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Understanding The Raven: Expert Poem Analysis

General Education

"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most well-known poems ever written. It brought its author worldwide fame and has frequently been analyzed, performed, and parodied. But what about this poem makes it so special?

In this guide, we give you a complete overview of "The Raven," discussing everything from the sad stories behind its creation and what is actually going on between the narrator and the raven, to its themes and the poetic devices it uses so effectively.

The Raven Poem: Full Text

Below is the complete text of The Raven poem, written by Edgar Allan Poe and published in 1845. It consists of 18 stanzas and a total of 108 lines.

What Is "The Raven" About?

"The Raven" is a poem about a man who is heartbroken over the recent death of his beloved Lenore. As he passes a lonely December night in his room, a raven taps repeatedly on the door and then the window. The man first thinks the noise is caused by a late night visitor come to disturb him, and he is surprised to find the raven when he opens the window shutter. After being let in, the raven flies to and lands on a bust of Pallas (an ancient Greek goddess of wisdom).

The man is amused by how serious the raven looks, and he begins talking to the raven; however, the bird can only reply by croaking "nevermore."

The man reflects aloud that the bird will leave him soon as all the people he cared about have left him. When the raven replies "nevermore," the man takes it as the bird agreeing with him, although it's unclear if the raven actually understands what the man is saying or is just speaking the one word it knows.

As the man continues to converse with the bird, he slowly loses his grip on reality. He moves his chair directly in front of the raven and asks it despairing questions, including whether he and Lenore will be reunited in heaven. Now, instead of being merely amused by the bird, he takes the raven's repeated "nevermore" response as a sign that all his dark thoughts are true. He eventually grows angry and shrieks at the raven, calling it a devil and a thing of evil.

The poem ends with the raven still sitting on the bust of Pallas and the narrator, seemingly defeated by his grief and madness, declaring that his soul shall be lifted "nevermore."

Background on "The Raven"

Edgar Allan Poe wrote "The Raven" during a difficult period in his life. His wife, Virginia, was suffering from tuberculosis, Poe was struggling to make money as an unknown writer, and he began drinking heavily and picking fights with coworkers and other writers. It's easy to see how he could have conjured the dark and melancholy mood of "The Raven."

It's not known how long Poe spent writing "The Raven," (guesses range from anywhere to a single day to over a decade) but it's thought most likely that he wrote the poem in the summer of 1844. In his essay, "The Philosophy of Composition," Poe stated that he chose to focus the poem on the death of a beautiful woman because it is "unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world." He hoped "The Raven" would make him famous, and, in the same essay, stated that he purposely wrote the poem to appeal to both "the popular and the critical taste."

"The Raven" was published in the newspaper The New York Evening Mirror on January 29, 1845 (depending on the source, Poe was paid either $9 or $15 for it). "The Raven" brought Poe instant fame, although not the financial security he was looking for. Critical reception was mixed, with some famous writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and William Butler Yeats expressing their dislike for the poem. Despite those initial mixed reviews, The Raven poem has continued its popularity and is now one of the most well-known poems in the world. Countless parodies have been written, and the poem has been referenced in everything from The Simpsons to the NFL team the Baltimore Ravens (their mascot is even named "Poe").

Major Themes in "The Raven"

From The Raven summary, we know it's definitely a melancholy poem, and most of its themes revolve around grim topics. Here are three of the most important themes.

Theme 1: Grief

Grief is the overwhelming emotion in "The Raven, " and the narrator is absolutely consumed by his grief for his lost love, Lenore. At the beginning of the poem, he tries to distract himself from his sadness by reading a "volume of forgotten lore", but when the raven arrives, he immediately begins peppering it with questions about Lenore and becomes further lost in his grief at the raven's response of "nevermore." By the end of the poem, the narrator is seemingly broken, stating that his soul will never again be "lifted" due to his sadness.

Poe stated that the raven itself was a symbol of grief, specifically, that it represented "mournful and never-ending remembrance." He purposely chose a raven over a parrot (a bird species better known for its ability to speak) because he thought a raven suited the dark tone of the poem better.

Edgar Allan Poe had experienced a great deal of grief by the time he wrote "The Raven," and he had seen people close to him leave, fall gravely ill, or die. He would have been well aware of the consuming power that grief can have and how it has the ability to blot everything else out.

