Edgar Allan Poe's Poem, The Raven

The raven's appearance in mythologies around the world have lent to reputations and some characteristics that can still be seen and heard in the present. Their individual symbolism and ornithology from antiquity can also be seen in vintage and modern literature that further feeds to public opinion, for the most part, that these creatures are of a dark and mysterious or a beacon of light origin. In most all myths and pantheons the appearance of ravens on battlefields among fallen warriors have led to some negative connotations of it and the implication of death and the afterlife. Also, since ravens can be trained to speak, this ability allows ravens the reputation of being the ultimate oracle. "Countless cultures point to the raven as a harbinger

By far the most famous mention of the raven is in Edgar Allan Poe's distraught poem, The Raven. In the lines of the poem he simultaneously remarks the symbolism of the bird by way of its visuals and the deep reach into ancient Greek and Roman associations. The 'bust of Pallas" upon the narrators' chamber door refers to the Pallas Athena who is the embodiment of truth and wisdom . "By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore...Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Night's Plutonian shore!" In this demand Poe levels the raven with that of the underworld and the grim horrors that go on down there (Poetry Foundation). The Night represents all that is dark and mysterious. Plutonian refers to the Roman god Pluto who reined over the Underworld. The Shore can be an allusion to the banks of the River Styxx or River Acheron that you arrive on after death in Greco-Roman mythology. At this point the dead would have a coin in hand to give the ferryman Charon as payment to ferry them across the rivers. All of this concludes that Poe viewed the raven as a morbid, supernatural creature that came from the depths of the earth (Shmoop). The quote: "that one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour," alludes to ravens carrying souls or being the embodiment of them. "Prophet!" Said I, "thing of evil!-prophet still, if bird or devil!-Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted-On this home by Horror haunted-tell me truly I implore!" (Poetry Foundation). This excerpt goes to the roots of the raven being famed for its powers of prophecy as well as a prick into the acclaims of the Medieval Times for the living being to be with death and evil workings. "Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!"