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The Raven Interpretation


A natural response of the brain towards reality is to go insane and so, the Hatter
opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was Why is a raven like a
writing-desk? (Carroll, 1998). There are several scientific studies and pieces of literature
that provide such insights of the mind that are capable of proving this response. However,
few pieces of literature prove it as closely and resemble craziness as the works of Edgar
Allan Poe do. In his poem, The Raven, Poe denotes how madness in a human being is
achievable by loneliness and absence of love. Poe marvelously depicts both of these
causes and gives a meaning that is received to the reader.
The Raven is a spectacular poem written from the perspective of a man, in the
first person. He has just lost his wife, Lenore, and this causes him great pain. In the
beginning of the poem, the man, is nodding towards sleep, when he perceives a patter and
thinks that it is his dead wife. The attitude through this part of the poem is quite somber
and depressing since the narrator laments himself for his loss and investigates the
mysterious noise. This gentle rhythm is created while reading the poem through the use of
several alliterations as well as the use of internal rhyme in the beginning of the poem. An
example of this is when the narrator says While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly
there came a tapping,/ As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door (Poe,
2006, 3-4). Both alliteration and the internatl rhyme found in this segment as well as in
many others give a rhythm in the poem. This beat, reproduces the nervousness that Poe
puts the narrator in. We can see that anxiety holds the man in the poem when the
raconteur says Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;-/ Tis the wind
and nothing more (Poe, 2006, 35-36). Both the nervousness and the mystery in the poem
show the initial states of madness the narrator is about to fall into. Reproducing the
meaning and theme of this poem, madness by solitude.

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Afterward, the man in the poem discovers the creature that creates the tapping, a
raven. This raven leaves the narrator flabbergasted and makes him leave his sorrow and
pain because he gains some company. An important change in the poem occurs in this
moment because when asked for a name the raven does answer, and answers with one
word Nevermore (Poe, 2006). Although, it means little to the narrator several things
could be hyoothesized by this word. This word implies hopelessness, something that the
narrator is living because of the loss of his wife. Poe, ends the last eleven stanzas of the
poem with this word and by doing so the reader feels the narrator losing more and more
hope, each time falling desperately into madness. Towards the end of the poem the
narrator curses the raven calling it thing of evil!- prophet still, if bird or devil! (Poe,
2006, 85-86). By doing so, the narrator demonstrates his complete loss of reality, he
blames the creature for his lack of peace while asking for it to leave for the man to be at
peace. However, as it does not leave, the man curses and shouts toward the raven, crazily
and forlornly.
Edgar Allan Poe shows madness through a man that is alone. He takes a raven
that is lifeless, one who lives by showing a pit with no end to the person who is trapped
inside it. The man in this poem has no hope and the raven shows this to him, driving him
mad. We are creatures of interaction and because of this, loneliness and hopelessness, can
only do us harm. This marvelous poem has lost no meaning through all the decades it has
gone by because human kind relates to it. Writers write about it and allude to it in their
books and it is probably because Poe wrote on them, a raven and a desk.
Bibliography
Carroll, L. (1998). Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. New
York City, United States of America: Penguin Classics.
Poe, E. (2006). The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. New York City, New
York, United States of America: Barnes & Noble.

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