"The Raven" Criticism

"The Raven" is a poem that can be really enjoyable, but can also scare people or make them not want to read Poe anymore because of the themes he uses. "The Raven" can be interpreted a number of ways, and is often a start of controversies between literary critics (Edgar). "The Raven" talks about a man that wishes for his lost love Lenore, and has no way to do anything about it (Poe). Suddenly, a raven knocks on his window and flies in, and perches on a bust of Pallas Athena above the man's door (Poe). It sits there and stares at the man while the man is going crazy thinking about his lost love (Poe). He talks to himself and to the raven, and he thinks that the raven answers him by saying the word "Nevermore" over and over (Poe). The raven saying "Nevermore" made the man think he was crazy, and it also made the man very, very upset about the fact that the raven said he would never see Lenore again, which broke his heart even more than it had already been broken (Poe). He screamed at the raven to get out of his house, but the raven said that it would move "Nevermore", so the raven stayed on the bust of Pallas Athena for the rest of both of their lives (Poe). When "The Raven" was originally published, many of its readers really enjoyed reading it (Edgar). They loved the suspense, horror, and mystery that the poem brought, and they loved that it was such a new style of writing that they could read (Edgar). The literary critics, though, had mixed reviews of the poem (Edgar). They had many issues with some of the things that Edgar Allen Poe had written, and they declared that some of his lines were inconsistent with the others (Edgar). They thought that some of the literary ideas, such as internal rhyme and some of the more technical concerns that they had made the poem ineffective (Edgar). They also thought some of his lines did not make sense, and they thought that some of them should be gotten rid of. Critics also thought that Edgar Allen Poe had stolen some of his ideas for "The Raven" and possibly some of his other works from a number of other authors such as Charles Dickens (Edgar). They claimed that Poe based his poem off of a book that Dickens had written including a talking raven (Edgar). Though it is logical that they could be linked, the styles of writing would be very different and they would not have any relevancy to the other whatsoever. They argued with him and criticized him so much for it, he even wrote another work that explained how he come up with the idea for "The Raven", because he wanted to prove that it was an original work (Edgar). Many people still do not know what to make of "The Raven" and it is still considered a mildly controversial work, but it is still enjoyed by many. It was the beginning of a new genre of writing, and it changed writing all over the world forever.


"Edgar Allan Poe The Raven Criticism." ENotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans, and More. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. .


Poe, Edgar A. "The Raven : the Poem." Edgar Allan Poe's House of Usher (fan Site). Web. 23 Nov. 2010. .