"The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in January 1845. Poe explained in his 1846 follow-up essay, "The Philosophy of Composition", that the poem makes use of folk, mythological, religious, and classical references. He based the complex rhythm and meter on Elizabeth Barrett's poem "Lady Geraldine's Courtship" and utilized internal rhyme and alliteration throughout. Inspired in part by a talking raven in Charles Dickens' novel "Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty," "The Raven" follows an unnamed narrator on a dreary night in December.
The narrator sits reading "forgotten lore" by the remains of a fire to forget the death of his beloved Lenore. A "tapping at [his] chamber door" reveals nothing but excites his soul to "burning." The poem was first attributed to Poe in print in the New York Evening Mirror on January 29, 1845. The narrator becomes angry, calling the raven a "thing of evil" and a "prophet". He asks the raven whether he will be reunited with Lenore in Heaven, and the raven responds with its typical "Nevermore." Poe wrote the poem as a narrative without intentional allegory or didacticism. Christopher F. S. Maligec suggests the poem is a type of elegiac paraclausithyron, an ancient Greek and Roman poetic form consisting of the lament of an excluded, locked-out lover at the sealed door of his beloved.
Poe says that the narrator is a young scholar, though this is not explicitly stated in the poem, but is mentioned in "The Philosophy of Composition." The poem consists of 18 six-line stanzas; the first five lines of each are written in trochaic octameter, the sixth in trochaic tetrameter. The rhyme pattern, abcbbb, enhances the gloom of the lyric; the b rhymes are, or rhyme with, "Lenore" and "Nevermore." Poe's 1846 essay "The Philosophy of Composition" describes his careful crafting of the poem.
The main theme of Poe's "The Raven" is grief versus memory. His poetry wasn't especially popular during his lifetime, but "The Raven" was among the few of Poe's poems to grab the attention of his contemporaries, as well as future poetry lovers. "The Raven" has been referenced and parodied countless times over the 150 years since its publication. Poe's raven and lyrics have appeared in books, movies, television shows, magazines, cartoons, and even professional wrestling. The Joker in 1989's Batman quotes the narrator of the poem, and "The Gilmore Girls," "Calvin & Hobbs," and "Mad Magazine" pay homage to the Dark Romantic poet.
Even "The Simpsons," in their first-ever "Treehouse of Horror" episode, provided their version of "The Raven," complete with a lovesick Homer and Bart-headed raven. According to an essay, Poe wrote "The Raven" in hopes of appealing to both critics and commoners, resulting in a spooky poem chock-full of symbolism and literary effects.
In "The Raven," the symbol is obvious. Poe himself meant the Raven to symbolize "mournful, never-ending remembrance." The narrator's sorrow for his lost, perfect maiden Lenore is the driving force behind his conversation with the Raven. "The Raven" is one of the most well-known poems ever written, bringing its author worldwide fame and frequently analyzed, performed, and parodied.
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