echoes a chord of deep felt love and sympathy. There has been much said about the raven resting upon the bust of Pallas, Pallas being the Goddess of wisdom. It has been commented that (from such sites as The Poe Decoder) that this could represent that the raven is speaking from a position of wisdom. Perhaps a better interpretation along similar lines could be in relation to the narrators attempts of escaping from his pain of loss through knowledge. We are told early on that he attempts to turn to his books as a release from the pain of loss for his surcease of sorrow but the ravens position upon the top of the bust would suggest that this is false and probably futile hope. Despite only really scratching the surface of analysing this poem (as such can only be achieved from this type of discourse) this poem is, even now, once again evoking a feeling and a need to delve further into its murky depths; such is the mood and feeling which this famous poem instantly achieves. It is after all, one of the reasons why people keep returning time and time again to this popular American literary classic. Poetry analysis: The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe a narrative poem, was written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1845, four years before he died. Not only was he a poet, but he wrote short stories, was an editor and a critic. He introduced the "mystery" genre and in 'The Raven,' the tone itself is one of mystery, lost love and bleakness. He attacks our senses. We have the eerie sounds of tapping, the sight of the "dying embers" the smell of perfumed air, and with Poe's language we are drawn into the emotions of the narrator. Immediately we are invited into a world that is mournful with words such as "midnight dreary" where the helplessness of the character is revealed. The tapping causes us - like the narrator - to question who could be calling at this hour. The environment reflects his sadness, and the narrator is using his books as a means of escapism. "From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore" and yet it fails to work. The noise disturbs him, and he looks to see who his visitor is. We are told "Darkness there,and nothing more." It immediately builds up the suspense. Someone is knocking, but no-one is there. A man is struggling to forget his sweetheart. The darkness outside is a reflection of the character's soul. The mystery stirs within him. He knows it is coming from the window, and wants to laugh it off to prove it is nothing sinister - that it is simply, "The wind and nothing more!" Then we are introduced to the raven, who the narrator sees as "saintly" and at this point, it is a symbol of hope. Wretched, the narrator wonders if this companion he has found will also abandon him. For he says "On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes before have flown." This shows us how the depression is eating away at him. He wonders why the bird keeps saying "nevermore" and begins guessing whether the raven has been cruelly treated (a reflection of the narrator who life has treated cruelly taking Lenore away from him) or whether the raven has been sent to help him to forget Lenore. He can't help his feelings of darkness as he wonders if the bird is the devil, or has an answer to what has happened to Lenore. The answer "nevermore" frustrates him. He becomes angry because the bird seems to know so much, but can say so little, and this indicates that he is losing his mind. Again, at the end the poem has an even darker edge as the man realises his hopes cannot be lifted. The raven he desperately wanted to stay now will not leave. We are left with an ominous finale to the poem that the scholar's situation will not improve. Yet despite its dark helplessness, this poem's structure - trochaic octameter -and imagery makes it very beautiful to read aloud.