Free Essays on The Raven

An Unfolding of Edgar Allan Poe’s â€Å"The Raven† Edgar Allan Poe wrote an essay entitled â€Å"The Philosophy of Composition†. In this dissertation, Poe described the creation and work involved in composing his well-known literary masterpiece, â€Å"The Raven†. In â€Å"The Philosophy of Composition,† Poe stated that his design was to make â€Å"The Raven† â€Å"universally appreciable†, so that the public, as well as the critics would share a strong appreciation of his work (Poe, 1850). While â€Å"The Raven† is quite possibly Poe’s most disturbing tale, not so much because of images of grief or despair, but because of the haunting way the reader starts to feel the inner turmoil of the narrator, it is renowned as one of the greatest symbolic masterpieces of American Poetry. â€Å"The Raven† is about a man who lost his true love and tries to ease the pain or â€Å"sorrow for the lost Lenore† (DiVanni, 721), by reading old books to keep his mind occupied. He is interrupted from his napping, by what he says is a "tapping on my chamber door" (DiVanni, 721). He gets up hoping that his lost love Lenore is outside, but as he opens the door he finds â€Å"darkness there and nothing more† (DiVanni, 722). The narrator returns to his chamber when he again hears a tapping; this time it is a little louder and is coming from the window. As he flings open the shutter, in steps â€Å"a stately Raven†, the bird of ill omen (Poe, 1850). The Raven perches itself on a statue above the chamber door. The narrator tells the reader that the statue the Raven settles on is the bust of Pallas. Pallas is the goddess of wisdom in Greek mythology (Nilsson, 1998). The man asks the Raven for his name, and to his surprise the bird answers back, â₠¬Å"Nevermore.† The narrator continues to ask the Raven other questions like, â€Å"Is there balm in Gilead?† and â€Å"Can Lenore be found in paradise?† The Raven answers all questions the same, responding with the ... Free Essays on The Raven Free Essays on The Raven An Unfolding of Edgar Allan Poe’s â€Å"The Raven† Edgar Allan Poe wrote an essay entitled â€Å"The Philosophy of Composition†. In this dissertation, Poe described the creation and work involved in composing his well-known literary masterpiece, â€Å"The Raven†. In â€Å"The Philosophy of Composition,† Poe stated that his design was to make â€Å"The Raven† â€Å"universally appreciable†, so that the public, as well as the critics would share a strong appreciation of his work (Poe, 1850). While â€Å"The Raven† is quite possibly Poe’s most disturbing tale, not so much because of images of grief or despair, but because of the haunting way the reader starts to feel the inner turmoil of the narrator, it is renowned as one of the greatest symbolic masterpieces of American Poetry. â€Å"The Raven† is about a man who lost his true love and tries to ease the pain or â€Å"sorrow for the lost Lenore† (DiVanni, 721), by reading old books to keep his mind occupied. He is interrupted from his napping, by what he says is a "tapping on my chamber door" (DiVanni, 721). He gets up hoping that his lost love Lenore is outside, but as he opens the door he finds â€Å"darkness there and nothing more† (DiVanni, 722). The narrator returns to his chamber when he again hears a tapping; this time it is a little louder and is coming from the window. As he flings open the shutter, in steps â€Å"a stately Raven†, the bird of ill omen (Poe, 1850). The Raven perches itself on a statue above the chamber door. The narrator tells the reader that the statue the Raven settles on is the bust of Pallas. Pallas is the goddess of wisdom in Greek mythology (Nilsson, 1998). The man asks the Raven for his name, and to his surprise the bird answers back, â₠¬Å"Nevermore.† The narrator continues to ask the Raven other questions like, â€Å"Is there balm in Gilead?† and â€Å"Can Lenore be found in paradise?† The Raven answers all questions the same, responding with the ... Free Essays on The Raven ANALYSIS OF â€Å"THE RAVEN† Published in 1845 in the New York Evening Mirror, â€Å"The Raven† by Edgar Allan Poe is arguably the most well known American poem. A first person narrative describes a meeting with a demonic raven with very elaborate language and imagery. Superficially, â€Å"The Raven† is a poem of suspense and horror, but it is also an allegory for growing madness induced by guilt. The poem starts out with dark and creepy imagery of the narrator falling slowly asleep as he reads â€Å"a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore† when he hears someone knocking lightly at his door. At first, he dismisses the knocking as simply some visitor. It is obvious that the narrator is not in the mood to deal with visitors at this late hour. He is traumatized by the loss of a love, â€Å"a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.† The book that he is reading is an attempt to drown his sorrow for the loss. This attempt to relieve himself of the pain he feels for Lenore is repeated often through the poem. As the narrator continues to hear the persistent knocking he is finally awake from his napping and opens the door, but he finds â€Å"darkness there, and nothing more.† This is the first that we see the narrator starting to lose his mind as he stands in the doorway â€Å"wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before.† As he closes the door, he hears the knock again and realizes that it is coming from his window. Upon opening the window a raven flies in and sits on top of the â€Å"bust of Pallas.† At first, the narrator is simply puzzled by this bird. The fact that upon asking its name, the raven replies â€Å"nevermore† does not greatly surprise the narrator, for like a parrot a raven can be taught to speak and the narrator thinks that this raven flew away from some â€Å"unhappy master† who was bored with the bird’s â€Å"melancholy† chant of â€Å"nevermore† and that â€Å"on the morrow he...