The Raven Literary Analysis
“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe is a dark and mysterious tale describing the narrator as he attempts to contain his grief. Lenore is the love of the narrator, and he is left with a hole within him from her death. This hole is only deepened when a raven, that reminds the narrator of his lost Lenore, perches itself outside of his home. Dhahir explains the narrator’s feelings in her statement, “With frazzled nerves and agitated state he lets into his room a creature which not only echoes his sordid mood but takes it to frenzied heights of self-torture” (Dhahir). Written from the first person perspective, the pain of the narrator is vividly expressed. In Poe’s “The Raven”, through the loss of his love Lenore, the narrator is left with a sorrow that
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To this strange visitor he replies, “’Sir,’ said I, ‘or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; / 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,’” (Poe 20-23). There is a level of intrigue in the narrator as he proceeds to open the door. Fearful, the narrator calls into the darkness, “Lenore?” He is immediately echoed with a whisper, “Lenore.” The narrator is struck with a fear that burns deep into him as he searches for the source of the tapping. He is not expecting the visitor he receives, a raven sitting dark and ominous on the bust of Pallas. This bust is an allusion to Pallas Athena the Greek goddess of wisdom. This causes the presence of the Raven to have a greater impact. Now the bird not only unsettles the narrator but also gives a symbol of wisdom. The Raven’s single word is what gives the poem its mysterious aspect. Hillary Turner shows another dark aspect of the bird in saying, “The Raven, by contrast, is unwaveringly sinister—with a gentlemanly aspect reminiscent of the Prince of Darkness” (Turner). Some allusions to the forbidding bird express the societal context of the time. For instance, “the raven himself is a part and parcel of Southern superstition, which associates the black bird with death”, thus, the presupposition of the raven being an evil entity
To this strange visitor he replies, “’Sir,’ said I, ‘or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; / 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,’” (Poe 20-23). There is a level of intrigue in the narrator as he proceeds to open the door. Fearful, the narrator calls into the darkness, “Lenore?” He is immediately echoed with a whisper, “Lenore.” The narrator is struck with a fear that burns deep into him as he searches for the source of the tapping. He is not expecting the visitor he receives, a raven sitting dark and ominous on the bust of Pallas. This bust is an allusion to Pallas Athena the Greek goddess of wisdom. This causes the presence of the Raven to have a greater impact. Now the bird not only unsettles the narrator but also gives a symbol of wisdom. The Raven’s single word is what gives the poem its mysterious aspect. Hillary Turner shows another dark aspect of the bird in saying, “The Raven, by contrast, is unwaveringly sinister—with a gentlemanly aspect reminiscent of the Prince of Darkness” (Turner). Some allusions to the forbidding bird express the societal context of the time. For instance, “the raven himself is a part and parcel of Southern superstition, which associates the black bird with death”, thus, the presupposition of the raven being an evil entity