Edgar Allan Poe's Influence On The Raven

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor, and literary critic, considered part of the

American Romantic Movement. He was the principal forerunner of the “Art for art’s sake”

movement in the 19th century. Poe focused his critics on specifics of style and construction that

contributed to a work’s failure or effectiveness, instead of focusing on moral and ideological

generalities. Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts and was orphaned at a young age when

his mother died shortly after his father abandoned the family. Poe was taken in by John (a

prosperous exporter) and Frances Allan, of Richmond, Virginia, but never formally adopted him.

Poe attended the best schools available. He attended the University of Virginia at
Wisdom was an emblem left over from the 18th century. It is upon this wisdom

that the raven settles. The bust of Pallas and the raven's subsequent perch on it may be ironic,

for it is the narrator that gives the bird such wisdom over the narrator.The raven could be seen

as more of a godly figure which wouldn’t be uncommon because in Greek Mythology Zeus

would take the forms of different animals and beings. Midnight is traditionally referred to as the

darkest part of night.Nothing lives in winter, December is in the winter. Winter is typically the

coldest time of year,and comes every year, which could also symbolize death.

The Raven was published in 1845 and Virginia died two years later from tuberculosis. In

some cases tuberculosis can kill within a few months or a few years if the person went into

remission. Poe could have wrote this as a foreshadowing to the inevitable death of his beloved

Virginia. Lenore is a heavenly and other worldly symbol and a symbol of a loved one
The Raven also

symbolizes death himself, kind of like the grim reaper coming to get you, and everybody knows

you can’t escape death, so the raven also shows the symbolism of inevitable death to come.

The narrator kept asking the raven if he would be able to be with Lenore in the afterlife, in

heaven, and with the reputation of “Nevermore” it shows that what is done is done and it is all

over. Basically you are born alone, you live alone, you die alone. The narrator hopes for a more

cheerful answer as he looks up at this raven for reassurance in his time of mourning but instead

gets an answer which leaves him with no hope that he will be reunited with his beloved. Since

he isn't getting the answer he desires he slowly looses his mind. Poe died in 1849 which would

have been 2 years after Virginia passed. The decline in the mental stability of the narrator may

reflect on the declining mental stability in Poe. The setting of this poem is late night in

December. When people think of December they typically think of cold, all the animals are

hibernating or have gone someplace warmer, plants typically don’t survive the cold