Theme 2: Devotion

It's the narrator's deep love for Lenore that causes him such grief, and later rage and madness. Even though Lenore has died, the narrator still loves her and appears unable to think of anything but her. In the poem, he speaks of Lenore in superlatives, calling her "sainted" and "radiant." In his mind, she is completely perfect, practically a saint. His love for this woman who is no longer here distracts him from everything in his current life. With this theme, Poe is showing the power of love and how it can continue to be powerful even after death.

Theme 3: Rationality vs Irrationality

At the beginning of the poem, the narrator is rational enough to understand that Lenore is dead and he will not see her again. When the raven first begins repeating "nevermore," he realizes that the answer is the bird's "only stock and store," and he won't get another response no matter what he asks. He seems to even find the bird vaguely amusing.

However, as the poem continues, the narrator's irrationality increases as he asks the raven questions it couldn't possibly know and takes its repeated response of "nevermore" to be a truthful and logical answer. He then descends further into madness, cursing the bird as a "devil" and "thing of evil" and thinking he feels angels surrounding him before sinking into his grief. He has clearly come undone by the end of the poem.

In "The Raven," Poe wanted to show the fine line between rational thought and madness and how strong emotions, such as grief, can push a person into irrationality, even during mundane interactions like the one the narrator had with the raven.

The 7 Key Poetic Devices "The Raven" Uses

Edgar Allan Poe makes use of many poetic devices in "The Raven" to create a memorable and moving piece of writing. Below we discuss seven of the most important of these devices and how they contribute to the poem.

Alliteration

An allusion is an indirect reference to something, and Poe makes multiple allusions in "The Raven." Some key ones include:

The bust of Pallas the raven sits on refers to Pallas Athena, the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom.

Nepenthe is a drug mentioned in Homer's ancient epic The Odyssey, and it is purported to erase memories.

The Balm of Gilead is a reference to a healing cream mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah in the Bible.

Aidenn refers to the Garden of Eden, although the narrator likely uses it to mean "heaven" in general, as he wants to know if that's where he and Lenore will reunite.

Ravens themselves are mentioned in many stories, including Norse mythology and Ovid's epic poem Metamorphoses.

The majority of "The Raven" follows trochaic octameter, which is when there are eight trochaic feet per line, and each foot has one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable.

However, Poe actually used several types of meter, and he is said to have based both the meter and rhyming pattern of "The Raven" off Elizabeth Barrett's poem " Lady Geraldine's Courtship." Meter is very prominent in "The Raven," and, along with other poetic devices, helps make it such a popular poem to recite.

The rhyming pattern in "The Raven" follows the pattern ABCBBB. The "B" lines all rhyme with "nevermore" and place additional emphasis on the final syllable of the line.

There is also quite a bit of internal rhyme within the poem, such as the line "But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token," where "unbroken" rhymes with "token."

Internal rhyming occurs in the first line of each stanza. It also occurs in the third line and part of the fourth line of each stanza. In the example "Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!/Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!" "token" and "spoken" in the third line of the stanza rhyme with "unbroken" in the fourth line of the stanza.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is when the name of a word is associated with the sound it makes, and it occurs throughout "The Raven," such as with the words "rapping," "tapping," "shrieked," and "whispered." It all helps add to the atmospheric quality of the poem and makes readers feel as though they are really in the room with the narrator and the raven.

What's Next?

"Ozymandias" by Percy Shelley is another famous and often-studied poem. Learn all about this poem and its famous line "look on my works, ye mighty, and despair" in our complete guide to Ozymandias .

There are many more poetic devices than those included in "The Raven." Read our guide on the 20 poetic devices you need to know so you can become an expert.

Taking AP Literature? We've got you covered! In our expert guide to the AP Literature exam, we've compiled all the information you need to know about the test and how to study for it to get a top score.

