Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven"

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

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the raven itself as a key element in terms of the linguistic effect of the work, for this bird is able to utter only one word, an echo of the hopelessness of the poet: Each reiteration of the compound adverb sounds the note of finality with never; whereupon, with more, it prolongs the suspense; whereupon the subsequent stanza revives the interrogation and repeats the deadening negation (Levin 161-162). Vincent Buranelli emphasizes the dual meaning of the poem. The surface meaning is the narrative, with the poet asking questions of the raven and hearing the repeated "Nevermore, " leading to the final question of whether he and his mistress will ever be reunited--"Nevermore." The second meaning, says Buranelli, has to be interpreted through the symbols of the poem and through suggestive signs which represent ideas hidden below the surface. The principal symbol is the raven, which with its jet black feathers and harsh croak has been accepted by common consent to represent fate. In his essay on composition, Poe indicates that the raven in his poem represents mournful and never-ending remembrance, meaning that the bereaved lover now has his sorrow brought home to him by this creature that stands for memory. The raven sits o

Category: Literature - E