The Raven
Edgar Alan Poe (USA)
Poe's "The Raven" is a
nostalgic poem though the title of the poem is Raven, a bird, but it does not
deal so much with the bird as with effects the bird makes on a love-lorn
student who has lost his beloved. Outwardly The Raven is about a student under very special circumstances and
about what happens to him when a bird Raven enters to his room.
The poem opens with a student's
narration of what happened on a bleak December night when storm raged outside
his room and anguish raged in his heart. He is weak, weary and dejected through
the loss of raged in his beloved Lenore. The uncertain rustling of each purple
curtain intensifies this mood. There is rapping at the door. He is filled with
terrors, which he never felt before. He takes the rapping as the rapping of the
late visitor and he implores forgiveness for being late in opening the door.
When he opens the door, he finds no one outside. He peers into the darkness,
wondering, fearing, doubting, and dreaming terrible things. He closes the door
but again he hears rapping this time at the window. He opens the door and to
his surprise a grim bird Raven steps in and sits upon the bust of Pallas.
The situation has developed from
anticipation to suspense, then to surprise and then to irony. There is irony
because it is the ugly raven that came in when the host was expecting the
radiant maiden Lenore. The mystery disappears and tension is released. He asks
the bird its name.
To his surprise the bird replies
nevermore. But soon he knows that bird repeats the same word. Yet this word
relentlessly repeated by the bird, intensifies his despair. The manner in which
the despair is intensified is interesting. He takes the birds visit as usual
event and things that tomorrow this unique bird will fly away as other birds
had done. But it comes from the bird 'nevermore'. He knows that bird is
repeating the same word, even then he feels uncomfortable and disturbed. He
thinks about the mysterious power about the bird. He sits guessing, divining
with his head reclining on the velvet lining. Velvet lining reminds him of
Lenore. Now seeks remedial forgetfulness telling himself that he should forget
this lost Lenore. But Raven replies 'nevermore'. This is the reality because he
cannot forget Lenore. He regards bird as a prophet and he seeks an answer to
the question of suffering.
And again he hears the harsh reply
'nevermore'. If there is no freedom from pain, misery and anguish in this life,
perhaps he might find happiness in life to come and he asks the bird whether
there is hope after death. But this time also the bird answers cruelly
'nevermore'. This answer further accelerates his despair. In an unbearable
despair he orders the bird to get back into the tempest and to quit the bust
above his door. But again the bird says 'nevermore'. Now the student feels so
helpless, so shattered and so overwhelmed with anguish that he loses his
identity. He cannot live without hope and without selfhood. The word
'nevermore' has acted like a catalytic agent.
In this brilliant narrative
structure the conversational tone places the reader in the position of
confidant. The poem can also be considered as a dramatization of his despair.
The persona of the poem is 'weak and weary'. He does not face the situation,
and accept the loss of Lenore in a manly frame of mind. He tries to escape from
the reality plunging into 'quit and curious' volumes. The poem hints that when
man tries to run away from life, however harsh it might be, he is likely to
make it worse for himself.
Poe has created a vibrant background
for the introduction of the word 'nevermore'. This background consists of
sorrow, mystery and a nameless terror. The first nevermore contains the element
of mystery about it. Later the mystery is solved; the bird meaninglessly
repeats the word learnt perhaps from an unfortunate master. The status of the
word has fallen from mystery to meaninglessness. Similarly, the last nevermore
suggests crushing despair with a sharp edge of terror in it.
The raven, for the student, is a
mere bird. At first it becomes object with mystery when it sits onto the bust
of Pallas. Then as it utters the word 'nevermore', mystery deepens and the
repeated word acquires an emotional significance to the student. The bird
becomes endowed with a personality that depresses him. Finally, it is a
lengthened shadow.
