The Raven rough draft
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Andrew Willums
Comp. ENC1101
John Janzen
November 6, 2008
“Quoth the Raven Nevermore”
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe is a poem that has been studies for over a hundred years. It’s many interpretations lead to the discussions of its symbols, imagery, allusions, and meaning. The correlation between the month of December and the time of midnight are best taken in as signs of closure. The contrast between the inside of the chamber room compared to the raging and wild outside stands to question the occurrence of this weather and its reason for protruding into the narrator’s home. Then comes the Raven itself being a symbol of death taking away the pain and hope of the narrator’s lost love, Lenore. The Raven is the telling of the inner thoughts of the human mind when faced with tragic love.
The end is near and this man seemingly ordinary does not want to let go. The correlation between the December month and the time being midnight strikes several coincidences. The end of a long journey has come and the narrator knows this, and in hope to never letting go of his dear Lenore he travels into a mental relapse through form of withdrawal. The narrator is afraid of forgetting and dares not to forget the beauty of his dear Lenore as he incorporates in into his everyday life. Closure is upon him and the December night being the longest, the narrator enters a realm to where the clock strikes midnight and his mind wanders off weary and vulnerable to a dreamy land of illusion. This story of tragic ordeal depicts the storm of heartbreak and the cozy outburst of closure in the end of tragedy and start of reality.
The narrator’s chamber is filled with memories of Lenore, his books, his possessions, and even his chair, remind and recollect his life before. His mind drifting, forces its way into rehab, a sense of mental being that brings back his way of life. The best thing to happen to him is Lenore, thus he loves her so, and his heart is warm but never letting go. The tempest storm outside his chamber walls present of self wanting to forget and move on, but sealing the windows and doors alike he tries to keep his insight on his dear Lenore. The outside pushing itself in to clean up the horrible mess left within, a raven and nothing more enters his chamber to the top of the door, his subconscious placing his untidy self into a bind and never letting him have hope of Lenore. The tempest comes inside his chamber and brings a Raven, a smart yet cunning bird to put him in his place and help with his closure. The raven is a symbol and hope of illusion to present the narrator with something he dreads to hear. He smells the censor of a seraphim to take away her scent, and the raven to make him realize that no matter the question or direction he faces, he will never ever see his Lenore, “Quoth the raven nevermore” (Poe).
The tempest outside of the chamber, pertaining to shelter the narrator of the cold midnight of December, the contrast between the peaceful chamber and the terror outdoors resides in him. It is implied that Lenore was clean and changing person, someone that the narrator warmed up to and became a better man. His chamber is tidy and his hall filled with darkness and nothing more gives away those candles had not been lit in good time. The narrator might have been not so lucky before Lenore and his crazy and unusual self needs to come back out to wash away her presence. The weather starts off with the raven, though not per say there in reality, but as a haven of the past. Insanity can only describe his hallucinations. This crazy personality switch is meant to show his deep love of Lenore. This poem is centrally about the narrator losing his beloved Lenore and his life from then on out flipping over relatively as a fish out of the water. The climate and outside mood can be taken as his mind converting backwards before Lenore. The raven is an angel, but not that of light and hope, but of that of dark and tragedy. It’s not exactly clear as to whether or not the narrator is even awake during this happening, but it is clear that his mind is taking control of the situation. The mood is tragic, but is just dusting off every human on the earth’s feeling when the loss of a loved one. It’s not bad necessarily that the narrator is talking to himself or recollecting old thoughts, his mind balances this out by having the raven reject his pleas in order to let the storm of pain consume him for the last time.
Edgar Allan Poe died at the age of 40 and left the world still guessing and interpreting his ingenious works. It can only be an educated guess to determine who in his real life matches with the characters in this poem. Is the narrator Poe? Is the beloved Lenore Virginia or his mother? Is the raven the devil or his own way of calling for help without knowing it? It is best felt that Poe is placing thoughts into art and is foretelling his readers of his heartbreak and what it meant to him. His loss of Virginia can best tell his love for her transforming her into Lenore, and the tap, tap, tap on his chamber door is his mind butting into his heartbreak. The raven, the largest sense of symbolism is the most difficult to portray as whom or what it is. The devil poking fun and his shame of his lost love, or an angel of death coming to take away his Lenore for good? Poe’s drug and alcohol use would have put him delirium hence the happening before his death, eventually causing his insanity. Transcendentalism is the best fit category for Poe in that his sense of self being having control of his every thoughts, his spiritual views lead his writing in the unique direction that he portrays. His drug and alcohol use could also have been taken in as spiritual. The question is that did Poe’s life be transferred into The Raven, and the answer is yes. The reason that poems are unique is because the writer places a piece of themselves into it.
