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Raven by Edgar Allan Poe Summary

  In this poem the familiar theme of grief occasioned by the death of a beautiful woman is skillfully applied. Poe believed that the death of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the best poetical topic in the world. In the poem, the presentation of :he subject is indefinite and vague and Poe does it with a purpose. The incantatory technique that he applies in the poem attenuates the subject of the poem. The deliberate indefinitiveness and the melodious attention of the subject matter are mended to induce an exhilarated feeling of unearthliness. 

The scene is a chamber where a weary student who has lost his beloved is half reaming of his mistress on a stormy night. To alleviate his grief, he is reading a ook. Disturbed by a tapping sound, the young scholar opens the door thinking that someone has knocked it. As there is no one standing outside, he closes the door and continues to read the book. When he hears the knocking sound again, he locates the spot at the window lattice. He opens the window; but is surprised to see a raven there. He has let the raven in. The bird without showing any respect to the grief ricken scholar enters the room boldly and perches on the figure Pallas. Athena ode of marble. Tortured by grief over the loss of his beloved, the weary student strives a series of queries and the bird answers his queries using single word cabulary, 'nevermore'. When the scholar requests the bird to tell its name, the bird iswers 'nevermore'. Realizing that the bird speaks one word 'nevermore' only, the ter is very anxious to know the meaning of that word. But the bird answers evermore'. To his another question, concerning the possibility of meeting his loved in another world, the bird answers 'nevermore'. When the weary scholar orders the bird to leave the room, the bird repeats the word 'nevermore'. He is dr4 to wilder demands by the repetition of the fatal word, until the raven becomes the irremovable, symbol of his dark doubts and frustrated longing.


Poe – romantic poet

 Poe in his essay The Philosophy of Composition' tells us how he wrote the poem The Raven: The poet claims that its composition has resulted from a series of interlocked conscious choices. How can a romantic poet compose a poem based ca conscious choices? According to the romantic view the art of creation is a spontaneous overflowing of inspiration. How far is it true to say that Poe is a romantic poet? Hoffman answers the question saying that Poe's systematic proc is in fact determined by Romantic necessity. That necessity is the excitation of through the contemplation of the melancholy of subjects - the death of a belt woman. Hence Poe is undoubtedly a romantic poet. 


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