Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" has long been a popular poem, and it has also been the subject of much explication and criticism, both pro and con. Some critics find the poem to be a coherent expression of deep feeling, while others quarrel with the ideas expressed by Poe, the manner in which those ideas are expressed, or both.
Some of the sternest criticism both of Poe and this particular poem was written by T.S. Eliot. Eliot believes that "The Raven" is far from being Poe's best poem, and more than this he states that an "irresponsibility towards the meaning of words is not infrequent with Poe" (Eliot 32), an irresponsibility he finds in "The Raven" specifically. He cites the first appearance of the raven in the work:
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days
Eliot finds fault with the way the bird is characterized:
Since there is nothing particularly saintly about the raven, if indeed the ominous bird is not wholly the reverse, there can be no point in referring his origin to a period of saintliness, even if such a period can be assumed to have existed (Eliot 32).
Eliot also notes that the raven is here referred to as "stately," while in a subsequent line the bird is referred to as "ungainly":
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse
Eliot might also have mentioned the description of the raven as compared to the aristocracy:
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my
The "mien of lord or lady" also does not fit with "ungainly," though it does fit with "stately." Eliot gives his reason for the use of these irreconcilable terms:
Several words in the poem seem to be inserted either merely to fill out the line to the required measure, or for the same of a rhyme (Eliot 32).
A similar sentiment is expressed by W.H. Auden, who states that the problem with "The Raven" is
that the thematic interest and...