
"The Raven" is a
narrative poem
Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need to rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may ...
by American writer
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...
. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language and
supernatural
Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...
atmosphere. It tells of a distraught lover who is paid a visit by a mysterious
raven
A raven is any of several large-bodied passerine bird species in the genus '' Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between crows and ravens; the two names are assigne ...
that repeatedly
speaks a single word. The lover, often identified as a student,
[Meyers, 163][Silverman, 239] is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. Sitting on a
bust of
Pallas
Pallas may refer to:
Astronomy
* 2 Pallas asteroid
** Pallas family, a group of asteroids that includes 2 Pallas
* Pallas (crater), a crater on Earth's moon
Mythology
* Pallas (Giant), a son of Uranus and Gaia, killed and flayed by Athena
* Pa ...
, the raven seems to further antagonize the protagonist with its repetition of the word "
nevermore
Nevermore is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1992. The band was formed after three of its members — vocalist Warrel Dane, bassist Jim Sheppard and guitarist Jeff Loomis — ended their prev ...
". The poem makes use of
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk horror
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Fo ...
,
mythological
Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...
, religious, and
classical references.
Poe stated that he composed the poem in a logical and methodical manner, aiming to craft a piece that would resonate with both critical and popular audiences, as he elaborated in his follow-up essay in 1846, "
The Philosophy of Composition
"The Philosophy of Composition" is an 1846 essay written by American writer Edgar Allan Poe that elucidates a theory about how good writers write when they write well. He concludes that length, "unity of effect" and a logical method are important ...
". The poem was inspired in part by a talking raven in the 1841 novel ''
Barnaby Rudge
''Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty'' (commonly known as ''Barnaby Rudge'') is a historical novel by English novelist Charles Dickens. ''Barnaby Rudge'' was one of two novels (the other was ''The Old Curiosity Shop'') that Dickens pub ...
'' by
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
.
[Kopley & Hayes, 192] Poe based the complex rhythm and
meter
The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...
on
Elizabeth Barrett
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime and frequently anthologised after her death. Her work receiv ...
's poem "Lady Geraldine's Courtship" and made use of
internal rhyme
In poetry, internal rhyme, or middle rhyme, is rhyme that occurs within a single line of verse, or between internal phrases across multiple lines. By contrast, rhyme between line endings is known as end rhyme.
Internal rhyme schemes can be denote ...
as well as
alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of syllable-initial consonant sounds between nearby words, or of syllable-initial vowels if the syllables in question do not start with a consonant. It is often used as a literary device. A common example is " Pe ...
throughout.
"The Raven" was first attributed to Poe in print in the ''
New York Evening Mirror
The ''New-York Mirror'' was a weekly newspaper published in New York City from ''1823 to 1842''. Founded by George Pope Morris and Samuel Woodworth, it was a prominent publication that focused on literature, the fine arts, and local news. It pla ...
'' on January 29, 1845. Its publication made Poe popular in his lifetime, although it did not bring him much financial success. The poem was soon reprinted,
parodied
A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satirical or ironic imitation. Often its subject is an original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, etc), but a parody can also b ...
, and illustrated. Critical opinion is divided as to the poem's literary status, but it nevertheless remains one of the most famous poems ever written.
[Silverman, 237]
Synopsis

"The Raven" follows an unnamed narrator on a dreary night in December who sits reading "forgotten lore" by the remains of a fire
[Poe, 773] as a way to forget the death of his beloved Lenore. A "tapping at
ischamber door"
reveals nothing, but excites his soul to "burning".
[Poe, 774] The tapping is repeated, slightly louder, and he realizes it is coming from his window. When he goes to investigate, a raven flutters into his chamber. Paying no attention to the man, the raven perches on a
bust of
Pallas
Pallas may refer to:
Astronomy
* 2 Pallas asteroid
** Pallas family, a group of asteroids that includes 2 Pallas
* Pallas (crater), a crater on Earth's moon
Mythology
* Pallas (Giant), a son of Uranus and Gaia, killed and flayed by Athena
* Pa ...
above the door.
Amused by the raven's comically serious disposition, the man asks that the bird tell him its name. The raven's only answer is "Nevermore".
The narrator is surprised that the raven can talk, though at this point it has said nothing further. The narrator remarks to himself that his "friend" the raven will soon fly out of his life, just as "other friends have flown before"
along with his previous hopes. As if answering, the raven responds again with "Nevermore".
The narrator reasons that the bird learned the word "Nevermore" from some "unhappy master" and that it is the only word it knows.
