Khan !

Haaris Khan

Dr. Sterling

ENGL 1302

March 19, 2017

The Raven: An In Depth Analysis

"The Raven" by Edgar Alan Poe is a masterpiece poem in American literature written

during the mid-1800's. The poem has a prestigious, melancholy, and musical style which is

unique of any other poets of the time. "The Raven" has a psychologically paranormal,

supernatural and mysterious mood throughout the poem. The narrator comes across a talking

raven apparently about a narrator's lost love "Lenore". "The Raven" by Edgar Alan Poe portrays

the struggle between sanity vs madness, sad vs happy, and good vs evil.

" The Raven" starts with a rather dramatic opening. The narrator is reading an antique

book on a cold December night. He then hears a knocking commotion outside his room. Upon

opening the door he is met by a complete emptiness. Later he opens his room window and a

raven enters and sits above his door. The narrator asks the birds its name and the bird replies

"Nevermore". The narrator smiles, sits down and ponders about what this word means. The bird

repeats the word "Nevermore". The narrator continues to sit in the chair where his love Lenore

used to sit. He is then approached by heavenly angels who reportedly call the raven an evil

and a prophet. He asks the angels weather he will ever see Lenore in heaven again followed by

the word "Nevermore" repeated by the raven. The raven keeps repeating the word "Nevermore"
 Khan !2

even though the narrator demands to leave him alone. The narrator goes into psychic frenzy and

finally feels that he will never be left alone by the raven's shadow (Poe 1).

The struggle between sanity and madness is highlighted across the poem in numerous

examples. According to Camila Canales, the most important phrase nevermore along with some

of the other related phrases can be seen repeated throughout the literary work. These phrases

combined with different phrases transform the reader from a sane environment to an insane one.

One of the connotations of the word nevermore is to convey progressive negative in the

narrator's mind. In other words, just like the narrator's love Lenore is dead so is his ambitious

life. Thus the word "Nevermore" finalizes his fate and marks his unachievable goals in life. The

memory of Lenore has become a sore blister on the narrator's mind and is about to burst and kill

him. Another connotation is the progression of the venomous nature of Lenore's memory in the

narrator's mind. As the poem continues his mind gets more toxic by her memory (Schmoop 17).

According to Schmoop on line 48, The famous line: Quoth the Raven, Nevermore.When a

line gets repeated again and again in a poem, we call it a refrain. This particular refrain is what

totally takes apart our narrator, and turns him from a sad, nervous guy into a shuddering wreck.

When the bird says it for the first time, the narrator thinks it's amusing nonsense. After a while, it

starts to seem like a horrifying prophecy (7). Hence showing the struggle between sanity and

madness. Just like many of Edgar Alan Poe's works, the animosity between sad and happy is

apparent. Wang proclaims The raven is important because it allows the narrator to be both the

deliverer and interpreter of the sinister message, without the existence of a blatantly supernatural

intervention (2). The mood clearly transforms from semi-happy to sorrow and melancholy

which is similar to many other Poe's poems such as "Ulalume" and "Annabel Lee" (Wang 2).
 Khan !3

Another instance of mood setting begins on lines 38-40 where Schmoop states the raven's big

entrance is of utmost importance. Notice how much emphasis Poe puts on the way he comes

into the room. The happy image we get is of a king or a queen walking into a throne room. He

mentions that the Raven is stately' and he also says that its mien' (its way of acting) is like that

of a lord or lady (3). This is a classical transition structure and evidence of mood moving from

stately' to evil . Edgar Alan Poe sets the mood in this poem at first to calm and sort of builds up

to more supernatural and ominous in the following paragraphs."Then, methought, the air grew

denser, perfumed from an unseen censer" (Poe 2). The contrast between happy and sad continues

to be obvious in the following verses from the poem on lines 72-78. "But the Raven still

beguiling all my fancy into smiling, Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust

and door; What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore Meant in

croaking Nevermore.' ". Here the narrator, at first is evidenced to be calm and collected sitting

in a cushioned seat. Later in the stanza, he becomes scared, whimsical and serene confirming the

argument between happy and sad playing out at a dramatic level.

Good versus evil symbolism is extensively referenced in "The Raven" at a multitude of

instances. One of the instances using such symbolism is argued by Schmoop in this manner. On

lines 82-83, The idea of nepenthe occurs to our speaker in a kind of daydream/hallucination. He

imagines that the room is filling with some sort of perfume, and thinks that God himself has

decided to help him forget his misery (4). This is good versus evil imagery at its best and could

be interpreted in many different ways. Schmoop claims Darkness and night are both major

symbols in this poem. They both represent the mysterious, maybe dangerous and scary power of

nature (3).On the other hand, another symbol worth mentioning is Plutonian. This is a positive
 Khan !4

inference to the Roman god of the underworld (Schmoop 3). Another striking symbol of evil is

the shore. The shore serves as an analogy to show us the ocean in the night is evil. The waves on

the other hand, are washing up to the narrators house symbolizing good. His room being his

residence and his world around Lenore with all the positivity. Wang states that "The same time,

the raven's black feather have traditionally been considered a magical sign of ill omen, and Poe

may also be referring to Norse mythology" (7). The color black is ill-reputed imagery from the

beginning of literary writings and has multiple trails of mythologies from history. It represents

evil and melancholy surroundings and at the same time representing good in a convoluted way vs

evil in a lot of situations.

Alternative interpretations could be observed almost everywhere in "The Raven".

According to Schmoop on line 105, "Our final image of the bird is that of a sleeping demon with

burning eyes. He casts a villainous shade over the whole bed room and completely frightens the

narrator. Starting out as a sort of funny bird with a strange way of walking into a room, he's now

the symbol of pure satanic evil". Moreover, The Raven: Edgar Allan Poe - Summary and Critical

Analysis claims The nightmarish effect of the poem is reinforced by the relentless trochaic

rhythm and the arrangement of the ballad stanzas into five lines or octameter followed by a

refrain in tetrameter (3). In other words, the rhythm builds on the horror effect of this poem

leading the reader to be overwhelmed and feeling the strong internal feeling magnitude of the

scene. This just reflects the enormity of preposterous mental state of the narrator and the level of

dementedness experienced by the unconditional lover of Lenore.

In conclusion, "The Raven" by Edgar Alan Poe depicts the struggle between sanity vs

madness, sad vs happy, and good vs evil throughout the literary masterpiece.
 Khan !5

Through these correlations, Poe delivered a specific interpretation of death versus life, bad

versus good etc. He proves his arguments which use bizarre abstractions ranging anywhere from

heavenly angels to the Roman gods in Greek mythology. All these elements Edgar Alan Poe used

within the poem contribute to forming one of the most twisted yet exquisite pieces of literature

the world has ever seen.

 Khan !6

Works Cited

Canales, Camila. "My Analytical Essay On "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe." Powered by

ASFM Tech Integration. N.p., 18 Feb. 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Raven." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2017.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "The Raven Analysis." Shmoop. Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008.

Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

"The Raven: Edgar Allan Poe - Summary and Critical Analysis." The Raven: Edgar Allan Poe -

Summary and Critical Analysis. Bachelor And Master, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2017.

Wang, Bella. Chazelle, Damien ed. "Poe's Poetry "The Raven" Summary and Analysis".

GradeSaver, 17 August 2009 Web. 19 March 2017.