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Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” Summary & Meaning

November 26, 2023

I’m looking outside at the bleak November weather while writing this “The Raven” summary. Despite my modern electric lighting, it’s easy to feel spooked at this time of year. Dusk comes early and the wind blows the rain sideways, hard enough to rap on my window. I guess some things haven’t changed much since Edgar Allen Poe’s time. Perhaps everyone can identify with the feelings his most popular poem provokes—fear, grief, and something less tangible, lurking in the dark. A talking bird, perhaps? Before jumping to any conclusions, I suggest we take a closer look at what went into the making of the poem. Then we’ll make a “The Raven” summary and pick apart the various “The Raven” meanings.

“The Raven” Summary: Historical and Biographical Context

The 19th-century American Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) wrote poems, short stories, and essays. Perhaps you know him already from some of his famous Gothic-inspired stories. These include “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Then there’s his often-quoted poem “Annabel Lee,” which inspired Nabokov when writing Lolita . Poe himself drew poetic inspiration from earlier English romantics, including Lord Byron, John Keats, and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His detective stories, including “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” inspired Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series. As for Poe’s penchant for gloomy atmospheres and horrific revelations, he took his cues from leading Gothic novelist Ann Radcliff.

Despite this breadth of writing, Poe maintained that literature needn’t have a function beyond acting as a work of art. This theory, called “art for art’s sake,” was shared by some of Poe’s contemporaries, including Oscar Wilde. Poe’s aim with poetry involved invoking sadness, strangeness, and loss, which in turn would elicit a sense of beauty. This technique applied in particular to “The Raven,” which Poe wrote around 1845. Here, he wished to explore the loss of beauty and the impossibility of regaining it. He did so by incarnating beauty in a deceased love, which he called “the most poetical topic in the world.” This trope of a beloved’s untimely death dates back to Petrarch, who dedicated sonnets to his lost love, Laura. Dante followed, chasing his sweetheart Beatrice through hell, purgatory, and heaven. By maintaining this tradition, Poe strategically positioned himself in the same lauded literary canon.

“The Raven” Summary: Reception

While critics received “The Raven” with mixed opinions, the public responded favorably. This poem would become Poe’s most popular in his lifetime. It granted him at least some of the recognition he wished to obtain in his writing career. Later, Charles Baudelaire would translate “The Raven” into French. Thus, the poem went on to inspire the French Symbolists, including Arthur Rimbaud.

Even in the 20th and 21st centuries, “The Raven” has continued to inspire artists in high and popular culture. Perhaps you’ve heard of the British rock band The Alan Parsons Project . Their album “Tales of Mystery and Imagination, is entirely based on Poe’s writing, and contains a song called “The Raven.” Then there are the recent Poe-inspired Netflix adaptations, and even the football team, the Baltimore Ravens. Yet to understand what makes “The Raven” such a timeless and adaptable piece of literature, we must return to the source. So, without further ado, the poem, if you please.

“The Raven” Poem

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—

Only this and nothing more.”

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow

From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—

For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—

Nameless here for evermore.

The Raven Summary & Meaning (Continued)

And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain

Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;

So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating

“’Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door—

Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;—

This it is and nothing more.”

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,

“Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;

But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,

And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,

That I scarce was sure I heard you”—here I opened wide the door;—

Darkness there and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;

But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,

And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”

This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”—

Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,

Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.

“Surely,” said I, “surely that is something at my window lattice;

Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore—

Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;—

’Tis the wind and nothing more!”

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,

In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;

Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;

But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door—

Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door—

Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,

By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,

“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,

Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore—

Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!”

Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,

Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore;

For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being

Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door—

Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,

With such name as “Nevermore.”

But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only

That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.

Nothing farther then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered—

Till I scarcely more than muttered “Other friends have flown before—

On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.”

Then the bird said “Nevermore.”

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,

“Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store

Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster

Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore—

Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore

Of ‘Never—nevermore’.”

But the Raven still beguiling all my fancy into smiling,

Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;

Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking

Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore—

What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore

Meant in croaking “Nevermore.”

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing

To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;

This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining

On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o’er,

But whose velvet-violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o’er,

She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer

Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.

“Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee

Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore;

Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”

“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—

Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,

Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—

On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore—

Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I implore!”

“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!

By that Heaven that bends above us—by that God we both adore—

Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,

It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore—

Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.”

“Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!” I shrieked, upstarting—

“Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!

Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!

Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!

Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;

And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,

And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

Shall be lifted—nevermore!

