RAVEN, THE

“The Raven” was first seen in 1845 among the pages in the “Evening Mirror” newspaper and quickly became popular. This narrative poem, part of the Romantic Gothic style, is the most powerful lyrical composition of Edgar Allan Poe for its elegant rhythm, its precise verb usage and its atmospheric structure. The story describes how, at midnight, a raven visits a lover desolated by the loss of his beloved, to accompany him to the depths of madness. The man hears a tapping at the window, but sees nothing there. The tapping insists, so he opens the window, and a raven enters. It perches on a bust of Pallas above the chamber door, and when the man engages it in conversation, it responds to his queries, repeating over and over again the word “Nevermore.”