“The Raven” is Poe’s most famous poem. This poem is characterized of the ability of Poe to use hi dramatic and melodic qualities in the expression of the ideas of the poem. Poe uses his historic life to provide a setting for this poem. As such, Poe appears to be in a setting of lonely apartment that is characterized of dying fire while he is focused on studying his books as a means of distracting himself from the surrounding troubles. His experience in life is felt in the poem where he expresses the emotions of thinking about Lenore. However, he has the ability of handling his emotions effectively, but he appears tired in the process of handling such emotions.
Poe also organizes his poem effectively to illustrate what is happening. This is an effective means of communicating with audience and ensuring that the audience remains glued to the message, which he is passing. The poem has protagonist memories associated with a deceased woman. These memories are organized in an effective manner. One is able to see the emotional connection with the premature death of Lenore, which is made to have an aesthetic nature. The raven is asked if life exists after death, but the response provided is negative. This emphasizes on the fear of death as indicated by Poe in raven.
In his thinking, Poe had ideas of a dumb beast that was in existence that could produce human-like sounds while not being able to comprehend the meaning of such sounds. This was the beginning of ill news development to Poe. This experience and thinking trait of Poe was expressed in the poem “The Raven”, which Poe narrated. As such, the raven is considered as a vital being since it interpreted and delivered messages to the sinister without there being any supernatural intervention. Furthermore, the black feather that is raven is often regarded as the magical sign that represents ill omen.
Poe attempts to provide a rational explanation of his experiences. However, this is only found at the beginning of the poem, but at the end of the poem there is no provision of any interpretation that is above his head. This indicates that the raven is actually acting as a soul fragment. The selection of raven by Poe as the central symbol for the poem was based on the fact that Poe had a desire of having “non-reasoning”, which had the ability of delivering speech. This was an effective means of Poe to link his life experiences to the poem. The raven selected was regarded as having the ability to deliver speech similar to a parrot.
The narrator of the poem is regarded as a young scholar who has read several books like the “lore”. The lore is assumed to be based on black magic of occult. The poem is chosen for the month of December that is highly characterized of various dark forces. This makes Poe to choose raven, which is believed to have originated from Pluto. This association of his experience in the month of December to the poem is very effective. As such, the poem would serve as a reminder to the young generation of the dangers of this month. Considering that Poe was a craftsman, a job that is associated with imagination and creativity, he was able to do this by writing a poem based on imagination of a creature (raven) that could produce human-like sounds and send and interpret messages.
Works Cited
Poe, Edgar. The Raven, 1845. Print.