Even so, the narrator pulls his chair directly in front of the raven, determined to learn more about it. He thinks for a moment in silence, and his mind wanders back to his lost Lenore. He thinks the air grows denser and feels the presence of angels, and wonders if God is sending him a sign that he is to forget Lenore. The bird again replies in the negative, suggesting that he can never be free of his memories. The narrator becomes angry, calling the raven a "thing of evil" and a "
prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...
".
[Poe, 775] Finally, he asks the raven whether he will be reunited with Lenore in Heaven. When the raven responds with its typical "Nevermore", he is enraged, and, calling the bird a liar, commands it to return to the "
Plutonian Plutonian may refer to:
*Plutonian, of or relating to the astronomical object Pluto
*The Plutonian, a character in ''Irredeemable''
*A mineral from Pluto (as well as a species) on the TV series "Rick and Morty
''Rick and Morty'' is an Americ ...
shore"
—but it does not move. At the time of the poem's narration, the raven "still is sitting"
on the bust of Pallas. The raven casts a shadow on the chamber floor and the despondent narrator laments that out of this shadow his soul shall be "lifted 'nevermore.
Analysis
Poe wrote the poem as a narrative, without intentional
allegory
As a List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...
or
didacticism
Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasises instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is a conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to explain.
...
.
[Silverman, 239] The main theme of the poem is one of undying devotion. The narrator experiences a
perverse conflict between desire to forget and desire to remember. He seems to get some pleasure from focusing on loss.
[Kopley & Hayes, 194] The narrator assumes that the word "Nevermore" is the raven's "only stock and store", and, yet, he continues to ask it questions, knowing what the answer will be. His questions, then, are purposely self-deprecating and further incite his feelings of loss. Poe leaves it unclear whether the raven actually knows what it is saying or whether it really intends to cause a reaction in the poem's narrator. The narrator begins as "weak and weary", becomes regretful and grief-stricken, before passing into a frenzy and, finally, madness. Christopher F. S. Maligec suggests the poem is a type of
elegiac
The adjective ''elegiac'' has two possible meanings. First, it can refer to something of, relating to, or involving, an elegy or something that expresses similar mournfulness or sorrow. Second, it can refer more specifically to poetry composed in ...
paraclausithyron Paraklausithyron () is a motif in Greek and especially Augustan love elegy, as well as in troubadour poetry.
The details of the Greek etymology are uncertain, but it is generally accepted to mean "lament beside a door", from παρακλαίω, ...
, an ancient Greek and Roman poetic form consisting of the lament of an excluded, locked-out lover at the sealed door of his beloved.
Allusions

Poe says that the narrator is a young
scholar
A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...
.
[Sova, 208] Though this is not explicitly stated in the poem, it is mentioned in "
The Philosophy of Composition
"The Philosophy of Composition" is an 1846 essay written by American writer Edgar Allan Poe that elucidates a theory about how good writers write when they write well. He concludes that length, "unity of effect" and a logical method are important ...
". It is also suggested by the narrator reading books of "lore" as well as by the bust of
Pallas Athena
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress o ...
, Greek goddess of wisdom.
[Meyers, 163]
He is reading in the late night hours from "many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore".
Similar to the studies suggested in Poe's short story "
Ligeia
"Ligeia" () is an early short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1838. The story follows an unnamed narrator and his wife Ligeia, a beautiful and intelligent raven-haired woman. She falls ill, composes " The Conqueror W ...
", this lore may be about the
occult
The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...
or
black magic
Black magic (Middle English: ''nigromancy''), sometimes dark magic, traditionally refers to the use of Magic (paranormal), magic or supernatural powers for evil and selfish purposes.
The links and interaction between black magic and religi ...
. This is also emphasized in the author's choice to set the poem in December, a month which is traditionally associated with the forces of darkness. The use of the raven—the "devil bird"—also suggests this. This devil image is emphasized by the narrator's belief that the raven is "from the Night's Plutonian shore", or a messenger from the afterlife, referring to
Pluto
Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...
, the
Roman god
Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the Latin literature, literature and Roman art, visual arts of the Romans, and is a form of Roman folklore. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these ...
of the
underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld.
...
.
