The Raven Insanity

A Thorough Analysis of “The Raven” and its Morbidity
It is known by many that Edgar Allan Poe is one of the finest poets to ever exist. His use of diction bears no match with any other poet of his generation, and possibly of all time. With an unforgettable sense of ability with the English language, Poe has accumulated an enormous amount of fame and recognition for his dark, twisted works. Easily the most famous of these creations is a tale of love, loss, symbolism and the weight of insanity on the mind of an ordinary person. Most of anybody knows that the allusion is to, of course, “The Raven.” This production is so heavily known that it needs little reference for those to know what one is speaking of. Even with the wide acclaim that it has

received, most still seem to not truly understand what Poe is trying to get readers to grasp. The influence of Poe’s actual despair on his writing allows for the dark imagery to feel more real than that of other authors; it is the goal of “The Raven” to emphasize how love and loss can deeply affect a person’s mental status, as the main character of the poem’s insanity is explicit in its reference to his lost love.

For the duration of this essay, the poetic devices and figurative language utilized in this poem will be analyzed, deconstructed and discussed to provide an in-depth overview of how Poe attracts with his gloomy eloquence.
Before one can understand “The Raven,” they need to understand Poe’s past. Edgar lived a very sorrowful life full of death and hate. By the age of two, his mother had passed of tuberculosis, by only after his father had already abandoned them both. Taken in as a foster child by the Allan family, he began to grow into his writing. Poe was only six years old when he traveled to England for school. He headed back to America after about five years, bringing back with him the Latin and French languages, as well as an

advanced understanding of math and history.

By the age of thirteen, he had already established several poems, and began to write more and more. When he attended the University of Virginia in 1826, Poe had a substantial amount of debt. To try and pay off the debt, he decided to gamble, although this only ended him up in even deeper debt. This eventually caused him to drop out of the school and find a cheaper and more economic option to further his education. His foster father was not fond of Poe for these actions. He did not lend him much money, despite having plenty of it, and despised Poe’s drinking habits. Giving up school all together, Poe joined the armored forces in 1827. He sought after West Point, although his foster father refused to sign off on his application until his wife, the woman Poe trusted most dearly in his life, passed away, and Poe was left motherless again. During his year at West Point, he deliberately had himself dismissed as John Allan had stopped sending him money. In full belief that his writing career would take off, Edgar moved to New York City in an effort to get his work published. Almost everything he submitted was rejected and Poe became stuck in huge financial debt.

He sent letters to John Allan, begging for money, although no letter was ever sent back. When John Allan finally died in 1834, Edgar was not mentioned anywhere within his will. After several years of struggling, Poe found himself as an editor for Graham’s Magazine, a low-paying job that gave him hope. It was here that he became the harsh critic that most aspiring writers in that generation came to either praise or despise. Ironically, he never made enough money solely as a writer to sustain himself. During his work here, he became the founder of the modern fictional detective story with “Murders of the Rue Morgue.” Money came regularly from his job and was enough for living purposes until Poe wrote and published “The Raven.” The poem instantly became a massive seller and a gigantic hit, and he had his first taste of what fame was like. Only four years after this, Poe died a very bizarre death. He was traveling from Richmond to Baltimore when he suddenly disappeared. After about a week, he was found on the streets of Baltimore, completely drunk, wearing clothes that didn’t belong to him. Only a few days after, he unfortunately died of unknown circumstances. His last few words were, “Lord, help my poor soul.” It is evident that the tragic factors of Poe’s life are a tremendous aid to his writing skill, and are a key reason in why “The Raven” is as genuine and dark as it is
Before breaking down each line, there all several open thoughts that must be addressed concerning the basis of the poem, its audience, the purpose and the tone. “The Raven” is about a man who lost his beloved, Lenore. Throughout the poem, his deep, emotional connection to Lenore remains untethered through time as he cannot manage to keep his mind off of her. He tries many things to take his mind off of her on the bleak, December midnight, but they are all to no avail. A raven, symbolizing the idea of death, shows up to his door and enters his home. The raven, which eerily speaks (only the word, ‘Nevermore’) drives the character to insanity and death. The words that describe what the main character feels are clear in their genuineness as Poe has experienced these same tragedies in his life, multiple times. The purpose of the poem was most likely to showcase the importance of loved ones while highlighting this theme through a man who is mentally insane. Because of this, the author can speak of a very powerful idea in his own personal style, making Poe, in many peoples’ eyes, a literary genius. The audience for “The Raven” is often misguided. While most people who read it are fans of the certain dark aspects in Poe’s writing, the target audience for this poem is most likely those ignorant to the feelings presented. The author wanted to show his readers how it felt in his own words, with his own manner. Lastly, we have the tone of the poem. It is no surprise that Edgar Allan Poe has a wide vocabulary that plays into his incredible diction. The elegancy in his words is used to describe the twisted concept of insanity, which allows him to convey a fantastic, yet terror-filled atmosphere to the readers.