"The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe...What is it about?

Question

Does anyone know what exactly is going on in that poem?

Answer 1

Well, why reinvent the wheel:

"The Raven" is a poem written about a man who is grieving for his lost lover. He is having difficulty dealing with her death and the Raven is the object that is used to continually remind him of her. This, however, is not the Raven's only purpose in the poem. He is also used to tell the reader what has happened and to tell us that it will be impossible for the man to get over the death of this beautiful women's death.
The first stanza in the poem sets the scene. We know that it is late at night and the weather is fairly bad. Poe also lets us know that something terrible has happened to this man. When the terrible act occurred he learned a great lesson. We are unaware of what happened and what the lesson is, but we also know that he is scared something or someone is coming to get him. We can see this through his fear of who is tapping at his door.
In the next stanza we learn a little more. We now know that the terrible act occurred in December. He remembers the "dying ember" which indicates that it was cold, but also gives us a little insight that someone probably died. This idea is reinforced with Poe's use of the word "ghost" in the same sentence. We also can see that he is trying to forget his sorrow and move on. Lastly we learn that he is grieving for Lenore. We can assume that Lenore was his lover and he lost her. He turned to books in an attempt to end his pain. We learn that she has died when he tells us that the angels have named this "radiant maiden" and she no longer has a name on earth.
The third stanza goes back to the present time. He sees the curtains blowing in the wind and becomes full of fear and terror. We begin to see an image of a ghost coming through the window. The narrator, however, tries to convince himself it is just a visiter at the door. It is fairly clear that it is more than that. In the fourth stanza the narrator becomes brave and opens the door to tell the visiter that he was asleep and he is sorry for the delay. When he opens the door we learn along with him that there was no one there.
The fifth stanza describes the narrator standing there in the doorway for a long time. "...long I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before." It is unclear what these dreams are, but then he says Lenore out loud. We can assume that the dreams are about her. The narrator goes back into his chamber in stanza six. He is full of fear, but tries to relax by saying that the sound he has heard was just the wind outside the window. He goes to explore the window lattice.
As he opens the window in the next stanza he finds a Raven that is full of energy and life and it flies into his chamber. It did not slow down it simply flew in and perched itself on the bust of Pallas. Poe describes the bird of having the appearance of a lord or a lady. It is also significant that the bird flew directly to the bust of Pallas. Pallas is Athena who is the greek goddess of wisdom. It seems as though the Raven has some wisdom to share with the narrator and with us, but he does not say a thing.
It becomes clear to the narrator in the eighth stanza that he is going to have to ask the Raven questions, because the Raven is not going to talk freely. He asks the Raven what his name is and the Raven replies "Nevermore". This is the first of many times that the Raven will reply with that word. The narrator describes how is feeling about all of this in stanza nine. He is excited and feels blessed that the Raven chose him. Poe writes, "For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door".
The narrator becomes slightly disappointed in the next stanza though. He is upset that the Raven only said "Nevermore". The narrator them seems to be in deep thought and mutters to himself about how other friends have left him even when he hoped they would not. Here we see a point of vulnerability with the narrator. He seems very lonely and scared to care about other people because they are going to leave him some day. The Raven hears the narrator's concerns, however, and says "Nevermore".
The narrator can not believe this promise to be true. It seems that the narrator has heard this promise before and it was broken. It is fairly clear that he is referring to Lenore. He can not seem to forget her. Even though it has been a while since she died he can still here her promises and he feels betrayed by them in a way. This all becomes clear in the eleventh stanza.
In stanza twelve the narrator begins to make a connection between Lenore and the Raven. Poe describes it as "linking Fancy unto fancy". The bird is cheating the narrator out of being sad. His presence has made the narrator feel honored and has made him smile despite his sadness. He then tries to figure out why the bird continually says, "Nevermore". Is he trying to tell the narrator that he needs to get over his grief? Or maybe he is telling him that he will never get over the sadness of losing Lenore so he needs to be able to live with it, but not dwell on it.
He continues to explore the question at hand in the next stanza. He admits that the Raven is looking straight into his heart and making all those emotions and feelings come to the surface. At the end of this stanza he thinks, "She shall press, ah, nevermore!" It seems that she, Lenore, is finally letting go of his heart. She is allowing him to move on.
We get a sense that Lenore is actually there in the fourteenth stanza. He describes the air as getting denser. For a moment he has an interval of rest and relief. He begins to pray to God to let him forget the pain and forget Lenore, but the Raven answers "Nevermore". After this stanza the tone of the poem starts to change. Instead of the excitement of the past eight stanzas its suddenly turns to desperateness and fear.
In the next two stanzas the narrator starts to get angry. He explains that he does not know why the Raven came to him. Whether he was sent there or the storm forced him there he did not know. He wanted to know if there was balm and peace in Gilead and if Lenore was in the Heaven above. To both questions the Raven answered "Nevermore".
The narrator then becomes furious and he tells the Raven to leave. He no longer thinks that it is exciting and he no longer feels honored. He tells the Raven to go back into the tempest and to not come back. He also does not want the Raven to leave a feather so that the narrator can deny that this encounter ever even happened. In the seventeenth stanza the narrator says, "Leave my loneliness unbroken!--quit the bust above my door!". It is obvious that the memories the narrator has are just too painful to deal with. He wants to be able to forget them and leave them in past, but the Raven will not allow this to happen. He also says, "Take the beak from out my heart". The Raven has really affected the narrator and the narrator can no longer deal with the pain that the Raven has caused him to remember. The Raven simply answers, "Nevermore". He has come to the narrator's house so he can not forget the past. This is his objective.
In the last stanza we see that the Raven is still sitting on the bust of Pallas. Perhaps the wisdom that he is trying to give to us all is that even when the past is not talked about and stuffed away some where it still in some way haunts us. There is no way to escape the past until you face it. The narrator in this poem has to face it every day when he sees the Raven. We also become aware in this stanza that there is no hope for the narrator. His soul is stuck in the shadow of the Raven which is on the floor. The past has been too much for him. He is overwhelmed by grief and guilt which has taken his own soul away from him. There is no hope for the narrator, but perhaps there is hope for us.



