The Raven

            American writer named Edgar Allen Poe wrote "The Raven", a poem baring similarities to his life. Poe was born in 1811 in Boston, Massachusetts. He joined the army, but was court-martialed for neglect of his duty. He turned to writing after he left the army. Failing to make a living by writing, he became addicted to alcohol. Unfortunately, in 1847 he suffered the loss of his wife. Indeed, the theme of loss, which pervades much of his work, can be linked to events of personal tragedy in his own life. .
             "The Raven" dates from 1844 and presents an odd prophecy of a man who has lost his love, "the rare and radiant maiden whom the angles named Lenore"(377). Far from being a tale of horror, it is a poem of haunting poetic beauty, "Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore- Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"(379). This type of tone is found allover the poem as beautiful as the words might seem the paint a gloomy picture in the readers mind. .
             In the poem "The Raven", the tone taken by the author is of a dreary, dark place where a man is trying to find hope and possible closure through the symbolism of a mystical bird, which enters his home and perches itself on a bust of the goddess of wisdom named Pallas. The raven appears as a metaphorical symbol representative of the memories of the narrator's loss. Additionally, the raven represents the impossibilities of Lenore's return that is the narrator's wife. One can see this when the narrator ask the raven "Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore-"(381) and the raven answers him "nevermore".
             One can see throughout the stanzas how the author is painting tone of a man who is becomes maddened by the loss of his beloved Lenore and the bird perched above his chamber door. The narrator can be seen repeat asking the raven question a pond question to quench his thrust for hope and closure, but the raven answer him almost mocking him with the words "nevermore".