[
Poe chose a raven as the central symbol in the story because he wanted a "non-reasoning" creature capable of speech. He decided on a raven, which he considered "equally capable of speech" as a parrot, because it matched the intended tone of the poem.][Hirsch, 195] Poe said the raven is meant to symbolize "''Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance''". He was also inspired by Grip, the raven in '' Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty'' by Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
. One scene in particular bears a resemblance to "The Raven": at the end of the fifth chapter of Dickens's novel, Grip makes a noise and someone says, "What was that—him tapping at the door?" The response is, Tis someone knocking softly at the shutter." Dickens's raven could speak many words and had many comic turns, including the popping of a champagne cork, but Poe emphasized the bird's more dramatic qualities. Poe had written a review of ''Barnaby Rudge'' for ''Graham's Magazine
''Graham's Magazine'' was a nineteenth-century periodical based in Philadelphia established by George Rex Graham and published from 1840 to 1858. It was alternatively referred to as ''Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine'' (1841–1842, and J ...
'' saying, among other things, that the raven should have served a more symbolic, prophetic purpose. The similarity did not go unnoticed: James Russell Lowell
James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets to r ...
in his ''A Fable for Critics
''A Fable for Critics'' is a book-length satirical poem by American writer James Russell Lowell, first published anonymously in 1848. The poem made fun of well-known poets and critics of the time and brought notoriety to its author.
Overview
The ...
'' wrote the verse, "Here comes Poe with his raven, like ''Barnaby Rudge''/ Three-fifths of him genius and two-fifths sheer fudge." The Free Library of Philadelphia
The Free Library of Philadelphia is the public library system that serves the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the 16th-largest public library system in the United States. The Free Library of Philadelphia is a non-Mayoral agency of the ...
has on display a taxidermied raven that is reputed to be the very one that Dickens owned and that helped inspire Poe's poem.
Poe may also have been drawing upon various references to ravens in mythology
Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...
and folklore
Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...
. In Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
, Odin
Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...
possessed two ravens named Huginn and Muninn
In Norse mythology, Huginn and Muninn ( or ; roughly "mind and will" – ''see '') are a pair of common raven, ravens that serve under the god Odin and fly all over the world, Midgard, and bring information to the god Odin. Huginn and Muninn are ...
, representing thought and memory.[Adams, 53] According to Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
folklore, Noah
Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...
sends a white raven to check conditions while on the ark. It learns that the floodwaters are beginning to dissipate, but it does not immediately return with the news. It is punished by being turned black and being forced to feed on carrion
Carrion (), also known as a carcass, is the decaying flesh of dead animals.
Overview
Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters (or scavengers) include crows, vultures ...
forever. In Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...
's ''Metamorphoses
The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...
'', a raven also begins as white before Apollo
Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...
punishes it by turning it black for delivering a message of a lover's unfaithfulness. The raven's role as a messenger in Poe's poem may draw from those stories.
Poe mentions the Balm of Gilead
Balm of Gilead was a rare perfume used medicinally that was mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and named for the region of Gilead, where it was produced. The expression stems from William Tyndale's language in the King James Bible of 1611 and has ...
, a reference to the Book of Jeremiah
The Book of Jeremiah () is the second of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and the second of the Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. The superscription at chapter Jeremiah 1#Superscription, Jeremiah 1:1–3 identifies the book as "th ...
(8:22) in the Bible: "Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" In that context, the Balm of Gilead is a resin
A resin is a solid or highly viscous liquid that can be converted into a polymer. Resins may be biological or synthetic in origin, but are typically harvested from plants. Resins are mixtures of organic compounds, predominantly terpenes. Commo ...
used for medicinal purposes (suggesting, perhaps, that the narrator needs to be healed after the loss of Lenore). In 1 Kings 17:1–5 Elijah
Elijah ( ) or Elias was a prophet and miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible.
In 1 Kings 18, Elijah defended the worsh ...
is said to be from Gilead
Gilead or Gilad (, ; ''Gilʿāḏ'', , ''Jalʻād'') is the ancient, historic, biblical name of the mountainous northern part of the region of Transjordan.''Easton's Bible Dictionary'Galeed''/ref> The region is bounded in the west by the J ...
, and to have been fed by ravens during a period of drought.
Poetic structure
The poem is made up of 18 stanza
In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'', ; ) is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have either. ...
s of six lines each. Generally, the meter is trochaic octameter—eight trochaic feet per line, each foot having one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable.[ The first line, for example (with ´ marking stressed syllables and ˘ marking unstressed):
Poe, however, claimed the poem was a combination of ]octameter
Octameter in poetry is a line of eight metrical feet. It is not very common in English verse. E.g.: -
''Trochaic''
:Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary
:Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore-
:While I ...
acatalectic, heptameter
Heptameter is a type of meter where each line of verse contains seven metrical feet.Harmon, William, and Hugh Holman. ''A Handbook to Literature.'' Eleventh ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-Prentice Hall, 2009. 264. It was used frequently in Cl ...
catalectic
A catalectic line is a metrically incomplete line of verse, lacking a syllable at the end or ending with an incomplete foot. One form of catalexis is headlessness, where the unstressed syllable is dropped from the beginning of the line.
