"The Raven" - a Critical Deconstruction Essay example

It is only in the seventh stanza that the second character in this story is revealed. Here, the Raven is introduced. Within mythology, the raven is seen often enough that it has it’s own special altar in the world of the supernatural. In the Greek mythology, ravens are used by Apollo, the god of prophecy, as messengers to the mortal world. Even in Celtic mythology, ravens were associated with the goddess Morrigan who also gave prophecies. Also in both Norse and Welsh legends, the ravens symbolized wisdom. Both forms of prophecy and wisdom are presented Edgar Allan Poe in a way that is subtle yet impactful. Wisdom is immediately presented with the introduction of the raven, for it lands on the bust of Pallas who is more commonly known as Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. However, this raven is something special. It “Perched, and sat, and nothing more.” The tone of something eerie and supernatural continues to be carried out.

On October 3, 1849, Poe was found unconscious, but the doctors weren’t able to find out what really happened. On October 7, 1849, Poe died in the hospital. Poe’s one of the famous works is “The Raven”, which was dedicated to the school children’s memory in the nineteenth century, first got published in New York Evening Mirror in January, 1845.This poem had an enormous success and got published in many other publications in America and Europe. Many critics connect Poe’s tragic life with his poem’s synopsis (“Explanation”, par.1). The poem is about a man who dreams about his lost love, Lenore, and how the talking bird, who only knows one word “Nevermore”, usually visits him.

The raven directs all further action in the poem, it ridicules and patronizes the narrator throughout the composition and its evil force permeates the air and induces suffering and anguish within the character. Emotions culminate with the attainment of a climax as the narrator faces his confused and disordered world. The narrator, in his madness, shrieks, “Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!” (98). Poe’s calculated use of symbolism was influential in establishing the literary reputation of “The Raven”. The raven is established as a symbol for the narrator's mournful and ceaseless remembrance of his lost love. The raven is of significant importance to the melancholic theme because it is often seen as being a harbinger of death.

The poem, “The Raven,” written by Edgar Allen Poe shows the deep depression and confusion that the narrator is experiencing since the death of his beloved wife. The gloomy setting of the poem predicts the visit of the Raven, whom is a sign of misfortune, darkness, and death. Throughout the poem, the narrator is continually mourning his wife, Lenore. He secretly hopes that the Raven will bring good news regarding his wife and his future; however, the Raven informs him that he will forever remain depressed. Furthermore, Poe uses setting, strong word choice, and symbolism to illustrate the Raven as the messenger of darkness and explain the narrator’s emotional state.

“The Raven” is a magnificent piece by a very well known poet from the 19th century, Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was well known for his dark and haunting poetry. Along with writing poetry, Poe was also recognized for his Gothic-style short stories. “The Raven” is one of Poe’s greatest accomplishments and was even turned into recitals and numerous television appearances. “The Raven” tells a story about an unnamed narrator whose beloved Lenore has left him. A raven comes at different points throughout the poem and tells the narrator that he and his lover are “Nevermore.” Poe presents the downfall of the narrator’s mind through the raven and many chilling events. By thorough review and studying of Edgar Allan Poe’s work, one can fully understand the

Poe uses imagery and diction to portray the narrator’s state of mind. Poe’s descriptive language demonstrates the narrator’s sorrowful life without Lenore, and Poe’s choice of words reveal his fear towards the sinister raven. For the sorrowful and fearful narrator, the whole world seems to be bleak and terrifying. Everything, even darkness, reminds him of his lost love,

Many other internal rhymes are also found within the lines of the poem. In fact, the first line of the poem contains an internal rhyme “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary”. Another example is found in Line 31 which reads “Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,” The poem is rife with such examples.

Edgar Allan Poe tells the story of a bereaved man who is grieving for his lost love in the poem, “The Raven.” During a dark and gloomy night, the man hears a knock at his door. Hoping that it is Lenore, his dead lover, coming back to him, he goes to open the door. Unfortunately, he is only met with emptiness and disappointment. Shortly after, a raven flies into the room through the window and lands on the bust of Pallas. The man begins to converse with this dark and mysterious bird. In response to everything the man says, the raven repeats one dreadful word: “Nevermore.” The symbolism of the raven being connected to death, and the man’s interaction with the dark bird reveals to readers that he is going through the stages of dying.