“The Raven” Summary

“The Raven” begins with an unnamed narrator falling asleep while trying to lose himself in his books on a cold, dreary December night. He hopes these books will provide a distraction from his grief for Lenore. Yet the real distraction comes in the shape of a talking raven. He first hears the raven tapping at his door. Upon opening the door, the narrator finds nothing but darkness, and his own voice, echoing “Lenore.” Already, the narrator seems to be looking for some mystic sign of his lost love.

When the tapping continues, the narrator next opens the window. In steps a raven. Without pause, it enters and perches above the doorframe, on the bust of a Greek god. The corvid squawks only one word, “nevermore,” in response (or so it seems) to anything and everything the narrator says. What follows is fanciful, amusing, and melancholic, all at once.

The narrator, supposing the raven can only repeat a word he once heard, dismisses the meaning behind “nevermore.” Despite this rationale, he pulls up a chair, and cannot help but ask the raven questions. Distraught from Lenore’s recent death, the narrator seeks meaning in the raven’s unchanging responses. When he asks if angels have sent the bird to provide relief from his mourning, the raven answers “Nevermore.” Soon the narrator begins to suspect the bird has not come from heaven, but somewhere more devilish. Still, he continues to ask if he may hope to heal. The raven answers “Nevermore.” The narrator, becoming desperate, asks the raven if he will meet Lenore in Eden, meaning heaven. “Nevermore,” the raven responds. Enraged, the narrator asks the raven to leave. Naturally, the bird answers “Nevermore.” The poem ends with the raven perched above the narrator, whose soul is crushed.

“The Raven” Meaning: Obscure Words and Allusions

To synthesize the above “The Raven” summary, I needed to look into a few key allusions and some difficult vocabulary. Many of Poe’s allusions refer to ancient texts, especially the Bible and classic Greco-Roman literature. Poe even hints he’ll be drawing on “many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore” in the first stanza. Biblical allusions include the “Tempter” (the devil), heaven, angels, Seraphim, and Aidenn (Eden). Readers will also notice the “balm in Gilead” referring to a biblical cure-all.

As for Greek allusions, one involves “a bust of Pallas,” meaning the goddess Athena, who represents wisdom. Another is “nepenthe,” a plant-based narcotic mentioned in Homer’s The Odyssey , thought to erase memory. Finally, the crow itself carries certain ancient connotations. In Metamorphoses , Ovid writes that the “croaking raven” once had “silver white plumage.” Yet, “Because of his ready speech, he, who was once snow white, was now white’s opposite.” Poe takes up this trope of the chatty raven, yet here the man, and not the raven, undergoes punishment.

Because of the erudite vocabulary, readers may want to read “The Raven” with a dictionary. I’ll give you a head start. “Surcease” means a temporary halt or pause from something. In this case, it’s a pause from sorrow. The word “censer” refers to an incense holder. To “quaff” means to drink with enthusiasm. “Quoth,” means “said” or “spoke,” which our raven does often.

“The Raven” Summary: Poetic Structures

The structure of “The Raven” remains fairly uniform throughout. Eighteen six-line stanzas rely mainly on trochaic octameter. A trochaic foot involves one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable (essentially the opposite of an iambic foot). However, most lines actually end on a stressed syllable, giving the line 7.5 feet, or 15 syllables. (“ Take thy beak from out my heart , and take thy form from off my door !”) Poe borrowed this meter from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem “Lady Geraldine’s Courtship.”

Rhyme also reinforces the structure of “The Raven.” Not only does the poem follow the ABCBBB rhyme pattern, but the B lines all rhyme with “nevermore.” (Forgotten lore , chamber door , upon the floor , Le nore …) The rhyme scheme makes the poem catchy, fun to read aloud, and ultimately memorable. It also evokes the sound of an echo, reinforcing the spookiness of the poem’s atmosphere and plot. Internal rhymes (such as “sorrow laden ”/“sainted maiden ”) further this effect and enhances a certain sense of inevitability. This inevitable feeling works to suggest an implicit message in the poem, that death is inescapable and unalterable.

