It’s Halloween, so what better way to start off the spooktacular month than with a review of a piece of horror literature. More specifically, an iconic poem called The Raven by the late legendary poet Edgar Allan Poe. The poem is inspired by people close to Poe whom he had lost throughout his life. The Raven tells the tale of a grieving scholartrying to cope with the death of his lover whilst being haunted by a raven. Symbolism is very prevalent throughout the poem, which comes with many layers to it. Overall, The Raven has been leaving an impact on pop culture — ranging from movies, TV shows, books, and even sports –for generations.
Illustration of The Raven by Édouard Manet | Wikimedia Commons
Edgar Allan Poe: A Man to Whom Tragedy is No Stranger
To understand The Raven, we need to understand Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts to Elizebeth Poe and David Poe, both of whom were professional actors. Life was very harsh toward Poe at a young age; his father allegedly abandoned the family when Poe was just a baby and his mother had died from tuberculosis in 1811, leaving him, his sister Rosalia Poe, and older brother Henry Poe orphaned, all of this happening before he reached the age of three. Poe was fostered by the Allan family, gaining his iconic middle name. Despite his strained relationship with his adoptive father, John Allan, Poe was able to attend prestigious schools thanksto the Allan family because of John being a wealthy tobacco exporter. Although he was academically talented, Poe had to cut his academic journey short due to accumulating gambling debt and John cutting financial support for him.
After Poe’s relationship with John was severed in 1827, he left for Boston to enlist in the Army and published his first poetry collection Tamerlane, and Other Poems, which received no attention. In 1829, Poe published his secondpoetry collection Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems, receiving minor attention. In that same year, Poe was honorably discharged from the Army with the rank of regimental sergeant major. Poe then attended the United States Military Academy at West Point which was short-lived; because John Allan was no longer supporting him, Poe didn’t show up to his duties and classes in the first week, resulting in expulsion.
Over the next few years, Poe would write short stories for local newspapers and magazines to make a living,which wasn’t sufficient for him. Even more challenging for Poe was that John never left an inheritance for Poe when he passed away. His financial struggles were temporarily relieved when he was hired as an editor of The Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, Virgina. Poe brought his aunt, Maria Clemm, and cousin, Virginia, to live with him, marrying her in 1836, when she was 13 years old. Over the next 10 years, Poe rose to prominence as a poet and literary critic. Despite maintaining his prime from the late 1830s to the early 1840s, Poe was still making little, supporting himself with editorship positions of several newspapers and magazines.
Tragedy once again made a visit to Poe’s doorstep; In 1847, Virginia contracted tuberculosis and succumbed tothe disease, making her the second relative of Poe to die of a disease which at the time had no cure. Poe further spiraled into the depths of depression and alcoholism. Eventually, Poe was engaged to his childhood sweetheart Sarah Elmira Shelton, but their marriage tragically never came to fruition. On October 7, 1849, Poe died of “acute congestion of the brain,” which brewed prominent speculation. Several theorized it could be alcohol poisoning or tuberculosis. But according to medicalpractitioners, there’s evidence that points towards Poe dying from complications caused by rabies, but nothing conclusive.
Review of The Raven
The Raven is primarily a tale about tragedy and processing grief from that tragedy. The poem is narrated by an unnamed scholar, who is struggling to cope with the death of his lover Leonore. Then he is visited by a raven, whoutters nothing more than “Nevermore.” Amused by the raven’s presence at first, the scholar becomes more frantic andirrational trying to figure out why the bird keeps repeating “Nevermore;” was it sent by God, did it learn it from someone, or is it just part of the scholar’s imagination? The poem ends with the Scholar being enveloped by the raven’s shadow, overwhelmed by the despair of the loss of Leonore.
Bust of Pallas Athena | Caproni Collection
I enjoy the rich symbolism throughout the poem, as it’s one of my favorite aspects of literature. The raven itself represents death and grief, paralleling the scholar’s mental state. When the raven is first introduced, it lands on a bust of Pallas Athena, who is the Greek goddess of wisdom, juxtaposing with the scholar’s spiral into despair and irrationality over the loss of Leonore. The scholar at one point feels the air in his home becoming denser, “…perfumed from an unseen censer [s]wung by Seraphim…”; the highest order of angels in Christian religion, who he believes have been sent by God to help him move on from Leonore, further symbolizing his dissent into madness. Atthe climax of the poem, when the raven responds to the scholar’s pleas if he’ll ever meet Leonore again with “Nevermore,” he furiously tells the bird to go back to the “Night’s Plutonian shore,” referring to Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld, reinforcing the bird’s representation of death. The raven refusing to leave the scholar’s home and its shadow engulfing symbolizes the fact that no matter how much he tries to, the scholar will never be able to forget Leonore, with the raven as a reminder of what he has lost.
To say The Raven has had an impact on pop culture would be an understatement. This poem didn’t just revolutionize poetry, it revolutionized literature as whole, like how Shakespeare’s works have revolutionized literature.It has inspired and influenced many pieces of literature, ranging from books, video games, movies, TV shows, etc. One of the most prominent examples is none other than Batman, in which The Raven — and Poe in general — is referenced frequently through the comics. In Tim Bourton’s Batman film, the Joker (Jack Nicolson) recites a line from The Raven when confronting Batman (Michael Keaton), “Take thy beak from out my heart.”
Batman (Michael Keaton) fighting the Joker (Jack Nicolson) at the climax of Tim Bourton’There is even an NFL team called the Baltimore Ravens, named in honor of the late poet, as Baltimore is where he lived and is now his final resting place. The team got the name after it overwhelmingly won in a voting contest in1996. The Baltimore Ravens won the Super Bowl two times so far and have a crow mascot named Poe.
Overall, Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most influential figures in the world of literature.
The Raven is one of Poe’s greatest hallmarks, telling a tale of tragedy and grief and trying to move on from it. Thepoem is rich with powerful symbolism, with many references to Greek and Roman mythology and even the Christian mythos. The Raven has a monumental impact on pop culture, with Batman and the Baltimore Ravens being some of the most prominent examples of the poem’s influence. I’m taking inspiration from Poe’s literature for a few novels I plan on authoring in the future!
