The Raven

Literal Meaning:

One night at midnight while I was weary and reading a book of legends, I was almost asleep when I heard tapping at my door. I thought it was a visitor at my chamber, telling myself not to be afraid. It was December, and the fire was dying out slowly. I started to hope for tomorrow, because I was lost in sadness thinking of Lenore, who is no longer alive. The purple curtain at my window rustled and scared me more than before as my heart started beating faster. I stood up, assuming that there was a visitor at my chamber door, nothing more. I became more brave and stopped hesitating, I called out to the visitor, apologizing and saying that I had been dozing and therefore had not answered the door sooner. I could barely hear the noise and then I opened the door, shocked to see that there was no one there at the door- just darkness.

I stood looking into the darkness with fear, wondering what was going on. It was silent and the darkness was unrelenting, and all I heard was the whisper of the word "Lenore!", to which I echoed, "Lenore!". And that was it. I went back into the chamber, still startled, and then heard more tapping, only louder than before. This time I assumed that the noise came from something at my window, so I went to explore and had to assume that it was simply the wind making the noises I heard. I opened the shutter and there was a raven, which flew into my chamber and then perched above the door on a bust of Pallas. It just sat there, nothing more. The black bird continued to sit, stirring my sadness and then making me smile. It was grim and stately, and as I spoke to the raven about my sorrow, it simply replied, "nevermore".

I was astounded at the words of the raven, and marveled at this ability. The word it spoke meant little to me, with little relevancy. It continued to speak only one word, "nevermore" as time went on, and uttered no other words. He did not move, and the bird continued to say the word. The silence was broken and I was unhappy, caught up in my sorrow as the raven continued to speak only one word- "nevermore". The raven seemed to be tormenting me so I put my padded chair in front of the door and sat on it, trying to figure out what was going on with this whole bird thing. I sat and guessed, but could not decide what was going on for the life of me. It's fiery eyes burned me as I continued to sit on the chair in the lamp-light, thinking about how Lenore really is nevermore (because she's dead).

The air then grew heavy and dense and my memories of Lenore began to torment me, although I tried to forget them. I wanted to forget Lenore, but these constant reminders made it impossible to do so. As the raven said, "Nevermore". I will never be able to forget. I thought the raven was a prophet sent from someone, possibly the devil, and asked if I would ever stop being haunted by Lenore and the memories I have of her. I begged for the prophet to tell me, and the raven simply said, "Nevermore." Lenore was up in heaven with God, named by the angels. She was a rare and beautiful woman. And the raven continued to repeat the same word.

I started to yell, screaming at the raven to go back into the night and just leave me alone. I wanted it to leave me alone with my loneliness and leave its perch on the bust above the door to my chamber. But the raven stayed, never leaving or moving, tormenting me with it's eerie prophecy, continually telling me "nevermore."

Poetic Devices:

-Repetition, like in the repeated use of the word "nevermore".
-Simile/Metaphor, like when Poe compares the raven to the devil or a prophet.
-Imagery used to set up the setting of the story and make it descriptive.
-Rhyming, examples: lore/door, floor/Lenore, before/explore.
-Symbolism, because the Raven can be seen as a symbol for Lenore's death and the sorrow he feels.

Figurative Meaning:

I think that the grief that the narrative felt due to the death of his love, Lenore, caused him to sort of lose his mind. I cannot say if the raven is real or a hallucination caused by stress, lack of sleep, or drugs, but I think that the narrative's feelings caused the raven to "appear" to him in the poem and force him to confront his thoughts about Lenore and her untimely death.

Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Raven." PoemHunter.Com - Thousands of Poems and Poets.. Poetry Search Engine. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. .