“The Raven” Summary: Poetic Devices

Caesura crops up in “The Raven” when a pause breaks the natural momentum of a line. For example, we see it with “Then , upon the velvet sinking , I betook myself to linking.” Caesura gives the lines and stanzas a prose-like quality we’d find in stories with full sentences. It allows Poe to give himself fully to the act of storytelling, rather than leave us with a more abstract, opaque style of poetry, such as the work of poets like Emily Dickinson .

“The Raven” makes use of other poetic devices as well. We find alliteration in lines like “ D oubting, d reaming d reams no mortal ever d ared to d ream before.” Assonance appears in phrases like, “ e ntreating e ntrance” and “T e mpter/t e mpest.” Epistrophe, or the repetition of the same word at the end of multiple lines, is also present. Then there’s the repetition of whole lines or phrases. My favorite appears in the third stanza, and works on a psychological level. “I stood repeating/“’Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door —/Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door ;—.” In this repetition, we find a perfect example of form fitting function. Anyone who’s tried to reassure themself that nothing is wrong will recognize the inclination to repeat this reassurance. It’s soothing.

Apart from caesura, all of these poetic devices double down on similarities and sameness. They match the repetitive actions of the raven, his rapping and tapping, and his only utterance, “Nevermore.” These various reoccurrences create a haunting, even fateful feeling throughout the poem. Despite the strangeness of a talking raven, it seems as if everything had to happen this way. The reader is therefore hardly shocked when the poem ends with the narrator’s own sense of doom.

“The Raven” Meaning: Themes

We cannot avoid discussing themes of death and grief when looking for “The Raven” meanings. Death appears in the absence of Lenore and in the hope of a reunion in some afterlife. Grief, meanwhile, appears throughout the poem. We might go so far as to say that the mourning narrator embodies grief. Thus, “The Raven” juxtaposes not life and death, but grief and death. It asks the difficult question of how to carry on after losing someone permanently.

Some critics will say that Poe warns readers against the destructive nature of grief. (Don’t forget that the poem ends with the narrator’s soul lying on the floor!) The poem could be read as a cautionary tale: don’t go looking for signs and symbols from someone you’ve lost. Leave the dead alone.

And yet, if we glance at other literature, we’ll notice a pattern. Seeking messages from lost loved ones in the form of a bird is surprisingly commonplace. Perhaps it’s a universal human habit. The ancient Greeks took messages from birds and read the future that way. In contemporary literature, too, birds often appear in moments when someone seeks a message from the dead. (For a few examples, check out Evie Wyld’s The Bass Rock and Max Porter’s Grief Is the Thing With Feathers .) Poe, writing in a time when spiritual seances were gaining traction, understood that grief is more bearable when shared. Grief can contain hope. So while readers of “The Raven” may delight in its gloom, others who’ve felt grief may find solace in recognizing and sharing in the narrator’s sorrow.

What’s next?

We hope you enjoyed this article on “Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven”: Summary & Meaning.” For helpful guides to reading comprehension, essay writing skills, and more, visit our page on  High School Success . You’ll find links to other literary analyses, such as  The Lottery by Shirley Jackson ,  “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks  and  “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson .

• High School Success

Kaylen Baker

With a BA in Literary Studies from Middlebury College, an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University, and a Master’s in Translation from Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis, Kaylen has been working with students on their writing for over five years. Previously, Kaylen taught a fiction course for high school students as part of Columbia Artists/Teachers, and served as an English Language Assistant for the French National Department of Education. Kaylen is an experienced writer/translator whose work has been featured in Los Angeles Review, Hybrid, San Francisco Bay Guardian, France Today, and Honolulu Weekly, among others.

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A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Raven’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Why is a raven like a writing desk?’ This was the riddle posed by the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll ’s 1865 book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland . Probably the most famous solution proposed to this riddle (for the riddle has never been answered with a definitive solution) is: ‘Because Poe wrote on both.’ ‘The Raven’ is undoubtedly Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous poem.

It was first published under Poe’s name in January 1845, and has been popular ever since. It is the only literary work to inspire the name of a sporting team (the American Football team the Baltimore Ravens).

According to Poe himself, in a later work of literary analysis, if he hadn’t had a change of heart we might well be reading a poem called, not ‘The Raven’, but ‘The Parrot’. The poem is so famous, so widely anthologised, that perhaps a closer analysis of its features and language is necessary to strip away some of our preconceptions about it.

