The Raven Essay

For most people, the loss of a loved one can stain their hearts forever and cause them to truly lose themselves. A prime example of this is Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Raven". This is a poem about a raven who visits and talks to a man that has lost his lover, Lenore. It was published in 1845 and is a part of the Romanticism literature movement. In this literary period, writers emphasized the irrational, the imaginative, the emotional, and the spiritual. These aspects are all shown throughout Poe’s work, especially the emotional and imaginative. Death is always a mystery, so it's no surprise that the narrator in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" experiences a variety of different emotions as he talks to the raven that just showed up at his door.

The raven is a symbol of the unanticipated arrival of death and how it can affect one’s mental state. As an example, the poem states, "Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore/ Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore! Quoth the Raven ‘Nevermore" (Line 84). In response to the narrator questioning the presence of Lenore, the Raven says that she will never do so. Therefore, the raven tells the speaker to forget her. The raven, like death, is signifying a permanence of loss. Through the raven’s symbolism of death, the narrator realizes that Lenore is gone. As one can see, the raven diminishes the thought of Lenore’s return, just as death

Since death can take a sudden toll on one’s mental health, the speaker expresses his overall feelings of depression. Through the loss of Lenore, the narrator’s thoughts create a melancholic tone for the poem. For example, the speaker states, "Ah, distinctly I remember it was a bleak December/ ... From my books surcease of sorrow — sorrow for the lost Lenore" (Lines 7 and 10). The death of Lenore brought forth the speaker’s feelings of desolation. Since he has lost someone special to him, his mental state has been affected. The raven’s repeated use of the word "Nevermore" infuriates and saddens the narrator as it emphasizes the reality that Lenore is truly dead. Thus, he was overcome by a painful and dismal tone. This exact tone is used throughout the entire poem. Ultimately, the melancholic tone emphasizes the grief that comes from the loss of a loved