Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, (Cain 738). Almost everyone has heard this line at least once in their lifetime. It comes from The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. When most hear the name Edgar Allan Poe, they think of darkness, or a sense of melancholy. These are some of the ingredients that made his writings classics, that have been loved and studied all around the world. Poe’s personal history bleeds through the words on his pages. He was orphaned at the age of three, expelled from school for gambling, and disowned by his foster family, (Cain 736). He published two books with very little success; Tamerlane and Other Poems in 1827 and Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Other Minor Poems while serving in the military in 1829, …show more content…
For example, Poe believed that literary works should be short; he stated “there is distinct limit, as regards to length, to all works of literary art - the limit of a single sitting" (Philosophy of para. 10). Poe believed that if a poem or short story could not be read within a single setting, then the reader would lose its true meaning. He explained that the proper length of a poem should be around one hundred lines, whereas The Raven is one hundred and eight (Philosophy of para. 11).
Poe also believed that a writer must find the effect that they wish to create, then they can move on from there. Poe decided his effect was the death of a beautiful woman, stating that “When it most closely allies itself to Beauty: the death, then, of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world — and equally is it beyond doubt that the lips best suited for such topic are those of a bereaved lover,” (Philosophy of para. 19).
The Raven was written backwards, the third to last stanza was written first hand. Poe stated “the poem may be said to have its beginning — at the end, where all works of art should begin — for it was here, at this point of my preconsiderations, that I first put pen to paper in the composition of the stanza:”
“Prophet,” said I, “thing of evil! prophet still if
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In Greek mythology, ravens are affiliated with the God of prophecy, Apollo. Ravens’ were thought to be messengers of God in the mortal world, (Cultural para. 4). In Norse mythology, Odin is portrayed with two ravens serving as his eyes and ears; one referred to thought and the other to memory, (Cultural para. 8). Celtic mythologies associate the raven with warfare, (Cultural para. 9). Mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast depict the raven as the creator of the world, but is also considered to be a trickster God, (Cultural para. 14). Poe stated that his depiction of the raven is “Mournful and Never-ending remembrance,” (Philosophy of para. 35). The choice of the raven, gave the poem the supernatural feel that is holds, most importantly while the lover is mourning over the loss of Lenore. Poe explained in The Philosophy of Composition that he first considered using a parrot in the poem, unfortunately it would have caused the poem to lose its intended tone. Imagining a parrot in place of the raven, would completely change everything that the poem stands