A line ...
, and tetrameter
In poetry, a tetrameter is a line of four metrical feet. However, the particular foot can vary, as follows:
* '' Anapestic tetrameter:''
** "And the ''sheen'' of their ''spears'' was like ''stars'' on the ''sea''" (Lord Byron, " The Destruction ...
catalectic.[ The ]rhyme scheme
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other.
An example of the ABAB rh ...
is ABCBBB, or AA,B,CC,CB,B,B when accounting for internal rhyme
In poetry, internal rhyme, or middle rhyme, is rhyme that occurs within a single line of verse, or between internal phrases across multiple lines. By contrast, rhyme between line endings is known as end rhyme.
Internal rhyme schemes can be denote ...
. In every stanza, the "B" lines rhyme with the word "nevermore" and are catalectic, placing extra emphasis on the final syllable. The poem also makes heavy use of alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of syllable-initial consonant sounds between nearby words, or of syllable-initial vowels if the syllables in question do not start with a consonant. It is often used as a literary device. A common example is " Pe ...
("Doubting, dreaming dreams ..."). Twentieth-century American poet Daniel Hoffman
Daniel Gerard Hoffman (April 3, 1923 – March 30, 2013) was an American poet, essayist, and academic. He was appointed the twenty-second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1973.
Early life and education
Hoffman wa ...
suggested that the poem's structure and meter is so formulaic that it is artificial, though its mesmeric quality overrides that.
Poe based the structure of "The Raven" on the complicated rhyme and rhythm of Elizabeth Barrett
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime and frequently anthologised after her death. Her work receiv ...
's poem "Lady Geraldine's Courtship".[ Poe had reviewed Barrett's work in the January 1845 issue of the '']Broadway Journal
The ''Broadway Journal'' was a short-lived New York City-based newspaper founded by Charles Frederick Briggs and John Bisco in 1844 and was published from January 1845 to January 1846. In its first year, the publication was bought by Edgar Allan ...
'' and said that "her poetic inspiration is the highest—we can conceive of nothing more august. Her sense of Art is pure in itself."[Meyers, 160] As is typical with Poe, his review also criticizes her lack of originality and what he considers the repetitive nature of some of her poetry. About "Lady Geraldine's Courtship", he said "I have never read a poem combining so much of the fiercest passion with so much of the most delicate imagination."[
]
Publication history
Poe first brought "The Raven" to his friend and former employer George Rex Graham of ''Graham's Magazine
''Graham's Magazine'' was a nineteenth-century periodical based in Philadelphia established by George Rex Graham and published from 1840 to 1858. It was alternatively referred to as ''Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine'' (1841–1842, and J ...
'' in Philadelphia. Graham declined the poem, which may not have been in its final version, though he gave Poe $15 () as charity. Poe then sold the poem to '' The American Review'', which paid him $9 () for it, and printed "The Raven" in its February 1845 issue under the pseudonym "Quarles", a reference to the English poet Francis Quarles
Francis Quarles (about 8 May 1592 – 8 September 1644) was an English poet most notable for his emblem book entitled ''Emblems''.
Early life
Francis Quarles was born in Romford, Essex, and baptised there on 8 May 1592. His family had a long his ...
. The poem's first publication with Poe's name was in the ''Evening Mirror'' on January 29, 1845, as an "advance copy".[ ]Nathaniel Parker Willis
Nathaniel Parker Willis (January 20, 1806 – January 20, 1867), also known as N. P. Willis,Baker, 3 was an American writer, poet and editor who worked with several notable American writers including Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfello ...
, editor of the ''Mirror'', introduced it as "unsurpassed in English poetry for subtle conception, masterly ingenuity of versification, and consistent, sustaining of imaginative lift ... It will stick to the memory of everybody who reads it."[ Following this publication the poem appeared in periodicals across the United States, including the '']New York Tribune
The ''New-York Tribune'' (from 1914: ''New York Tribune'') was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s ...
'' (February 4, 1845), ''Broadway Journal
The ''Broadway Journal'' was a short-lived New York City-based newspaper founded by Charles Frederick Briggs and John Bisco in 1844 and was published from January 1845 to January 1846. In its first year, the publication was bought by Edgar Allan ...
