The Raven Symbolism

RAVEN OF RESTRICTION Have you ever wondered what the raven in “The Raven” symbolizes? After some research on other people 's’ opinions and reading the poem multiple times I have came up with my own opinion on what the raven symbolizes. Edgar Allan Poe did a great job on making the raven quite a mysterious and interesting character which lead to lots of theories about its symbolism. The narrator and the raven have a interesting relationship that changes throughout the story. I’m going to explain their relationship on a deeper level. When the raven first gets introduced it shows no respect to the narrator. “Not the least obeisance made he” (stanza 7). I feel grief comes upon us in a similar way. Grief doesn’t treat us with respect, it

I found two things I feel Poe did here but I’ll state the second in the next paragraph. The first thing I saw hear is that the raven perched itself there as symbolism of how grief especially attacks us when we are in our chambers. I feel it is a sign that says “Welcome to where you will suffer the most!” This raven is intruding the narrator at his most private of places like grief does. The second thing I saw about the bird perching above the chamber door is the fact that it perches itself upon a statue of Athena. Athena is the goddess of wisdom in greek mythology. This really interested me. I feel the reason Edgar Allan Poe had the raven perch himself upon Athena is that grief “perches’ itself upon our wisdom. It messes with our decisions, it messes with our ability to learn, and it messes with how we use our knowledge in situations. The narrator’s wisdom had greatly been affected by his own grief and the raven represents

He wishes his grief never existed. A Lot like the last two sentences in the fact that he is completely sick of his grief.

“Take thy beak from out my heart” This command is a part of the stanza I had to seperate. This is probably the most iconic part of the poem. This basically restates what the whole stanza is saying on a much much deeper level. “And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;

And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon 's that is dreaming,

And the lamp-light o 'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

Shall be lifted - nevermore!”

(stanza 18)

This end is quite a dramatic one! The narrator has died from the overwhelming frustration of the raven. This tells of how people can die from grief whether it be directly or indirectly.

This poem is quite an interesting poem in so many ways with so many ways to interpret it. This poem makes the raven look like it could really be anything with the right argument to back it up. This poem is definitely one of the greats and my guess is that it will forever be one of the great because of the fact that people have and always will