The Raven is a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe, which consists of eighteen stanzas. The poem was published in 1845, and it gained Edgar Allan Poe a great amount of recognition. This poem is one with a dark, and terrifying ambience. Poe describes every occurrence with great detail, which effectively creates a mood in the reader’s mind. The first stanza of the Raven sets up the atmosphere for the rest of the poem. It takes place at midnight, on a dreary day. The narrator is nearly asleep, whilst pondering the stories they have read, when he hears a knock at the door. The narrator convinces himself that it is merely a visitor, and there’s nothing to be afraid of. The second stanza establishes the setting even more by describing the day as bleak, and in the month of December. In addition to the poem being set in December, the fire in the room is also dying, and the embers are casting shadows on the …show more content…
It steadily increases the suspense after each line and rhyme. The Raven’s cadence is captivating, while also being hypnotic. As the title of the poem suggests, the raven is an important part of the poem. In many parts of this poem, the raven is associated with the underworld. The raven symbolizes death, and the apparent demise of the narrator. The message of this poem revolves around love and grief. The narrator’s love for Lenore left him overcome with grief. His love led to grief, and grief is what destroyed the narrator. He goes crazy over his lost Lenore. Poe’s writing of the Raven may have been influenced by his birth mother’s death when he was a child, and the abandonment he experienced by his adoptive family. When the Raven was published, Poe’s wife was suffering from tuberculosis, and Poe’s fear of losing his wife may have also played a bit of a role in the writing of the Raven. A recurring theme in this poem was the narrator’s loneliness, which Poe has experienced numerous times