Summary of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven"

Poe's "The Raven" is not only an American classic, it's a favorite of high school students

around the world, as well as their teachers. That being said, it's still poetry and therefore can

be difficult to understand. Read this summary to review the contents and get a better

understanding.
•

• Stanzas: 1-2

Make everyone in class think you're really smart when you bust out everything
you've learned in this summary.

Stanza 1: It's late. The poem's speaker is tired and weak, reading an
old collection of folklore (note that Ravens are prevalent in folklore).
As he's about to fall asleep, he hears something tapping at his door.
The speaker, somewhat startled, consoles himself by muttering "tis
some visitor" and "nothing more."
Analysis: The ambiguity of the narrator's mental state is introduced in
the first stanza and becomes a topic of debate throughout the entire
poem. Keep in mind that it's late and the narrator is extremely tired.
It's quite possible he dreams the entire episode.
Stanza 2: We are told this incident takes place in December and that
the narrator had been reading in order to forget about his lost love,
Lenore.
Analysis: Stanza 2 provides background information. The incident
takes place in December and the narrator suffers from depression. He
is searching desperately to end his sorrow. The mood, somewhat
established in Stanza 1 with "midnight dreary" and "forgotten lore,"
becomes entrenched as Poe includes details such as "bleak
December," dying ember," "ghost upon the floor," sorrow," and a
bevvy of alliterative phrases and words with Anglo-Saxon roots.
• Stanzas: 3-5
Stanza 3: To combat the fear caused by the wind blown curtains, the
narrator repeats that the commotion is merely a visitor at the door.
Analysis: The opening line of the stanza contains the greatest
example of consonance, alliteration, and internal rhyme in the history
of poetry. Why the speaker is so frightened by the curtains fluttering
in the wind is unclear. It could be a demonic movement of the
curtains, which would cause even the most stalwart individual to
mutter to himself, or the speaker could be crazy.
Stanza 4: The narrator musters the courage to speak to the "visitor" at
his door. Nobody answers. He opens the door and sees only darkness.
Analysis: Things are getting stranger by the stanza. Poe builds
suspense by delaying the unveiling of the "visitor."
Stanza 5: The narrator stares into the darkness. He stares. He stares
some more. He starts dreaming about the impossible and finally
whispers "Lenore." "Lenore" is echoed back.
Analysis: We begin to sense the heartbreak experienced by the
narrator. He so longs for his lost love that he begins whispering her
name, desperately hoping for a response. Does he actually hear a
response or is he hallucinating?
• Stanzas: 6-9
Stanza 6: The narrator returns to his chamber and soon hears a louder
tapping, this time at his window. He decides to explore the noise,
telling himself it is merely the wind.
Analysis: Like the narrator, you're probably wondering when
something's going to happen. The narrator is in denial. He knows
something is there, but refuses to acknowledge it.
Stanza 7: The narrator opens the shutter and a raven flies in. He
ignores the occupant and perches himself on a statue of Pallas Athena,
Greek goddess of wisdom.
Analysis: The mystery has been solved. It's just a bird! Something
tells me this bird is no ordinary feathered friend.
Stanza 8: The narrator is relieved and somewhat amused by the bird's
appearance. He asks the raven its name and he replies, "Nevermore."
 Analysis: We are presented with symbols of night and death in stanza
8: the "ebony" bird; "grave and stern decorum"; "nightly shore";
"Night's Plutonian (the Roman underworld) shore."
Stanza 9: The narrator marvels at this strange bird who has entered
his room.
Analysis: Our bewildered narrator has no idea what to make of this
bird, much like I'm not sure what to say about this stanza.
