Throughout “The Raven”, Poe is trying to convey the tragedy and the haunting aspect of losing a true love to death and how that can affect an individual. He conveys this through the major themes of death, depression at the loss of a loved one, different aspects of spirituality, and an inability to escape death. In relation to death, the first-person narrator of the poem is haunted by the loss of his dead love, Lenore. Lenore may symbolize the lost loves of any person, and how with their death was taken beauty and life. Without Lenore, the narrator finds himself to be “weak and weary” (“The Raven” 1). In addition, he is also experiencing “surcease of sorrow…for the lost Lenore” (“The Raven” 10). Without Lenore, the narrator is lost, sorrowful,
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His “nevermore” implies that Lenore will never be at rest, as she is not in Heaven. Consequently, this news causes the narrator to never be at rest. This, and the fact that the raven is always there, in the shadows (“The Raven” 103). The fact that he is always there represents the fact that the narrator is receiving a constant reminder that Death is always there, always waiting, always watching, always ready to take over, and that man alone will triumph over death “nevermore” (“The Raven” 195).
2. What philosophical ideals or beliefs did Poe hold? How are they evidenced in the poem? Poe held philosophical ideals and beliefs that influenced his work and writing, more specifically, “The Raven”. One of his philosophical ideals was that knowledge does not always lead to happiness by the individual who has gained the knowledge (http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/poebio.html, para. 47). In “The Raven”, the narrator is disturbed when he has lost Lenore, but it is when he finds out that she is not in Heaven that he finds himself completely overtaken by anguish. In this case, not knowing would have at least given him the opportunity to hope that she was not in Hell. Hal Poe, a descendent of
His “nevermore” implies that Lenore will never be at rest, as she is not in Heaven. Consequently, this news causes the narrator to never be at rest. This, and the fact that the raven is always there, in the shadows (“The Raven” 103). The fact that he is always there represents the fact that the narrator is receiving a constant reminder that Death is always there, always waiting, always watching, always ready to take over, and that man alone will triumph over death “nevermore” (“The Raven” 195).
2. What philosophical ideals or beliefs did Poe hold? How are they evidenced in the poem? Poe held philosophical ideals and beliefs that influenced his work and writing, more specifically, “The Raven”. One of his philosophical ideals was that knowledge does not always lead to happiness by the individual who has gained the knowledge (http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/poebio.html, para. 47). In “The Raven”, the narrator is disturbed when he has lost Lenore, but it is when he finds out that she is not in Heaven that he finds himself completely overtaken by anguish. In this case, not knowing would have at least given him the opportunity to hope that she was not in Hell. Hal Poe, a descendent of