TrishaWehrle

The Raven's Battle between Good and Evil!

Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" is basically a battle between good and evil or heaven and hell. After reading Amanda Cochran's blog, I realized that she was raising many of the same questions that I was confused about. She questioned the symbolism used in the Poem and I decided to go out and reseach to find some answers. In the process, I found a very helpful site by Dana Gioia and after getting some background on the poem and rereading it, I understood it and liked it soooo much more!

Accoring to Gioia, the poem portrays four main elements : "a compelling narrative structure, a dark atmosphere, hypnotic verbal music, and archetypal symbolism." I agree that the poem sets up a strong narrative and Poe was known to write in this style, as with "The Tell Tale Heart" and "The Cast of Amontillado". Although the poem's rhythmic sounds distracted me the first time i read it, instead of just getting caught in the flow of the poem, I stopped and tried to figure out the meaning behind the story in the poem during my second reading.

The setting in the poem reflects the inner emotions and feelings of the narrator. In amanda's blog, she questioned the sex of the narrator, but in my eyes, there is no doubt that the narrator is a male pining over the loss of his loved one, Lenore. Written during the 1800's Poe would more than likely not be writing about a women pining for another woman at this point in time. The setting of the novel is very solemn, dreary, and lonely, just the same as the feelings the narrator is experiencing. As the lonely scholar sits in his room late at night, he notices a "dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor." Because it is so late and the mood is so spokey, I feel this leads the narrator towards some hallucinations/ bad dreams. The narrator is "napping" when the gentle tapping comes to his door, and I think that Poe is basically telling the reader that the narrator is in a dreamlike state and this may not be happening in real life, but the ideas are coming from his subconscious mind.

The aspect of life worrying the narrator is whether there is a heaven or hell and where is he going to end up. When he first heard a noise outside his door, he thought it was the ghost or angel of his beloved Lenore, but when he opens the door, "darkness [is] there and nothing more." He begins "wondering, fearing" about death and whether there is an afterlife where he will find Lenore, or will he find eternal darkness like he did when he opened the door to his chamber. The Raven shows up at the window as a demonic like symbol of hell and tries to persuade the narrator that he will face a hellish dark doom. It is symbolic that the raven lands on the Pallas Athena above the door because she is the Goddess of Wisdom, but the raven sitting on her creates a block or "inability of reason." The presence of the raven, makes the narrator question his initial belief in heaven, and raises new questions in his head.

There is also a lot of contrast between light and dark in the poem. The "radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore" contrasts with the raven or "thing of evil." By the end of the poem, the narrator seems to give in or give up his belief in good to the raven in the final symbolic act of the raven casting his shadow on the floor where the narrator's soul "shall be lifted [from that shadow] - Nevermore!"