The Raven Case

The Raven

In reading Edgar Allen Poe's poem, The Raven, you notice a common theme about death and depression. The poem begins by him being in his chamber and hears a noise coming from the hallways. It seems to be a knocking noise that becomes apparent to him that someone at his door. He gets up, opens the door expecting to see his wife, Lenore. You notice reading the first three to fours sections that the theme is very dark and cold, this is how Poe described that Lenore was dead. When he opened this door no one was there and be stared into a dark hallways realizing that Lenore was not going to appear. As we returned to his chamber he heard this knocking coming from the window, where he figured it must be the wind making this noise. He finally noticed a black bird, the raven, sitting outside his window, saying "Nevermore". While he becomes intrigued with this bird, he know come tomorrow this bird will leave him and he will never be able to see him again. (AIP)

Reading these passages the first time, it's not easy to see where Poe was going with his lesson. As you begin to analysis his work your will notice very apparent words that sick out in his poem, The Raven. "Once upon a midnight dreary", is the first instant where he sets the mood of darkness in this poem. This is clearly stated in the first line to set dramatic effect that this is a state of depression. He then says, " An angle named Lenore", letting us know that this was his love and she has recently passed away. As he goes along he believes that he hears Lenore at his door and window but really discovers a bird that keeps repeating the words, "Nevermore".

The lesson that Poe is providing in this story is death and how we deal with it. We may think we are prepared for tragedy but reality is that we never are. We cannot prepare ourselves for our feeling before they happened and we must cope with them our own way when we must. This is a story about a man missing his love and not being able to deal with death. He is in a state of depression and he yearns for his love to come back into his life. The significance of the quote "Nevermore" is very symbolic to this poem. The raven says this word because I believe we would know say, "It is what it is". It was his way of expressing that we cannot change what has happened and in a tragedy like death, we must learn to accept these kinds of things. It will not be easy to miss someone but like he stated in his last line, " On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before". Stating that this is not the first time this will happen and it will not be the last. When we miss someone we must accept that these things happen and cope overselves through the hard times. (Helium)