FREE ESSAY ON A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RAVEN

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RAVEN

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.