First, here is a summary of the poem.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore— While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. ‘’Tis some visitor,’ I muttered, ‘tapping at my chamber door— Only this and nothing more.’

The unnamed narrator (we can call him a narrator as ‘The Raven’ just about qualifies as a narrative poem) sits up late one December night, mourning the loss of his beloved, Lenore, when a raven appears at the window and speaks the repeated single word, ‘Nevermore’. The narrator starts to view the raven as some sort of prophet.

Throughout the poem, the narrator sits and ponders the meaning of the raven, and asks it questions, such as whether he will be see his beloved Lenore again in heaven, but the bird simply responds enigmatically each time, ‘Nevermore’. In the end, the narrator demands that the raven leave him alone, but it replies once again, ‘Nevermore.’

The poem ends:

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming, And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted—nevermore!

Poe credited two chief literary works in the genesis and composition of ‘The Raven’: he got the idea of the raven from Charles Dickens’s novel Barnaby Rudge (whose title character has a pet raven, Grip – the same name of Dickens’s own pet raven in real life), and he borrowed the metre for his poem from Elizabeth Barrett Browning ’s poem ‘Lady Geraldine’s Courtship’. Here is a stanza from Barrett Browning’s poem:

Dear my friend and fellow-student, I would lean my spirit o’er you: Down the purple of this chamber, tears should scarcely run at will: I am humbled who was humble! Friend,—I bow my head before you! You should lead me to my peasants!—but their faces are too still.

The metre of this poem, and of Poe’s ‘The Raven’, is relatively rare in English-language verse: trochaic octameter. (Trochaic because the stress falls on the first syllable in each foot, so ‘ Dear my friend and fell ow stu dent’, and ‘ Once up on a mid night drear y’; octameter because there are eight feet in each line, so ‘ Once up on a mid night drear y, while I pond ered, weak and wear y’.

But Poe added something to this rhythm, by including internal rhyme in each stanza of ‘The Raven’:

Once upon a midnight dreary , while I pondered, weak and weary , Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore— While I nodded, nearly napping , suddenly there came a tapping , As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. “’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door— Only this and nothing more.”

So although each stanza of ‘The Raven’ is rhymed abcbbb , with the ‘ore’ rhyme being constant throughout the poem, the a and c rhymes are complemented by a mid-line rhyme: dreary/weary , napping/tapping .

This makes ‘The Raven’ the perfect poem for reading aloud on a dark, wintry night – but it also arguably underscores the poem’s focus on speech, and on the talking raven that provides the refrain, and final word, of many of the poem’s stanzas. ‘Nevermore’ rhymes with the dead beloved of the poem’s narrator, Lenore, but it is also an inherently ‘poetic’ turn of phrase to end a poem (or successive stanzas of a poem): compare Hardy’s ‘never again’ , or Edward Thomas’s , or Tennyson’s ‘the days that are no more’ .

The word ‘Nevermore’, like ‘never again’ and ‘no more’, evokes finality, something gone from us that will not be regained: time, our youth, a lost lover. Whether Lenore in ‘The Raven’ is the narrator’s dead beloved – perhaps even his wife – is not spelt out in the poem, leaving us not so much to analyse as to speculate upon that point. But the broader point remains: a door has closed that will not be opened again.

As we mentioned at the beginning of this analysis, there is reason to believe that Poe originally planned to have a parrot, rather than a raven, utter the refrain ‘Nevermore’ in the poem. In his ‘ Philosophy of Composition ’, he wrote that in his mind there ‘arose the idea of a non-reasoning creature capable of speech; and very naturally, a parrot, in the first instance, suggested itself, but was superseded forthwith by a Raven, as equally capable of speech.’

Whether Poe was merely retrospectively having us on, or whether he was being genuine here, the parrot does seem the natural choice for a bird capable of mimicking human speech, and Poe implies that he soon dropped the idea of writing a poem called ‘The Parrot’. Ravens are closely associated with omens and with the dead: it had to be ‘The Raven’.

