The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

Hello Readers,

I have recently been rereading some classical gothic books that I used to enjoy and thought they would be worth rereading as an adult. My first memory of The Raven comes from The Simpsons Season 2 Episode 3 which happens to be a treehouse of horror episode and it has stuck with me ever since and thank to Disney+ (Not sponsored) I have rewatched the episode numerous times.

I also remember reading it at school and not enjoying it which was a shock to me after liking The Simpsons episode so much. It wasn’t till I decided to reread classical literature in my early twenties that I got an appreciation for the poem.

While at school I remember The Raven personifies the feeling of intense grief and loss and explores the emotions that individuals at any age can face. Poe has created a wonderful piece of work that resonates with the feelings and experiences of any person who has ever been unfortunate enough to experience grief and loss and how not only are these battles are not physical but leave scares and bruising just as if they were.

So, one thing that has kind of annoyed me since school what is this, Lenore? Is she a woman? Is she this man’s lost lover? Or is she something else entirely? After watching The Simpsons episode, I thought that Lenore was his dead wife. Apparently, I’m wrong and its much deeper than that I have read since that Lenore could possibly be suggestion of a lost sense of self or even humanity. It’s an interesting take and emphasised the speaker’s loneliness. The narrator is all alone in his home on a dark cold evening trying to ignore the “rapping” on his chamber door. This poem in my eyes is a perfect representation of the dangers in the natural world and the dangers of the supernatural world in fiction. Throughout this poem you get a sense that something terrible is about to happen.

One thing I have always questions is if the raven is real or imaginary and could possibly show the narrators decent into madness. The narrator even asks the raven questions that start full of hope and belief but become more heart-wrenching and desperate however the Raven never replies with anything but ‘Nevermore.’

I think this poem is timeless in the sense that we have possible all been there we’ve all lost someone and had to learn how to grief. Some of us may have even experiences the desire to have someone hear us when our inner voice is too deafening to hear anything. I think if you really want to experience this poem you need to find an audio.

L x

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