Edger Allen Poe’s poem “The Raven” is a dark story about a man who is struggling with the death of his lover, Lenore. The story explores different emotions and the impact it has on mental health. The man heartbroken and grieving slowly goes insane. During the night, the man is visited by a raven. As the man talks to the raven, he gets increasingly upset. The raven only responds with the word “nevermore” when the man tries to ask the raven a question. This infuriates the man and starts driving the man crazy. The raven symbolizes how the author goes from grief to madness, a reflection of his mental state, and death. For one thing, at the beginning of the story the author was shown grieving and consumed by sorrow. He says, “sorry for the lost Lenore” showing he is not over her death. A raven then appears, and the man talks to the raven. While the man talks with the raven, he is seen getting increasingly angrier. He keeps asking the raven if he is going to see his wife again, while the raven responds with “nevermore”. At one point the author says, …show more content…
At the start, the author isn’t insane and while he is sad, he is still rational. In the poem he seems curious about the raven and asks, “Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!” Again, the raven responds with “nevermore” giving no information to the author. Here, the author is still in control of himself and his emotions. However, the raven keeps repeating “nevermore”. The author’s questions become more frantic, and it’s shown he is losing control of his emotions. This is a direct relation to how the author’s mental state is descending and how the author is going insane. “Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—” is what the author calls the raven. He starts to blame everything on the raven and becomes more unstable. This again shows how the author’s mental state is