Poe's The Raven

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Raven

During a cold, dark evening in December, a man is attempting to find some solace from the remembrance of his lost love, Lenore, by reading volumes of "forgotten lore." As he is nearly overcome by slumber, a knock comes at his door. Having first believed the knock to be only a result of his dreaming, he finally opens the door apologetically, but is greeted only by darkness. A thrill of half-wonder, half-fear overcomes the speaker, and as he peers into the deep darkness, he can only say the word "Lenore." Upon closing the door, another knock is immediately heard from the chamber's window. The narrator throws open the shutter and window, and in steps a large, beautiful raven, which immediately posts itself on the bust of Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, above the entrance of the room. Amused by the animal, the speaker asks it its name, to which the bird replies "Nevermore." Believing "Nevermore" to be the raven's name, the narrator's curiosity is piqued, but the speaker believes the name to have little relevancy to his question, for he had never before heard of any man or beast called by that name. Although the bird is peaceful, the narrator mutters to himself that it, like all other blessings of his life, will soon leave him. Again the bird replies "Nevermore." Intrigued, the speaker pulls a chair up directly before the bird to more readily direct his attention on the wondrous beast, and to figure out the meaning of the bird's single monotonous reply. While in contemplation in the chair, the speaker's mind turns to Lenore, and how her frame will never again bless the chair in which he now reposes. Suddenly overcome with grief, the persona believes that the raven is a godsend, intended to deliver him from his ang...

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... end, and he made sure that no preceding stanza would "surpass this in rhythmical effect. "Poe then worked backwards from this stanza and used the word "Nevermore" in many different ways, so that even with the repetition of this word, it would not prove to be monotonous.

Poe builds the tension in this poem up, stanza by stanza, but after the climaxing stanza he tears the whole thing down, and lets the narrator know that there is no meaning in searching for a moral in the raven's "nevermore". The Raven is established as a symbol for the narrator's "Mournful and never-ending remembrance." "And my soul from out that shadow, that lies floating on the floor, shall be lifted - nevermore!"

Works Cited

Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Raven." McQuade, 1688-91.

Poe Edgar Allen. "The Philosophy of Composition." McQuade 1671-79.

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