The Raven Response

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Recommended: The short crtical analysis of the poem the raven by edgar allan poe

The Raven is a poem that tells of the emotional turmoil in the mind of a man. First of all, Poe’s use of Greek, Roman God’s and terminology in this poem was overwhelming compared to his other stories. There are many Gods and phrases that he references to that help the reader understand the story. Also, there is evidence that Poe has portrayed bits of his life through the narrator. Poe lost a loved one, and he is reflecting it through the narrator. Next, when the raven arrives the narrator is extremely curious. He begins to ask questions about his lost Lenore because he needs to know if she is okay. Last, the bird may represent a part of the narrator’s mind. It may be the rational part that is trying to convince him to move on, and what’s done is done.

Poe references many Greek and Roman Gods in this poem. One example of this is when the bird enters the narrator’s chamber; it immediately perches on the bust of Pallas. Pallas, (Also known as Pallas Athena or Athens) is the Greek Goddess of wisdom. This gesture that the bird made may be a sign that what the bird speaks or does is wise and may be useful to the narrator. The narrator however, shuns and ignores the bird after a short while, and orders him to leave his chambers. This is ironic because he has a bust of the Goddess of wisdom, and he himself does not exercise this sagacity. He makes very little effort to understand the bird’s presence, and is infuriated at the bird’s uncooperativeness. He then gives up on trying to solve the bird’s riddles and blocks the bird off entirely.

Another Greek God Poe uses is Pluto, the God of the underworld. “Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!” The narrator shrieked at the bird. This shows that the narrator is ass...

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... want to believe. (That his Lenore is in the underworld.) He wants to believe that Lenore is in paradise, but the bird, being a part of his mind tells him the ugly truth. He wants it to be a misunderstanding, he needs proof, and he wants to know if it is true. He cannot get himself to accept that it is true. His mind is arguing with itself; one half is afraid to accept it, while the other is fighting to move on because there is nothing that can be done.

This poem is almost like a tragic love story. It creates a visual interpretation of the narrators mind, and how he fails to understand and believe that his wife is gone. The author, Poe, makes many connections with the underworld and the Gods to help the reader decipher and solve this intricate puzzle. Poe reflects parts of himself in this story, and it helps us understand of the pain and grief that was his life.

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