The poem ‘The Raven’ can be described as a grotesque narrative poem or a darkly romantic classic. Originally, Poe sought only a dumb beast that was capable of producing human-like sounds without understanding the words' meaning, and he claimed that earlier conceptions of "The Raven" included the use of a parrot. Since then, it has won accolades for the poet for its musicality, supernatural atmosphere, and odd narration.The poem shows the fear, uncertainty, and loneliness of a person who is a victim of unfortunate circumstances. He has been defeated by his feelings after facing them, and he will find peace: nevermore. The unnamed narrator is alone in his house on a cold December evening, trying to read. Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, Nothing farther then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered— Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door! The Philosophy of Composition. The raven crushes him furthermore by saying no. He sits there coming up with theories to explain the raven and its behavior to himself, without actually speaking aloud in the company of this bird. throughout the piece, the reader gets the sense that something terrible is about to happen, or has just happened, to the speaker and those around him. Then he hears a tapping by the window and this window represents realization for our character. Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer He can literally smell the sweetness of freedom from these feelings that he felt God was allowing him. He basically yells at himself to drink this medicine and forget the sadness he feels for the loss of Lenore. The fear of death or of oblivion informs much of Poe's writing, and "The Raven" is one of his bleakest publications because it provides such a definitively negative answer. In this sense, the raven is important because it allows the narrator to be both the deliverer and interpreter of the sinister message, without the existence of a blatantly supernatural intervention. The main idea of the poem is how the narrator is so in love, so obsessed, with Lenore that it drives him crazy to think that she could be dying. He tells himself that it must be the wind and ‘nothing more’. Ravens can imitate human speech, and a raven could theoretically make a noise similar to the word “nevermore.” However, the events of the poem are undeniably ghostly, and the bird’s refrain perfectly suiting the speaker’s mental state seems too coincidental, hinting at … ‘Soon again’, he hears tapping; this time louder than before and it gives the impression that it was coming from the window this time. The narrator describes the raven as one who looked rather royal, and like it belonged in the righteous or impressive times of the past. Ads are what helps us bring you premium content! The meter of a poem is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. We respect your privacy and take protecting it seriously. As he shares in his essay “The Philosophy of Composition,” Poe selected the raven as his messenger of choice for two reasons. It’s the right time of year for this poem! This bruise of his “thrilled” him, because it opened the door to thoughts and feelings the character had never ventured before. This could also portray that the character himself is avoiding answering the door. He asks it’s (the bird/his grief) name, as it looked so grand and uncowardly even though it came from the world of suffering (the dark night). He tries to brush it off by hoping that perhaps the previous owner of such feelings was a person who emphasized the finality of such feelings so that is why his grief is responding in such a manner. 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