Death of a Heartbreak The poem, “The Raven,” by Edgar Allan Poe is creepy, sorrowful, thrilling, Gothic Literature. In this poem, the raven, symbolizes the unanswered questions of life, and the sorrow for his loss. The narrator feels deep depression because he has lost his love, Lenore. He is mournful and heartbroken when a raven flies into his bedroom with a less than hopeful message. The definition of heartbroken is suffering from overwhelming distress; very upset (Google dictionary). The author paints a picture of despair by using symbolism to engage the reader and to help create these feelings of loss and sadness in the reader’s mind. The author could have used a parrot, since it is widely known that parrots can speak, but he chose a raven to symbolize darkness and sadness. Ravens are black and ugly, just as sorrow and heartbreak can sometimes feel.
The narrator of, “The Raven,” hears tapping at his door as he was falling asleep late at night. The tapping does not stop, so eventually, the narrator wakes up to open his chamber door. When he answered the door, there was nothing. Pitch darkness was all he saw. “And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, Lenore?” (28). The narrator hopes the tapping at his door was his loved one: Lenore, who past away, however there was no one there. “Back then into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning” (31). This line in the poem shows how he was devastated that the knocking at the door was not what he had