The Raven Literary Analysis

The Raven is a poem written by Dark Romanticist poet, Edgar Allan Poe. The poem is about a man who is reading in the middle of the night and trying not to think about his lost love Lenore. He soon hears a knocking at his door, and he becomes frightened. After sitting in terror for a while, he finally goes over to the door and opens it, but there is no one there. He soon hears the knocking again. This time he thinks it is from his window. He goes over to this window and opens it, and a raven flies in. The raven flies up to a bust, or statue from the chest up, of Pallas Athena (the goddess of wisdom and war). The narrator has a conversation with the raven and all the raven says is "Nevermore".

I read a critical analysis from Bloom's Literary Reference Online called Review of "The Raven" by P. Pendleton Cooke. Cooke had nothing but good things to say about the poem. I would have to agree with Cooke in some of the points that he makes. Cooke says,

"Observe how artistically the poet has arranged the circumstances of this opening—how congruous all are. This congruity extends to the phraseology; every word is admirably selected and placed with reference to the whole. Even the word "napping" is well chosen, as bestowing a touch of the fantastic, which is subsequently introduced as an important component of the poem. Stanza 2d increases the distinctness and effect of the picture as already presented to us. The "Midnight Dreary" is a midnight "in the bleak December," and the "dying embers" are assuming strange and fantastic shapes upon the student's hearth. We now pass these externals and some words of exquisite melody let us into the secret of the rooted sorrow which has led to the lonely night-watching and fruitless study" (Cooke).

This is a very good observation made by Cooke. The certain words and phrases like "in the bleak of December", "dying embers", and "Midnight Dreary" do portray a kind of dark and mysterious tone to the poem.

I, personally, like the dark and mysterious tone of the poem. I really like Dark Romanticism, and Edgar Allan Poe is actually my family dark romanticist. In all honesty, he is the only dark romanticist I know right now, but I have read a few of his works over the years and I liked them a lot. I really like mysteries in general, and his poems and short stories are really good mysteries. I also love ghost stories because I am kind of weird like that, and I like that kind of stuff.

Cooke goes on to say,

"The rhythm of this poem is exquisite, its phraseology is in the highest degree musical and apt, the tone of the whole is wonderfully sustained and appropriate to the subject, which, full as it is of a wild and tender melancholy, is admirably well chosen. This is my honest judgment; I am fortified in it by high authority. Mr. Willis says:—"It is the most effective single example of fugitive poetry ever published in this country, and unsurpassed in English poetry for subtle conception, masterly ingenuity of versification, and consistent sustaining of imaginative lift. It is one of those dainties which we feed on. It will stick to the memory of every one who reads it...I hear of persons haunted by the Nevermore, and one acquaintance of mine, who has the misfortune of possessing a bust of Pallas, never can bear to look at it in the twilight" (Cooke).

While I would have to agree with the writing style of Poe's The Raven, I would not be so over exaggerate as Cooke is. I feel he goes a little over board in praising Poe's poem. I am not saying that the poem is not full of wonderfully colorful words and great poetic devices, I am just saying that I would not be so crazily enthusiastic about it. I am also not so sure about the part where people were actually haunted by the word "Nevermore". I did not find the poem very spooky at all. The setting makes the poem pretty spooky, but, in my opinion, I think the raven makes the poem really stupid. Maybe back when Poe was alive it was creepy, but today, not so much. For people to actually be haunted by the word "Nevermore" is pretty ridiculous. I mean, come on, it's just a poem.

Works Cited:

Cooke, P. Pendleton. "Edgar A. Poe," Southern Literary Messenger (January 1848). Reprinted in The Recognition of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Eric W. Carlson (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1966): pp. 21–23. Quoted as "Review of 'The Raven'" in Harold Bloom, ed. Edgar Allan Poe, Bloom's Major Poets. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 1999. (Updated 2007.) Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= BMPEAP21&SingleRecord=True (accessed November 22, 2010).