“THE RAVEN”

Edgar Allan Poe

It is a bird that has

shiny black feathers and looks like a crow but is

larger

Why is the raven important to the poem?

Is the raven the main character in

the poem?

PRECIS STATEMENT• In his narrative poem “The Raven”, Edgar Allan Poe employs figurative

language that enhances the voice of the narrator and, thus, the mood. He develops the employment of figurative language by incorporating alliteration, consonance, internal rhyme and rhyme scheme. Poe’s purpose is to create vivid imagery in order to create an overall single effect for the reader. The speaker’s voice of melancholy allows readers to connect to his feelings of depression and loneliness after the loss of his loved one, Lenore.

POINT OF VIEW AND NARRATOR

Point of View

• Poe employs a first person point of view for the narrative poem.

• Ex: “Eagerly I wished the morrow;- vainly I had sought to borrow/From my books surcease of sorrow”

• This is an effective point of view because it allows the reader to experience the emotions and events through the eyes of the depressed man.

Persona

• A persona is “a character assumed by an author in a written work” especially used in poetry.

• The persona is a man grieving for the loss of his beloved Lenore, who has died. * NOT Edgar Allan Poe himself*

• It is an effective speaker because in poetry there is not a technical “narrator” due to the lack of prose.

VOICE AND MOOD • Voice: melancholy

• “ ‘other friends have flown before-/On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.’”

• The speaker persona believes when the morning comes, the bird will fly out the window and leave him all alone without hope or company to help him feel better.

• Mood: the atmosphere of a piece of writing; it’s the emotions a selection arouses in a reader.

• The mood is one of hopelessness “and my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor/Shall be lifted – nevermore!”

• After hearing the raven respond “nevermore” to all of his questions and demands, the speaker feels an unending hopelessness that his soul and mood will never return to its previous state.

MODE AND PATTERN• The mode of the poem is narration and description.

• The poem tells the story of a man grieving his lost love Lenore at midnight in December. It begins with the sound of knocking rousing him from his thoughts. A raven enters through the window then settles on the bust of Pallas Athena above the chamber door. The speaker persona interacts with the raven who only replies “nevermore” sending the persona into deeper depression and madness because he will never see her or have reprieve from his grief.

• Poe also uses vivid figurative language and symbolism to enhance the poem’s narrative. All of these aspects help create Poe’s signature single effect in his writing.

• Pattern: Lines 2,4,5 and 6 of each of the 18 stanzas all contain the same end rhyme. This gives the narrative poem a more lyrical ballad form which is evidenced in the rhythmic sing-song quality when read aloud.

ALLUSION Mythological

• “Bust of Pallas” – a statue of the head of Pallas Athena the Roman Goddess of Wisdom.

• “Night’s Plutonian Shore” – reference to the Underworld and the Roman God Pluto. The narrator wonders whether the raven has come from the shores of the river Styx which served as a boundary between Hades and Earth. Souls had to pay Charon to carry them across in his ferry or wander the shores for all eternity.

Biblical Other

Nepenthe – potion used by ancient civilizations in order to induce forgetfulness of pain or sorrow.

Aidenn – Arabic word for Eden or paradise

Seraphim – a six-winged angel in the presence of God.

Angels

Balm in Gilead – a soothing ointment to heal a person. It comes from Gilead, a mountainous region in Palestine east of the Jordan River.

Temptor – The Devil

SYMBOLISM

Raven is a symbol and extended metaphor for death.

The speaker persona describes the raven as “grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt” who has an ominous presence. He assumes the bird has been sent from the shores of the Underworld. The speaker also comments that “no living human being/Ever yet was blest with seeing bird…with such a name as ‘Nevermore.’”

The raven’s dark coloring and absurdity serves as a constant reminder to the speaker persona of his grief. At the end of the poem the bird remains upon the bust of Athena refusing to leave symbolizing the inability to escape one’s fate.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

These sounds contribute to the overall single effect and reflect the nervousness of the speaker after he has been awakened at midnight.

• Onomatopoeia – muttured, rapping, tapping, Ah, rustling, whispered, murmured, echo.

• Alliteration: nodded nearly napping, surcease of sorrow – sorrow, grim ungainly ghastly gaunt. Pro

• Consonance: “Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,”

RHYME

• End Rhyme – Lines 2, 4, 5, and 6 of each stanza share the same end rhyme sound.

• Ex: lore, door, door, more.

• Internal Rhyme – occurs within line 1 and lines 3 and the first half of line 4 of every stanza.

• Ex: dreary, weary, napping, tapping, rapping

• Slant Rhyme: occurs within stanza 15 when the speaker shifts from amusement to anger at the raven.

• Ex: evil and devil, undaunted and enchanted.