It is about how a man should be happy that a beautiful young woman is dying. He should exalt the fact that the woman is going to a better place, also known as Paradise or "Aidenn" in this poem. Thus, the echoing of "Lenore" first hints to the reader that this "Lenore" represents Poe's suffering wife, but in this poem, she is characterized as the speaker's already dead wife. The reader knows that the speaker's wife is already dead since later in the poem the speaker says he wants the raven to leave him in "unbroken loneliness." That is, Poe is trying to imagine getting news of the death of his wife through the speaker in his poem so that when his wife does die, he will not be terribly traumatized. Later, the speaker hears more rapping at his door. This time when he opens it, he finds a raven so noble and majestic that it would even dare to perch on Pallas Athena's, the Goddess of Wisdom and War's, bust, or breast. The first question he asks the raven is what its name is since he believes it to be from the "Night's Plutonian shore," which means a messenger of Ares, the God of the Underworld and dead. God Ares. The raven simply replies "Nevermore" and answers every question with this word. The raven's name as "Nevermore" also furthers the statement that it is a symbolization of death. At first the speaker makes himself believe that when the raven says "nevermore," he is muttering the fact that

“The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe is a first-person narrative poem that is truly a dark poem of one’s sanity when losing a loved one. The poem is eighteen stanzas long that contains 108 lines. The poem uses many literary and poetic devices to help construct the eerie atmosphere. Poe begins the poem by describing a setting that symbolizes darkness and death perfectly “Once upon a midnight dreary” (1). Poe uses an internal rhyme to heighten the effect of the setting. He does this to foreshadow the events that happen later on in the poem, that the reader will soon begin to understand the dreariness of the setting. Poe is a mastermind of using these devices to draw the reader in and help them understand the narrator on a deeper level during the reading of the poem.

He says that the raven has “eyes of a demon” and it's shadow hangs over the narrators soul. The Ravens darkness symbolizes the constant reminder of death and horror, this is what is eating away at the narrator. Another big use of dark imagery is the “nights plutonium shore" the Roman good Pluto is the god of death, and his shore would be a part of the underworld. The time of the play is at midnight in December, midnight is traditionally the darkest most eerie time of day, and nothing lives in the winter, everything is gloomy and lacking life and color. The one thing that Poe describes as radiant and good is taken from the poem to create a mood of sadness and desperation.

The Raven tells a story of a man with much grief over this loss of his love, Lenore. As the poem opens, the narrator is trying to find peace through his books. He states, “…while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,” (862). The setting, a chamber in a house, is described in such a way that creates a very dark, almost melancholy style. The narrator, while trying to find comfort for his loss, hears a tapping at his window. As he opens the window, a raven, a long time symbol of death, flies in, and refuses to leave. Poe uses the symbol of the raven, and his repeating word of “nevermore”, to show that the narrator will never get over the loss of his love, Lenore.

Poe said the raven is destined to symbolize "Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance" Poe stressed the bird's more histrionic qualities similar to “pluto” in the Black cat pluto symbolize "Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance". “The Raven" is not a tragedy in the predictable sense where else in “Black cat” it is a predictably a tragedy. The drama of both narratives has a genuinely tragic element in it whereby the narrator of The Raven does not turn away from the horrifying annulled (Michel, pp.35). He attempts to act reasonably in circumstances where reason offers no defense. Even if the protagonist does not rise completely to the heroic anxieties of tragedy by struggling contrary to his fate, neither does he attempt to escape it. He consistently faces his tormentor, a demonic symbol of "Mournful and never ending Remembrance." Trapped and doomed, the protagonist nevertheless articulates what it is like to undergo the limits of psychological anguish contrary to the narrator of the narrative The Black Cat, in precise, when he sees the image of his cat on the one outstanding wall of his house after it burns down, he tries to overlook superstition and propose a reasonable, scientific description for its

Beside the title of the poem being “The Raven”, we see how Poe uses it as a symbolic of death and captivation. As used in many kind of literature, the raven is symbolic to life and death. As Poe explains, the narrator is experiencing a personal conflict, which is the desire to remember his loving Lenore or alienate all memory of her because she is dead. The narrator also think that is what the raven is apposing when it constantly says “nevermore”. In conclusion, the raven symbolizes life and death, the narrator is captivated in killing the memory of his Lenore, or keeping the memory and letting that devastate him.

“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe is a story of a young adult who has lost the woman he was in love with and is struggling cope. The story-teller compulsorily builds self-destructive understanding of his mourning in a raven’s constant 'Nevermore ' reminder to him, until he eventually gives up about being reconnected with Lenore in the new world.