A Brief Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's poem, The Raven

A lonely man on a dreary December winter night at midnight during a storm is trying to escape the emotions chewing him up inside by reading some old books. He is lamenting over the death of his wife, Lenore. He hears a gentle tapping at his door hoping it is a visitor who will help him to escape his emotions and loneliness only to find no one is there. He then hears the tapping at his window, opens it, and in flies a raven who perches on the bust of Pallas. Pallas was the goddess of wisdom in Greek mythology. Someone has taught the raven to talk and the raven constantly repeats, "Nevermore." At first, the man is happy and amused with the raven. The chair he pulls up to sit in is the one Lenore used to sit in and the memory of Lenore brings him pain. The symbolism of the bird landing on Pallas could be that the raven was speaking from wisdom and not simply mimicking. Another possibility is the stark contrast of black against white representing reality. The raven could be asserting the fact that Lenore is "nevermore. No matter how the lonely man wishes Lenore was here, she never will be. It's the raven that enforces the cold reality with his croaking, "nevermore." The raven seems to mock the man in his sorrow, but in my mind, only enforces the fact that Lenore will never return. The fact that the raven arrives in December may represent the end and the beginning of two lives. The end of Lenore's life and a reminder to the man that he must embark on a new life without Lenore. Once again the raven enforces the man's reality. The storm that rages outside represents the loneliness that rages within the man and the parlor represents the calmness Lenore once provided to the man with her presence.