'' (vol. 1, February 8, 1845), ''Southern Literary Messenger
The ''Southern Literary Messenger'' was a periodical published in Richmond, Virginia, from August 1834 to June 1864, and from 1939 to 1945. Each issue carried a subtitle of "Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts" or some va ...
'' (vol. 11, March 1845), ''Literary Emporium'' (vol. 2, December 1845), ''Saturday Courier'', 16 (July 25, 1846), and the ''Richmond Examiner
The ''Richmond Examiner'', a newspaper which was published before and during the American Civil War under the masthead of ''Daily Richmond Examiner'', was one of the newspapers published in the Confederate capital of Richmond. Its editors viewe ...
'' (September 25, 1849).
The immediate success of "The Raven" prompted Wiley and Putnam to publish a collection of Poe's prose called ''Tales'' in June 1845; it was his first book in five years. They also published a collection of his poetry called ''The Raven and Other Poems'' on November 19 which included a dedication to Barrett as "the Noblest of her Sex".[Thomas & Jackson, 591] The small volume, his first book of poetry in 14 years,[Peeples, 136] was 100 pages and sold for 31 cents. In addition to the title poem, it included "The Valley of Unrest", "Bridal Ballad", " The City in the Sea", "Eulalie
"Eulalie", or "Eulalie — A Song", is a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the July 1845 issue of '' The American Review'' and reprinted shortly thereafter in the August 9, 1845 issue of the ''Broadway Journal''.
Summary
The poem is a ...
", "The Conqueror Worm
"The Conqueror Worm" is a poem by Edgar Allan Poe about human mortality and the inevitability of death. It was first published separately in ''Graham's Magazine'' in 1843, but quickly became associated with Poe's short story " Ligeia" after Poe ...
", "The Haunted Palace
''The Haunted Palace'' is a 1963 Gothic fantasy horror film released by American International Pictures, starring Vincent Price, Lon Chaney Jr. and Debra Paget (in her final film), in a story about a village held in the grip of a dead necroman ...
" and 11 others. In the preface, Poe referred to them as "trifles" which had been altered without his permission as they made "the rounds of the press".[
]
Illustrators
Later publications of "The Raven" included artwork by well-known illustrators. Notably, in 1858 "The Raven" appeared in a British Poe anthology with illustrations by John Tenniel
John Tenniel (; 28 February 182025 February 1914) was an English illustrator, graphic humourist and political cartoonist prominent in the second half of the 19th century. An alumnus of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, he was knight bachelor ...
, the ''Alice in Wonderland
''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...
'' illustrator (''The Poetical Works of Edgar Allan Poe: With Original Memoir'', London: Sampson Low). "The Raven" was published independently with lavish woodcut
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...
s by Gustave Doré
Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré ( , , ; 6January 1832 – 23January 1883) was a French printmaker, illustrator, painter, comics artist, caricaturist, and sculptor. He is best known for his prolific output of wood-engravings illustrati ...
in 1884 (New York: Harper & Brothers). Doré died before its publication. In 1875, a French edition with English and French text, ''Le Corbeau'', was published with lithographs
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
by Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...
and translation by the symbolist
Symbolism or symbolist may refer to:
*Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea
Arts
*Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea
** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...
poet Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French Symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools o ...
. Many 20th-century artists and contemporary illustrators created artworks and illustrations based on "The Raven", including Edmund Dulac
Edmund Dulac (born Edmond Dulac; 22 October 1882 – 25 May 1953) was a French-British naturalised magazine illustrator, book illustrator and stamp designer. Born in Toulouse, he studied law but later turned to the study of art at the Écol ...
, István Orosz
István Orosz (born 24 October 1951) is a Hungarian painter, printmaker, graphic designer and animated film director. He is known for his mathematically inspired works, impossible objects, optical illusions, double-meaning images and anamorphose ...
, and Ryan Price.
Composition
Poe capitalized on the success of "The Raven" by following it up with his essay "The Philosophy of Composition
"The Philosophy of Composition" is an 1846 essay written by American writer Edgar Allan Poe that elucidates a theory about how good writers write when they write well. He concludes that length, "unity of effect" and a logical method are important ...
" (1846), in which he detailed the poem's creation. His description of its writing is probably exaggerated, though the essay serves as an important overview of Poe's literary theory
Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, m ...