• Stanzas: 10-12
Stanza 10: The Raven just sits there and says "nevermore." The
narrator, a little spooked by the entire episode mutters the bird will
probably just leave tomorrow.
Analysis: There is something in the word "nevermore" that brings
despair to the narrator. He believes the raven is pouring out his soul
with each utterance of the word, similar to the pouring out of the
narrator's soul as he longs for the return of Lenore.
Stanza 11: The narrator rationalizes that the raven's repetition of
"nevermore" has nothing to do with his own hopeless state, and that
the word is the only one the bird knows. He creates a plausible story
about the bird probably having escaped from his master who met an ill
fate at sea.
Analysis: The narrator experiences the paranoia/denial cycle. He
unreasonably believes the raven is some bad omen, which it then
becomes, omens being nothing more than a negative psychological
interpretation of an otherwise neutral event, followed by a complete
negation with an implausible explanation. The narrator is nuts.
Stanza 12: The narrator wheels his chair around, stares at the bird,
and attempts to figure out what this all means.
Analysis: Although the narrator draws no explicit conclusion,
descriptive words such as "grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt" displays the
narrator's negative attitude toward the strange visitor.
• Stanzas: 13-15
Stanza 13: The narrator stares at the bird, whose eyes appear to be on
fire and burn the narrator's heart. He ponders how he will nevermore
see his lost Lenore.
Analysis: There's a raven in the living room with fiery eyes staring at
the narrator and all he can think about is some girl!
 Stanza 14: The narrator senses the arrival of angels who burn incense.
He suspects the raven's purpose is to help the narrator forget about his
sorrows. He asks to drink a magic potion for that purpose. The raven
replies, "nevermore."
Analysis: Angels arrive. The narrator hopes that he will be spared
despair and sorrow. He's wrong. Key words in this stanza: quaff
means to drink; nepenthe is a drug used in ancient times to make
people forget their sorrows.
Stanza 15: The narrator asks the raven if he is evil. He then asks the
raven if he has brought healing. The raven replies, "nevermore."
Analysis: Despite several declarations by the raven himself that he is
not there for good, the narrator holds on to the slim hope that the
raven can help him forget his sorrows. The allusion to "balm in
Gilead" in line 89 is an allusion to the Jeremiah in the Old
Testament. Jeremiah asks "Is there no balm in Gilead?" while
lamenting the plight of his people who need healing.
• Stanzas: 16-18
Stanza 16: The narrator asks the raven if he will ever see Lenore in
heaven. The raven answers, "nevermore."
Analysis: The narrator isn't the smartest guy alive. He again asks the
raven if he will be relieved of his suffering and at least be able to see
Lenore in paradise. The raven answered "nevermore." At this point
I'm getting really annoyed with the narrator. He's wallowing in self
pity and enjoying every second of it. He knows what the raven's
answer will be, yet he purposely asks questions that will justify him
feeling sorry for himself. It's time to move on.
Stanza 17: The narrator commands the bird to leave. The bird says,
"nevermore."
Analysis: The narrator is once again surprised by the raven's negative
response. I'm not.
Stanza 18: The raven remains sitting. He overshadows the narrator,
whose soul will never see happiness again.
Analysis: Boo! Hoo! Get a gun and shoot that freaking bird already!
The raven's shadow most likely symbolizes sadness. It covers the
narrator's soul, symbolic of the narrator never being happy again.
Some claim the last stanza relates the narrator's death. They're wrong.
The shadow remains on the floor and It's the narrator's soul that will
 never climb out from under the shadow of sadness. If your teacher
tells you he died, tell him he's wrong. If he disagrees, ask him how a
dead man can narrate a poem.

