The Raven

In the Raven, Poe conveys the darker themes of life such as unremitting pain and despair, through the narrator’s inquiry with the Raven. In lines 80 through 84, the narrator asks the raven if it’s been sent to relieve his soul from the loss of his Lenore. The narrator says, “Swung by Seraphim,” which suggests that he is hoping that God is divinely relieving him of his grief and agony. When the narrator calls the bird nepenthe which is defined as “a legendary drink supposed to soothe the bereaved,” in the footnote, he is again hoping for divine intervention. In lines 85 through 92, the narrator’s desperation increases. He no longer cares whether the bird is a gift from God or only a devil, but only that the bird is a prophet and can give him the answers which he needs in regard to his agony for his lost Lenore: “‘Prophet!’ said I, ‘thing of evil! prophet still, if bird or devil!” The narrator asks the bird if there is a future for him, anything beyond his current state of sorrow, “Is there-is there balm in Gilead?” This inquiry suggests that the narrator is beyond the point of simply turning to God; he is turning to anything in order to find solace from his suffering. Finally, the narrator requests the bird to “Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,/ It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore-/ Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.” The Raven replies, “‘Nevermore.’” This is the final interrogative exchange between the narrator and the bird, and Poe uses the word “Nevermore,” to suggest that the narrator’s agony will never be lifted by God or any mortal thing. Poe also purports his theme of unremitting sorrow through the action of Raven throughout the Poem. When the narrator demands the Raven to leave, “‘Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore,’” the raven is “never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting/On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door.” In this case, the Raven could be a symbol for the narrator’s pain and the raven’s unwillingness to leave the narrator’s house could suggest that the pain will never go away.