. He explains that every component of the poem is based on logic: the raven enters the chamber to avoid a storm (the "midnight dreary" in the "bleak December"), and its perch on a pallid white bust was to create visual contrast against the dark black bird. No aspect of the poem was an accident, he claims, but is based on total control by the author. Even the term "Nevermore", he says, is used because of the effect created by the long vowel sounds (though Poe may have been inspired to use the word by the works of Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...
or Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp ...
). Poe had experimented with the long ''o'' sound throughout many other poems: "no more" in "Silence
Silence is the absence of ambient hearing, audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low sound intensity, intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be exten ...
", "evermore" in "The Conqueror Worm
"The Conqueror Worm" is a poem by Edgar Allan Poe about human mortality and the inevitability of death. It was first published separately in ''Graham's Magazine'' in 1843, but quickly became associated with Poe's short story " Ligeia" after Poe ...
".[ The topic itself, Poe says, was chosen because "the death ... of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world." Told from "the lips ... of a bereaved lover" is best suited to achieve the desired effect.][ Beyond the poetics of it, the lost Lenore may have been inspired by events in Poe's own life as well, either to the early loss of his mother, ]Eliza Poe
Eliza Poe ( Elizabeth Arnold; formerly Hopkins; 1787 – December 8, 1811) was an English-American actress and the mother of the American author Edgar Allan Poe.
Early life
Arnold was born to Henry and Elizabeth Arnold in London in the spr ...
, or the long illness endured by his wife, Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
.[ Ultimately, Poe considered "The Raven" an experiment to "suit at once the popular and critical taste", accessible to both the mainstream and high literary worlds.][ It is unknown how long Poe worked on "The Raven"; speculation ranges from a single day to ten years. Poe recited a poem believed to be an early version with an alternate ending of "The Raven" in 1843 in Saratoga, New York.][ An early draft may have featured an owl.
In the summer of 1844, when the poem was likely written, Poe, his wife, and mother-in-law were boarding at the farmhouse of Patrick Brennan in New York. The location of the house, which was demolished in 1888,] has been a disputed point and, while there are two different plaques marking its supposed location on West 84th Street, it most likely stood where 206 West 84th Street is now.[
]
Critical reception
In part due to its dual printing, "The Raven" made Edgar Allan Poe a household name almost immediately,[Hoffman, 80] and turned Poe into a national celebrity. Readers began to identify poem with poet, earning Poe the nickname "The Raven".[Silverman, 238] The poem was soon widely reprinted, imitated, and parodied
A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satirical or ironic imitation. Often its subject is an original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, etc), but a parody can also b ...
.[ Though it made Poe popular in his day, it did not bring him significant financial success. As he later lamented, "I have made no money. I am as poor now as ever I was in my life—except in hope, which is by no means bankable".][
'' The New World'' said, "Everyone reads the Poem and praises it ... justly, we think, for it seems to us full of originality and power."][ '' The Pennsylvania Inquirer'' reprinted it with the heading "A Beautiful Poem".][ Elizabeth Barrett wrote to Poe, "Your 'Raven' has produced a sensation, a fit o' horror, here in England. Some of my friends are taken by the fear of it and some by the music. I hear of persons haunted by 'Nevermore'." Poe's popularity resulted in invitations to recite "The Raven" and to lecture—in public and at private social gatherings. At one literary ]salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon
A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...
, a guest noted, "to hear oerepeat the Raven ... is an event in one's life." It was recalled by someone who experienced it, "He would turn down the lamps till the room was almost dark, then standing in the center of the apartment he would recite ... in the most melodious of voices ... So marvelous was his power as a reader that the auditors would be afraid to draw breath lest the enchanted spell be broken."
Parodies sprang up especially in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia and included "The Craven" by "Poh!", "The Gazelle", "The Whippoorwill", and "The Turkey".[ One parody, "The Pole-Cat", caught the attention of Andrew Johnston, a lawyer who sent it on to ]Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
. Though Lincoln admitted he had "several hearty laughs", he had not, at that point read "The Raven". However, Lincoln eventually read and memorized the poem.
"The Raven" was praised by fellow writers William Gilmore Simms
William Gilmore Simms (April 17, 1806 – June 11, 1870) was a poet, novelist, politician and historian from the American South. His writings achieved great prominence during the 19th century, with Edgar Allan Poe pronouncing him the best novelis ...
and Margaret Fuller
Sarah Margaret Fuller (May 23, 1810 – July 19, 1850), sometimes referred to as Margaret Fuller Ossoli, was an American journalist, editor, critic, translator, and women's rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movemen ...
, though it was denounced by William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th century in literature, 20th-century literature. He was ...
