“Quoth the Raven, nevermore.” Poe was an incredibly prolific writer of the 18th century, a fact demonstrated throughout both his works and the way people received them. He spoke of loss, madness, love, and pain, and through his stories, many were able to find comfort in his lines as he spoke of things there were often no words for. “The Raven” is a tale of a mourning lover, who is greeted by a raven in his study, who seems only to be able to say one thing; Nevermore. The man, confused, begins to ask the bird if he is reciting his fate or the one of his lost love. Upon receiving the same answer again and again, the lover drives himself mad, despairing over the loss of his Lenore (Dorsch). In “The Raven”, by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe uses his own personal loss-driven insanity to convey the tragedy of losing a loved one and the madness that sometimes follows.
Oftentimes the loss of a loved one can drive people mad. Love is such a powerful emotion, to feel it with another, and then to lose that can drive someone over the edge. In his poem, Poe writes,
“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—(Poe).
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The speaker is driven mad by this, unable to gain the closure they need to move on with the loss of their beloved. This also demonstrates the writer’s loss of self-control. At this point in the poem, the narrator has become angry at the bird, even considering it evil. He continually questions the bird expecting answers, but always receives the same line, nevermore (Amper). The reader can gain an understanding of the speaker’s emotions, almost feeling them through the powerful diction used by