Poe Poetry Analysis: Symbolism in "The Raven"

• Lenore: The narrator gives no description of Lenore. We do not know what she
looks like or what exactly the relationship between Lenore and the narrator is.
All we know is that the narrator really misses her. The lack of details regarding
Lenore makes her a likely symbol. She may represent idealized love, beauty,
truth, or hope in a better world. She is "rare and radiant" we are told several
times, an angelic description, perhaps symbolic of heaven. Lenore may
symbolize truth: the narrator cannot help but think of her, and her ubiquitous,
yet elusive, nature haunts the narrative.
The Raven: The most obvious symbol is contained in the poem's title. The
raven enters the room imperiously and holds dominion over the narrator. The
bird's darkness symbolizes death; hence, death becomes a constant reminder, an
imperious intruder. If taken in a broader context, the poem may be about the
inability of man to escape his ultimate fate, a reoccurring theme in Poe's short
works.
Night's Plutonian Shore: The phrase "Night's Plutonian Shore" incorporates all
the negative aspects associated with death. Pluto is the Roman god of the
underworld; hence, his shore would be the underworld. Combined with "night,"
a common symbol for death and nothingness, and shore, representative of the
vast ocean and all its mysterious inhabitants, Plutonian takes on an enhanced
meaning.
• Nepenthe: The narrator desperately searches for something that will remove his
pain and suffering. This is symbolized by Nepenthe, an ancient drug used to
help one relieve sorrows.
The Bust of Pallas: Pallas Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom. It is upon
this wisdom that the raven settles, adding credence, at least according to the
narrator, to its utterances. The bust of Pallas and the raven's subsequent perch on
it may be ironic, for it is the narrator that gives the bird such wisdom. A casual
observer would assume the bird sits there because it seems like a logical resting
place. If you're ever in Europe, note how the pigeons perch themselves on
statues in the center of town. Only a moron would assume a bird takes on the
character of a statue on which he perches. I don't think, for example, that a bird
resting on Napoleon's shoulder suddenly becomes a ruthless general.
Midnight: Traditionally referred to as the witching hour and the darkest part of
night--midnight is more than a number on the clock. It is no accident that Poe
chooses this as the time for the bird's arrival.
December: Nothing lives in the winter. December is in the winter. December
symbolizes death.
I hope this analysis of symbols found within "The Raven" help you with your
next homework assignment. Please contribute to the comments section with
your thoughts on these symbols.

Theme analysis

Death and the Afterlife

As with many other of Poe’s works, “The Raven”
explores death. More specifically, this poem
explores the effects of death on the living, such as
grief, mourning, and memories of the deceased, as
well as a question that so often torments those
who have lost loved ones to death: whether there
is an afterlife in which they will be reunited with
the dead.
At the beginning of the poem, the narrator is
mourning alone in a dark, cheerless room. He
portrays himself as trying to find “surcease of
sorrow” by reading his books. One might read this
as an effort to distract himself and thereby escape
the pain of the death of a loved one. One might
also interpret the narrator’s reading of books of
“forgotten lore” to indicate that he is looking for
arcane knowledge about how to reverse death. In
either case, his reaction to the death of a loved
one is rather typical: to try to escape the pain of
it, or to attempt to deny death.
Before the Raven’s arrival, the narrator hears a
knocking at the door of his room, and after finding
no one there calls “Lenore?” into the darkness, as
if sensing or hoping she has returned to him.
Following the Raven’s arrival, he eventually asks
the bird if there is “balm in Gilead,” implying a
hope that he might see Lenore once more in
heaven. In either case, the narrator’s desperate
desire to be reunited with Lenore in some way is
obvious.
In “Lenore,” another of Poe’s poems featuring a
deceased woman named Lenore, the narrator,
confronted with the loss of his wife, reassures
himself with the prospect that he will see her again
in heaven. In “The Raven,” however, the narrator
ultimately takes a gloomier view. After the Raven
arrives, cutting short the narrator’s sense that
Lenore might be visiting as a ghost and answering
his hopeful questions about Gilead with only the
repeated “Nevermore,” the narrator resigns
himself to believing that he will never encounter
Lenore again. Poe leaves unclear whether the
Raven is telling the narrator the truth or giving
voice to the narrator’s own anxieties about having
lost Lenore for good. Either way, the poem
concludes on the pessimistic note that nothing can
exist beyond death, that there is no “balm in
Gilead.”

