The Raven Essay, Research Paper
The Raven Topic: The Raven is about how the author is haunted byhis grief of the death of his lover, Lenore. Theme: The untimely death of a beautiful woman. Sense: I think that the whole poem is about the death of abeautiful woman. It seems to me that the raven symbolizesthe grief he has for his lost love, Lenore. Once he let theraven in it tormented his soul forever. I think the reasonwhy the raven keeps saying nevermore is because heknows that Lenore is never coming back. The poem isbasically that the bird is a sad and never-endingremembrance of his lost love, Lenore. The writer seems tothink that he will never forget his lover because she willalways live in his mind forever. Summary:During a cold, dark evening in December, a man isattempting to find some contentment from theremembrance of his lost love, Lenore, by reading volumesof “forgotten lore.” Just as he is about to fall asleep,something knocks at his door. First he thought that theknock was only a result of his dreaming, then finally heopens the door, but there is no one there. He looks out thedoor scared and curious, when he goes to speak he canonly say the word “Lenore.” When he closes the door,another knock is immediately heard on the window. Hethrows open the shutter and window, and in steps a large,beautiful raven, which immediately posts itself on the bustof Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, above theentrance of the room. He asks its name, and the birdreplies “Nevermore.” Believing “Nevermore” to be theraven’s name, he is curious, but he believes the name isn’trelevant to his question, because he has never heard ofany man or animal called by that name. Although the birdis peaceful, the narrator mutters to himself that it, like allother blessings of his life, will soon leave him. Again thebird replies “Nevermore.” Intrigued, he pulls a chair updirectly before the bird to more readily direct his
attention to the raven, and to figure out the meaning of thebird’s reply. While he thinks in the chair, he starts to thinkof Lenore. Suddenly overcome with grief, he believes thatthe raven is from god, who intends to help him get rid ofhis grief, but again the bird replies “nevermore”. Thespeaker then thinks the bird is not what it seems, callingit a “thing of evil,” and asks it whether there is “balm inGilead,” a biblical reference to a land with suffering.Again, the word “nevermore” is the only answer. Hedemands that the bird leave, he attempts to send the birdback to the “Plutonian shore” of Hell from where it came.The bird, replies again “nevermore,” and sits there on thebust of Pallas to this day, to torment the speaker’s soulforever, about his lost love. Intention: The poem was probably written because thepoet has actually gone through similar experiences.Maybe Poe was writing about his wife Virginia that died. Tone: The poet is very sad about the loss of his lover,Lenore, the poet wants to forget about her but he can’tbecause he loved her so deeply.Structure: The poem is a metaphor poem. The raven isbeing compared to the grief of his lost lover, Lenore. Thepoet is giving you an image of a man sitting in his housebeing tormented by the raven that symbolizes the grief ofhis lost love, Lenore. As much as the poet wants to forgetabout his lost lover he can’t because he loved her sodeeply. When Poe was constructing this poem he made itso it had a very distinct rhyming structure. He breaks thepoem into sections sort of like ever section is its ownindividual poem. In the middle of the first line where youwould normally end it he has a word that rhymes withthe last word of that line. Then he breaks his pattern byadding a new line that the last word rhymes with, twolines later. The third line corresponds with the first.However, the last section was quite different from the rest.The fifth line doesn’t rhyme but continues into the sixthline that rhymes with the second and fourth.