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5 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Raven’”

Many years ago, my mum had me make a recording reading “The Raven.” And I did the best I could as far as enunciating and pausing, etc. She was teaching art in K-8, and for the older grades she played the tape and they were always silent/enraptured listening and then they were to make a drawing of the Raven, or anything from their imagination inspired by the poem. Usually she did it around Halloween and she got some really interesting illustrations/interpretations.

What an inspiring teacher she must have been, you should be proud of her.

I read that Poe did not earn but a paltry sum for this famous work due to the lack of copyright laws. It is sad how much trauma he suffered throughout his life.

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Poe's Poetry

By edgar allan poe, poe's poetry summary and analysis of "the raven".

The unnamed narrator is wearily perusing an old book one bleak December night when he hears a tapping at the door to his room. He tells himself that it is merely a visitor, and he awaits tomorrow because he cannot find release in his sorrow over the death of Lenore . The rustling curtains frighten him, but he decides that it must be some late visitor and, going to the door, he asks for forgiveness from the visitor because he had been napping. However, when he opens the door, he sees and hears nothing except the word "Lenore," an echo of his own words.

Returning to his room, he again hears a tapping and reasons that it was probably the wind outside his window. When he opens the window, however, a raven enters and promptly perches "upon a bust of Pallas" above his door. Its grave appearance amuses the narrator, who asks it for its names. The raven responds, "Nevermore." He does not understand the reply, but the raven says nothing else until the narrator predicts aloud that it will leave him tomorrow like the rest of his friends. Then the bird again says, "Nevermore."

Startled, the narrator says that the raven must have learned this word from some unfortunate owner whose ill luck caused him to repeat the word frequently. Smiling, the narrator sits in front of the ominous raven to ponder about the meaning of its word. The raven continues to stare at him, as the narrator sits in the chair that Lenore will never again occupy. He then feels that angels have approached, and angrily calls the raven an evil prophet. He asks if there is respite in Gilead and if he will again see Lenore in Heaven, but the raven only responds, "Nevermore." In a fury, the narrator demands that the raven go back into the night and leave him alone again, but the raven says, "Nevermore," and it does not leave the bust of Pallas. The narrator feels that his soul will "nevermore" leave the raven's shadow.

" The Raven " is the most famous of Poe's poems, notable for its melodic and dramatic qualities. The meter of the poem is mostly trochaic octameter, with eight stressed-unstressed two-syllable feet per lines. Combined with the predominating ABCBBB end rhyme scheme and the frequent use of internal rhyme, the trochaic octameter and the refrain of "nothing more" and "nevermore" give the poem a musical lilt when read aloud. Poe also emphasizes the "O" sound in words such as "Lenore" and "nevermore" in order to underline the melancholy and lonely sound of the poem and to establish the overall atmosphere. Finally, the repetition of "nevermore" gives a circular sense to the poem and contributes to what Poe termed the unity of effect, where each word and line adds to the larger meaning of the poem.

The unnamed narrator appears in a typically Gothic setting with a lonely apartment, a dying fire, and a "bleak December" night while wearily studying his books in an attempt to distract himself from his troubles. He thinks occasionally of Lenore but is generally able to control his emotions, although the effort required to do so tires him and makes his words equally slow and outwardly pacified. However, over the course of the narrative, the protagonist becomes more and more agitated both in mind and in action, a progression that he demonstrates through his rationalizations and eventually through his increasingly exclamation-ridden monologue. In every stanza near the end, however, his exclamations are punctuated by the calm desolation of the sentence "Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore,'" reflecting the despair of his soul.

Like a number of Poe's poems such as "Ulalume" and " Annabel Lee ," "The Raven" refers to an agonized protagonist's memories of a deceased woman. Through poetry, Lenore's premature death is implicitly made aesthetic, and the narrator is unable to free himself of his reliance upon her memory. He asks the raven if there is "balm in Gilead" and therefore spiritual salvation, or if Lenore truly exists in the afterlife, but the raven confirms his worst suspicions by rejecting his supplications. The fear of death or of oblivion informs much of Poe's writing, and "The Raven" is one of his bleakest publications because it provides such a definitively negative answer. By contrast, when Poe uses the name Lenore in a similar situation in the poem "Lenore," the protagonist Guy de Vere concludes that he need not cry in his mourning because he is confident that he will meet Lenore in heaven.

