Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven - Reflection

The poem starts with the narrator who was taking a nap in his chambers and thinking about his lost love Lenore when he hears a tapping at the door. He calls out to it, but receives no answer. Like most, he starts to get a little nervous and once again calls out to whoever it may be. " "Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping" (paragraph 4). Once again there is no response, so now he is very nervous and anxious. He finally goes to see who could be tapping and all of a sudden a raven appears in his chambers. Noticing how serious the raven looks, he asks him his name and the bird replies "Nevermore". That is the only word the bird can say so the narrator begins to assume that he had to have learned the word somewhere. The narrator then begins to assume that the raven is a thing of evil and begins asking it questions about his lost love Lenore. As before, the raven gives the same response. Finally, the narrator becomes angry at the raven and believes that his soul is trapped under the ravens shadow "and shall be lifted Nevermore". The Raven, by Edgar Allen Poe is a good example of Dark Romanticism. Dark Romanticism often includes the more eerie side of normal Romanticism. Many of the times, it includes the supernatural and unlike normal Romanticism, Dark Romanticism does acknowledge the existence of sin and evil in the world. Other literary works that include Dark Romanticism have things in them such as vampires, werewolves, and mysterious things like that, kind of like the raven in thins poem. The raven was very eerie and gave the narrator and strange and uneasy feeling. The raven also talked, but in a way tormented him by only responding with the answer Nevermore. Another thing that I think is very interesting about Edgar Allen Poe is how many of his poems seem to be about different states of the mind. In many of his poems the narrator often feels this feeling or is thinking this thing that kinda makes them paranoid or go crazy. (stories and poems like Tell Tale Heart and Dreamland). Those are some of the things involved with Dark Romanticism.



"Edgar Allan Poe: The Raven." Poetry Lovers' Page. Web. 17 Jan. 2012