Come on guys! In detail can someone tell me exactly what 'the raven' entails?

Question

I'm talking about the poem by Edgar Allen Poe
and what it's all about- the full story?
or could someone recommend a really good website that goes through each bit in detail?
thanks very much

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

The poem is about a man who's mourning the death of his love, Lenore, who seeks solace by sitting alone in his library reading old books on legends and folklore, when suddenly he's visited by a raven knocking at his door. The knocking at the door supports the superstition that death comes "knocking" and can only be let in by the owner of the house. He opens the door wondering who it might be, but sees only darkness. His thoughts drift to his lost Lenore, then suddenly a raven flies into the room. The image of the raven, considered an eater of dead things and an omen of death, implies the bird has come with information about departed Lenore. It's said that the eagle knows the place of death but not the time, and the raven knows the time but not the place. Thus, it doesn't matter where she died, only that the raven's timing matches his thoughts about Lenore. The raven perches upon the "pallid bust of Pallas", which is a bust of Pallas Athena, the goddess of wisdom (amongst other things), so it lends further credence that the bird speaks from knowledge and has literally been sent by the gods. He therefore asks the bird if he'll ever see his love again or lose his sense of pain and loss. The bird replies "nevermore". he is so shocked that the response is in keeping with truly answering his question that he asks further questions, and when a pattern emerges that each question is answered by the same answer, he begins to ask questions that spiral him downward, inwardly knowing that the bird will continue to provide the same answer each time. He tries to reject the bird, but something inside him allows the bird to be viewed as fate's messenger and he wallows in the grief amplified by the bird's responses. All the other references he makes come from the books he's been reading, and each, although now obscure to most readers, were part of a classical education of the time, so that the readers understood the references without having to look them up (like you'll have to do if you really want to understand them). Poe wrote the poem starting with the last stanza and worked backwards. He wanted to try and write a poem this way to ensure the ending was supported by each stanza before it and he felt doing it this way would make a better poem. Poe himself was mourning the loss of his cousin/lover and felt that poems dealing with death and loss had the greatest impact on others...especially true of his time when mass dying from disease and viruses was more common.

the rest you'll have to deduce yourself, or google using what I've provided as a background to further research.

Source(s):

Editor, New Poets Press

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

thankyou- and FYI for all those who assume it's for an english assignment- it's not! I'm just interested in English literature.
Anywho, your answer has helped me understand better.

Answer 2

Try reading it...If this is for an English class, you're suppose to form your own ideas about it, not plagarise other peoples

Answer 3

it's about a bird and the struggles of being a bird

Answer 4

It's about death.The raven being death calling.