, who called it "insincere and vulgar ... its execution a rhythmical trick".[ Transcendentalist ]Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...
said, "I see nothing in it." A critic for the '' Southern Quarterly Review'' wrote in July 1848 that the poem was ruined by "a wild and unbridled extravagance" and that minor things like a tapping at the door and a fluttering curtain would only affect "a child who had been frightened to the verge of idiocy by terrible ghost stories". An anonymous writer going by the pseudonym "Outis" suggested in the ''New York Evening Mirror
The ''New-York Mirror'' was a weekly newspaper published in New York City from ''1823 to 1842''. Founded by George Pope Morris and Samuel Woodworth, it was a prominent publication that focused on literature, the fine arts, and local news. It pla ...
'' that "The Raven" was plagiarized
Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of anothe ...
from a poem called "The Bird of the Dream" by an unnamed author. The writer, who wrote the article as a response to Poe's accusations of plagiarism against Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, showed 18 similarities between the poems. It has been suggested Outis was really Cornelius Conway Felton
Cornelius Conway Felton (November 6, 1807 – February 26, 1862) was an American educator. He was regent of the Smithsonian Institution, as well as professor of Greek literature and president of Harvard University.
Early life
Felton was born in ...
, if not Poe himself. After Poe's death, his friend Thomas Holley Chivers
Thomas Holley Chivers (October 18, 1809 – December 18, 1858) was an American doctor-turned-poet from the state of Georgia. He is best known for his friendship with Edgar Allan Poe and his controversial defense of the poet after his death.
Bo ...
said "The Raven" was plagiarized from one of his poems. In particular, he claimed to have been the inspiration for the meter of the poem as well as the refrain "nevermore".
"The Raven" became one of the most popular targets for literary translators in Hungary; more than a dozen poets rendered it into Hungarian, including Mihály Babits
Mihály Babits (; 26 November 1883 – 4 August 1941) was a Hungarian poet, writer, essayist, and translator. His poems are well known for their intense religious themes. His novels such as “The Children of Death” (1927) explore psychol ...
, Dezső Kosztolányi
Dezső Kosztolányi (; March 29, 1885 – November 3, 1936) was a Hungarian writer, journalist, translator, and also a speaker of Esperanto. He wrote in all literary genres, from poetry to essays to theatre plays. Building his own style, he used ...
, Árpád Tóth
Árpád Tóth (14 April 1886 – 7 November 1928) was a Hungarian poet and translator.
Tóth went to secondary school (gymnasium) in Debrecen and then studied German and Hungarian at the University of Budapest. In 1907, his poems began t ...
,[Selected Works of E. A. Poe](_blank)
in the Hungarian Electronic Library and György Faludy
György Faludy (September 22, 1910 – September 1, 2006; ), sometimes anglicized as George Faludy, was a Hungarian poet, writer and translator.
Life
Travels, vicissitudes, and remembrance
Faludy completed his schooling in the Fasori Ev ...
. Balázs Birtalan wrote its paraphrasis
A paraphrase () or rephrase is the rendering of the same text in different words without losing the meaning of the text itself. More often than not, a paraphrased text can convey its meaning better than the original words. In other words, it is a ...
from the raven's point of view.
Legacy
"The Raven" has influenced many modern works, including Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...
's ''Lolita
''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The protagonist and narrator is a French literature professor who moves to New England and writes under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert. He details his obsession ...
'' in 1955, Bernard Malamud
Bernard Malamud (April 26, 1914 – March 18, 1986) was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Norman Mailer and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish ...
's " The Jewbird" in 1963 and Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury ( ; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, Horror fiction, horr ...
's " The Parrot Who Met Papa" in 1976. The process by which Poe composed "The Raven" influenced a number of French authors and composers, such as Charles Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics ...
and Maurice Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...
, and it has been suggested that Ravel's ''Boléro
''Boléro'' is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel. It is one of Ravel's most famous compositions. It was also one of his last completed works before illness diminished his ability to write music.
Composition
T ...
'' may have been deeply influenced by "The Philosophy of Composition".
The name of the Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...
, a professional American football
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
team, was inspired by the poem. Chosen in a fan contest that drew 33,288 voters, the allusion honors Poe, who spent the early part of his career in Baltimore and is buried there.
The mantel of the room in which Poe penned "The Raven" was removed and donated to Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
before the demolition of the Brennan Farmhouse. It currently resides at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library
The Rare Book and Manuscript Library is the principal repository for the special collections of Columbia University. Located on the sixth floor of Butler Library on the university's Morningside Heights campus, its collections span more than 4,0 ...