Poe's choice of a raven as the bearer of ill news is appropriate for a number of reasons. Originally, Poe sought only a dumb beast that was capable of producing human-like sounds without understanding the words' meaning, and he claimed that earlier conceptions of "The Raven" included the use of a parrot. In this sense, the raven is important because it allows the narrator to be both the deliverer and interpreter of the sinister message, without the existence of a blatantly supernatural intervention. At the same time, the raven's black feather have traditionally been considered a magical sign of ill omen, and Poe may also be referring to Norse mythology, where the god Odin had two ravens named Hugin and Munin, which respectively meant "thought" and "memory." The narrator is a student and thus follows Hugin, but Munin continually interrupts his thoughts and in this case takes a physical form by landing on the bust of Pallas, which alludes to Athena, the Greek goddess of learning.

Due to the late hour of the poem's setting and to the narrator's mental turmoil, the poem calls the narrator's reliability into question. At first the narrator attempts to give his experiences a rational explanation, but by the end of the poem, he has ceased to give the raven any interpretation beyond that which he invents in his own head. The raven thus serves as a fragment of his soul and as the animal equivalent of Psyche in the poem "Ulalume." Each figure represents its respective character's subconscious that instinctively understands his need to obsess and to mourn. As in "Ulalume," the protagonist is unable to avoid the recollection of his beloved, but whereas Psyche of "Ulalume" sought to prevent the unearthing of painful memories, the raven actively stimulates his thoughts of Lenore, and he effectively causes his own fate through the medium of a non-sentient animal.

Poe’s Poetry Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Poe’s Poetry is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

1. In the context of this poem, can we control our fate? What does the narrator in the poem think about his fate and life in general? Is this a valid perspective? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in

Poem title, please?

What is the narrator doing?

The unnamed narrator is wearily perusing an old book one bleak December night when he hears a tapping at the door to his room.

in line 4, science is seen as a vulture because ....... A) it hunts diana in the skies B) it preys on the Hamadryad C) it preys on the poet's creative imagination D) it hunts down scientific facts

C) it preys on the poet's creative imagination

Study Guide for Poe’s Poetry

Poe's Poetry study guide contains a biography of Edgar Poe, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Poe's Poetry
• Poe's Poetry Summary
• The Raven Video
• Character List

Essays for Poe’s Poetry

Poe's Poetry essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Poe's Poetry by Edgar Allan Poe.

• The Role of Confession in Poe's Poetry
• Two Poets, One Poetic Vision: The Edgar Allan Poe/Thomas Hardy Alliance
• Poe's Pointers for Perfection
• Death and Creation in Poe's "Ligeia"
• Lost in a Dream

Lesson Plan for Poe’s Poetry

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Poe's Poetry
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Poe's Poetry Bibliography

E-Text of Poe’s Poetry

Poe's Poetry e-text contains the full texts of select works of Poe's Poetry.

• Table of Contents
• Poems of Later Life: The Raven
• Poems of Later Life: The Bells

Wikipedia Entries for Poe’s Poetry

• Introduction

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• Literature Guides
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Edgar Allan Poe

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Raven: Introduction

The raven: plot summary, the raven: detailed summary & analysis, the raven: themes, the raven: quotes, the raven: characters, the raven: symbols, the raven: literary devices, the raven: quiz, the raven: theme wheel, brief biography of edgar allan poe.

Historical Context of The Raven

Other books related to the raven.

• Full Title: The Raven
• When Written: January 29th, 1845
• Where Written: Unknown
• When Published: January 29th, 1845 in the New York Evening Mirror
• Literary Period: Romantic, Early Victorians
• Genre: Narrative poem
• Setting: The narrator’s home on a midnight in December
• Climax: As the narrator tells us at the conclusion of the poem, the Raven remains in his home, possibly forever.
• Antagonist: The Raven
• Point of View: The poem is told from the point of view of the narrator.

Extra Credit for The Raven

Archrival. Poe and literary critic Rufus Griswold were often in literary conflict. Griswold had the last word, writing an obituary of Poe that portrayed the author as an insane alcoholic.

Harsh critic . Poe had a reputation for condemning other writers in his reviews — notably, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, whom Poe accused of being a plagiarist.

• Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.