An Interpretation of "The Raven" from a survey of poetry:

On a stormy December night, a student reads curious volumes of ancient lore in an effort to forget his lost love, Lenore. A raven taps at his window, and as for a wild moment he thinks it might be the ghost of his lady returned. Amused at himself and the ungainly appearance of the raven, he lets the bird in; it perches ludicrously on the head of his bust of Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom. Discovering that the bird has a one-word vocabulary, "Nevermore," he bemusedly puts to it questions capable of being answered by that word-until he asks the ultimate question. Will he ever see his lost love Lenore in Heaven? At the forsaken answer of "Nevermore," he shrieks in anguish at the bird-yet sets up a still deeper twisting of pain. In response his injunction to the raven to depart as "Take thy beak from out my heart," the anticipated reply comes: "Nevermore." The student concludes that the shadow cast by the bird on his soul "shall be lifted-nevermore."
The poem is dramatically conceived. Poe carefully balances an atmosphere of the supernatural with the presentation of abnormal psychology, just as in the short stories, and the poem is to a degree a departure from his rigid distinction between poetry and fiction. The next year in "The Philosophy of Composition" a half serious, half tongue-in-cheek explanation of how he wrote "The Raven" step by step, Poe characterizes the student as one "impelled. . . .by the human thirst for self-torture." He asks the bird questions he anticipates the answer to, so as to, bring him. . . .the most of a luxury of sorrow." Other elements of the "philosophy" of composition are articulated in the essay that relate directly to the short story. The essay begins by asserting that
. . .Every plot, worth the name, must be
elaborated in its denouement before anything
be attempted with the pen. It is only with the
denouement constantly in view that we can
give a plot its indispensable air of
consequence, or causation, by making the
incidents, and especially the tone at all points,
tend to the development of the intention.

The denouement is tied to an "effect":
Keeping originality always in view. . . I say to
myself, in the first place, 'Of the innumerable
effects, or impressions, of which the heart, the
intellect, or (more generally) the soul is
susceptible, what one shall I, on the present
occasion, select?' Having chosen a novel, first,
and secondly a vivid effect, I consider whether
it can be best wrought by incident or tone-
whether by ordinary incidents and peculiar
tone, or the converse, or by peculiarity both of
incident and tone-afterward looking about
me (or rather within)for such combinations of
event, or tone, as shall best aid me in the
construction of the effect.

Effect is then a consequence of combinations of "tone" and "incident." The combinations specified are especially revealing: ordinary events plus peculiar tone; peculiar events plus ordinary tone; and peculiar events plus peculiar tone. These constitute a program for the heightened, romantic tale; the combination Poe omits ordinary events plus ordinary tone, a formula for later nineteenth-century realism. Despite such heightening, however, "every thing is within the limits of the accountable of the real." The storyteller's is to bring the lover and the raven together in some reasonable way that yet creates intensity. This is done by choosing a locale that provides "close circumscription of space" and by emphasizing "the force of contrast, with a view of deepening the ultimate impression." An "air," a suggestion, of "the fantastic-approaching as nearly to the ludicrous as was admissible-is given to the Raven's entrance." This intensified, predesigned effect, Poe writes, is carefully calculated for "universal" appeal. The aesthetic effects of poetry, not prose, enable the soul to attain its most intense and our elevation. For in poetry the adjuncts of repetition-of rhythm, measure, sound-help to create a hypnotic tone. Of the poetic devices, the use of a refrain; Poe's is to be one of variable applicability that will bear repetition and deepen the effect. The very sounds of the word "Nevermore" are appropriate to the creation of a dominant tone of melancholy-the universal sense of loss of the ideal. Of all earthy subjects, he asks, what is the most melancholy? The death of a beautiful woman-the calculated subject of his poem. In it the raven comes to symbolize mournful and never-ending remembrance. Poe implies that at last someone has done an "original thing" in poetry.

See link 2 for even more

Answer 2

Well every poem is going to mean something little different to each person, Poetry is very subjective and only the author really has the best grasp of what it means. What I learned in my poetry class is if you want to understand a poem you read it over and over and over and over and you will be amazed at the clues that start opening up to you. Take time in between each reading really sulk in the words don't try to over analyze it because most poems are murdered this way. My high school English teacher said one thing about this poem and that the "bird represents death and that's all you need to know" I guess the rest is up for debate. Most of Poe's writing I don't get at first but that's my English Professor said that makes a good poem (one that reveals itself with time) you might get a little insight from other people but the best discoveries are the ones you find. There are some poems out there that you may never get like this one my English professor told " The blood of childern ran through the streets like the blood of childern" I have had people tell me what they think it means, but nothing has really satisfied me on this one I just think it's not for me to get.

Answer 3

A man reminiscing about his dead love. Then a raven comes and it reminds him about the reality of his situation and that he shall see his love 'nevermore". At least that's what I got out of it.

Answer 4

this is the best poem in the world it needs to be explained in detail and part by part i lov poetry myself and am trying to get a book out there myself awwww.
if you want to go into length about it my IM is [e-mail]
please no one else contact me at this one everyone else please use the [e-mail]
good luck its the inspiration of my poetry in life so good luck i hope it inspires you

Answer 5

John... You never cease to amaze me. Give the points to him.
CyberNara

Answer 6

wow, some of those answers are so long. . .
ne ways, it's about loss.

Answer 7

guilt