, on the sixth floor of Butler Library
Butler Library is located on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University at 535 West 114th Street, in Manhattan, New York City. It is the university's largest single library with over 2 million volumes, as well as one of the largest bu ...
.
See also
* Allusions to Poe's "The Raven"
* Cultural depictions of ravens
Many references to ravens exist in world lore and literature. Most depictions allude to the appearance and behavior of the wide-ranging common raven (''Corvus corax''). Because of its black plumage, croaking call, and diet of carrion, the raven i ...
* " Lenore", an earlier poem by Poe
Notes
References
* Adams, John F. "Classical Raven Lore and Poe's Raven" in ''Poe Studies''. Vol. V, no. 2, December 1972
Available online
* Forsythe, Robert. "Poe's 'Nevermore': A Note", as collected in ''American Literature 7''. January 1936.
* Granger, Byrd Howell. "Marginalia – Devil Lore in 'The Raven from Poe Studies Vol. V, no. 2, December 197
* Hirsch, David H. "The Raven and the Nightingale" as collected in ''Poe and His Times: The Artist and His Milieu'', edited by Benjamin Franklin Fisher IV. Baltimore: The Edgar Allan Poe Society, Inc., 1990.
* Hoffman, Daniel. ''Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe''. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press
The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of University Pres ...
, 1972.
* Kopley, Richard and Kevin J. Hayes. "Two verse masterworks: 'The Raven' and 'Ulalume, collected in ''The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe'', edited by Kevin J. Hayes. New York: Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
, 2002.
* Krutch, Joseph Wood. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A Study in Genius''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1926.
* Lanford, Michael (September 2011). "Ravel and 'The Raven': The Realisation of an Inherited Aesthetic in ''Boléro''." ''The Cambridge Quarterly
''The Cambridge Quarterly'' is a literary journal. It often publishes articles on cinema, music, painting, and sculpture. It also endows a prize for, and publishes, the best Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public uni ...
'' 40(3), 243–265.
* Meyers, Jeffrey. ''Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy''. New York City: Cooper Square Press, 1992.
* Moss, Sidney P. ''Poe's Literary Battles: The Critic in the Context of His Literary Milieu''. Southern Illinois University Press
Southern Illinois University Press or SIU Press, founded in 1956, is a university press located in Carbondale, Illinois, owned and operated by Southern Illinois University.
The press publishes approximately 50 titles annually, among its more th ...
, 1969.
* Ostrom, John Ward. "Edgar A. Poe: His Income as Literary Entrepreneur", collected in ''Poe Studies'' Vol. 5, no. 1. June 1982.
* Peeples, Scott. ''Edgar Allan Poe Revisited''. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1998.
* Poe, Edgar Allan. ''Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems''. Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2002.
* Silverman, Kenneth. ''Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance''. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991.
* Sova, Dawn B. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z''. New York City: Checkmark Books, 2001.
* Thomas, Dwight and David K. Jackson. ''The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe, 1809–1849''. New York: G. K. Hall & Company, 1987.
* Weiss, Susan Archer. ''The Home Life of Poe''. New York: Broadway Publishing Company, 1907.
External links
Text
"The Raven"
– Full text of the first printing, from the ''American Review'', 1845
*
Page scans
at the Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
"The Raven"
– Full text of the final authorized printing, from the ''Richmond Semi-Weekly Examiner'', 1849
Commentary
The Poe Decoder
– Essay on the symbols, words and composition of "The Raven"
''The Raven. With Literary and Historical Commentary by John H. Ingram''
London G. Redway. 1885.
Quaint and Curious
– A collection of 19th century parodies and pastiches of "The Raven"
Illustrated
''The Raven''
illustrated by Gustave Doré. From the Collections at the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
''Le Corbeau = The Raven: Poëme''
avec illustrations par Édouard Manet. From the Collections at the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
Illustrations from ''The Raven''
Gustave Doré illustrations from the University at Buffalo Libraries' Rare & Special Books collection
*
*
Audio
Reading of 'The Raven' and text
by Classic Poetry Aloud (MP3)
Readings of 'The Raven' in different languages
at Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raven, The
1845 poems
Books illustrated by John Tenniel
Fictional ravens
Anthropomorphic ravens
Gilead
Literary characters introduced in 1845
Narrative poems
Poems about birds
Poems about talking animals
Poems adapted into films
Poetry by Edgar Allan Poe
Works involved in plagiarism controversies
Works originally published in The American Review: A Whig Journal
Works published under a pseudonym