The Raven

By
Edgar Allan Poe

Presented by: Esra Fawzi Aljihani

 Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe (/poʊ/; born Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October

7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is
best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of
mystery. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in
the United States, and of American literature. Poe was one of the
country's earliest practitioners of the short story, and considered to be
the inventor of the detective fiction genre. Poe is the first well-known
American writer to earn a living through writing alone.
 Edgar Allan Poe
Poe was born in Boston, the second child of actors David and Elizabeth "Eliza" Poe. His father
abandoned the family in 1810, and when his mother died the following year, Poe was taken in by
John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia. They never formally adopted him, but he was
with them well into young adulthood. He attended the University of Virginia but left after a year
due to lack of money. He published his first collection Tamerlane and Other Poems, credited
only to "a Bostonian“. Poe later failed as an officer cadet at West Point, declared a firm wish to
be a poet and writer, and parted ways with Allan.

Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the next several years working for literary journals
and periodicals, becoming known for his own style of literary criticism.
 Edgar Allan Poe

In 1836, he married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm, but she died of tuberculosis
 in 1847. In January 1845, Poe published his poem "The Raven" to instant success. He
planned for years to produce his own journal The Penn (later renamed The Stylus), but
before it could be produced, he died in Baltimore on October 7, 1849, at age 40, under
mysterious circumstances. The cause of his death remains unknown, and has been variously
attributed to many causes including disease, alcoholism, substance abuse, and suicide.
 About the poem

"The Raven" is a poem by 19th century, is a narrative poem,

Poe likely had no idea it would go on to be a spooky American
classic over a hundred years after his death. His poetry wasn't
especially popular during his lifetime, but "The Raven" was
among the few of Poe's poems to grab the attention of his
contemporaries, as well as future poetry lovers.
 "The Raven": Summary

Begins with the poem's narrator, an unnamed man,

working in his study late at night, or "a midnight dreary," as the
narrator states. The narrator reveals that he is reading to
distract himself from the loss of his lover, Lenore. He hears
knocking at his door, which leads him to open and whisper for
Lenore. Instead of Lenore, he hears a bird tap on the window
and opens it. A raven flies in and perches on the bust of Pallas,
sitting just above the door.
 "The Raven": Summary

The man asks for the bird's name, and it responds with "Nevermore." The
man feels the presence of what he describes to be an angel. Thinking of
Lenore, he asks the raven if he will be forgiven his sins and allowed to see
Lenore again in Heaven, and the bird responds, "Nevermore." The man
panics and tells the bird to go back to the night's "Plutonian shore," and the
poem ends with the narrator telling the reader that the bird still sits above
his door, casting a constant shadow on him.
 Analysis of Literary
Devices in “The Raven”
 Six Literary Elements that Poe
uses in The Raven

Alliteration Simile Metaphor

"While I pondered weak and "Suddenly there came a "And each separate dying
weary" tapping, as of someone ember wrought its ghost
gently rapping" upon the floor"

Personification Onomatopoeia Assonance

"[T]he Raven, sitting lonely "...and so faintly you came "rustling of each purple
[...] spoke only, That one tapping, tapping at my curtain, Thrilled me -
word, as if his soul [...] he chamber door" filled me"
did outpour.”
Thank you