Edgar Allan Poe The Raven Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Edgar Allan Poe The Raven - Research Paper ExampleIt was possible that Lenore was the deceased woman being referred to in the poem (Cummings , comparability 9). The poem tells of a bereaved man who is completely devastated by the preoccupied his loved one, Lenore. Suddenly in his moment of sadness, a raven appears who keeps on repeating the word nevermore, as if telling the man that he will never see his beloved again, not purge in heaven.As in most works of Poe, The Raven has a very black bile relish which is emphasized by Poes use of words such as weary, dreary, innocent, dying, sorrow, darkness, stillness, ebony and grave (Cummings , par 7). He also uses intrinsic and end rhymes and alliterations to enhance the theme of the poem.The Raven was first published on January 29, 1845 in the New York evening Mirror (eNotes.com, Inc. , par 1). It is said that the sources of The Raven are Elizabeth Barrett Brownings Lady Geraldines 1843 lawsuit, Charles Dickens Barnaby Rudge and the dickens poems by Thomas Holly Chivers, To Allegra Florence and Isadore (eNotes.com, Inc. , par 1). Poe revealed in his The Philosophy of Composition that he wrote nigh cobblers last in The Raven after asking himself what it is among the universal understanding of mankind is the most melancholy (Poe , par 20). Furthermore, he also asked himself what it is that is most universally appreciable and his answer was beauty (Poe , par 13). Having these two topics in mind, he then thought of combining them and writing a poem about the death of a beautiful woman which he considered the most poetical topic in the world (Poe , par 20).In terms of symbolism, Poe also considered using a parrot in the poem because it was capable of speech. However, he decided to use a raven instead since the theme of the poem is melancholy. A raven is cognize to be a bird which symbolizes ill omen thus, Poe decided that it was more