Memory and Loss

Often, memories of the dead are presented as
purely positive – as a way for the departed to
continue to exist in the hearts and minds of those
who remember them, and as a source of comfort
for those who are still alive. “The Raven” flips this
notion on its head, envisioning memories of a
deceased loved one as a sorrowful, inescapable
burden.
As the poem begins, the narrator is struggling to
put his anguished memories of Lenore aside, and
attempts to distract himself by reading. But the
insistent rapping at his study door interrupts his
efforts, and he opens his study door and seems to
sense the presence of Lenore and hear a whisper
of her name. That moment of hearing the knock on
the door and opening it to an almost-there ghostly
presence can be read as supernatural, but it is also
a perfect metaphor for obsessive memories that
continue to intrude into one’s thoughts and from
which one can’t escape.
With the arrival of the Raven, the narrator’s desire
to escape from his sorrowful, overwhelming
memories comes to seem even more unattainable.
Because the narrator’s other friends and hopes
“have flown before,” he at first reasonably expects
that the Raven will do the same. But the bird
remains a constant presence, becoming itself like
memories of Lenore, ever-present and
inescapable, and its cry of “Nevermore” enforces in
the speaker a belief that he lacks the power to
escape his memories.
In what may be read as another supernatural
moment or as a manifestation of a final, desperate
hope for relief, the narrator then perceives that
the air grows dense, perfumed, and inhabited by
“seraphim,” or angels. The narrator cries and cries,
“Wretch, thy God hath lent thee—by these angels
he hath sent thee/Respite—respite and nepenthe
from thy memories of Lenore!/Quaff, oh quaff this
kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore.” In
Homer’s Odyssey, “nepenthe” is a drug that erases
memories, and so in this moment the narrator is
hoping that even if he cannot help himself escape
his memories, that some sort of divine intervention
will intercede on his behalf. The Raven, of course,
answers only “Nevermore,” and in so doing
quashes the narrator’s hope for escape from the
torment of remembering his dead love. Memories
of loss and sadness, the poem implies, can never
be escaped, they flutter always in the brain, like a
bird that will not leave a room.

The Supernatural and the Subconscious

“The Raven” is an example of Gothic literature, a genre that
originated in 18th century England. Hallmarks of Gothic works
include horror, death, the supernatural, and occasionally
romance. Their characters are often highly emotional and
secluded from society, living in dark, gloomy, medieval-like
homes surrounded by wild natural landscapes. (“Gothic” refers to
the architectural style of the residences in which these novels are
set.) “The Raven” contains many elements that point to the
narrative’s Gothic nature: a lonely character in a state of deep
emotion, the cold and dark of a midnight in December. The
Raven itself, a seemingly demonic, talking bird that arrives at
midnight, is the poem’s most prominent example of the
supernatural.
Gothic works — Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, and Wuthering Heights,
to name a few — tend to make ambiguous whether the
supernatural events they describe are actually happening, or if
these events are a product of their characters’ subconscious. “The
Raven,” by leaving unresolved the question of whether the Raven
is the genuine presence of a supernatural force or a figment of
the tortured narrator’s imagination, fits squarely into this
tradition.
At the start of the poem, the narrator is reading his books in a
failed attempt to distract himself from his grief at the death of his
beloved Lenore, and is drowsing off. He then describes himself as
having been roused by a mysterious tapping at his door and
senses the presence of his dead love Lenore, followed by the
arrival of the Raven through the window. Perhaps the Raven
truly has arrived, but the narrator’s exhaustion leaves open the
possibility that he has actually fallen more deeply asleep, and that
the knock he hears signals the beginning of his entrance into a
dream state. The Raven and its repeated message of “nevermore”
may be a supernatural visitation, or an expression of the
narrator’s loss and doubts, a nightmare from which the narrator
can never fully awaken.
Ultimately, the poem does not take sides on whether its events
should be interpreted as either entirely supernatural or entirely a
result of the subconscious. In fact, the way it straddles and ties
together the subconscious and supernatural helps to give the
poem much of its power, depicting someone forced to confront
the uncertainty, unknowability, and despair of losing a loved one,
and having to face the profound and unanswerable question of
death.