Edgar Allan Poe′s "The Raven"
An Analysis

American Poetry of the 19th Century
SS 2000
August 27th 2000

by

Christian Schlegel

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ...  p. 2
1.1. What is this Paper about?  ...  p. 2
1.2. About the Author ...  p. 2
1.2.1. Early Life and Work ...  p. 2
1.2.2. Editorial Career ...  p. 3

2. Analysis ...  p. 4
2.1. About the Text ...  p. 4
2.1.1. Summary ...  p. 4
2.1.2. Origin ...  p. 4
2.2. Structure ...  p. 5
2.2.1. Subdivisions of the Poem ...  p. 5
2.2.2. Development in the Text ...  p. 5
2.3. Meaning ...  p. 6
2.3.1. What is the Poem about?  ...  p. 6
2.3.2. What does the Raven stand for?  ...  p. 7
2.4. Metrical and Acoustic Aspects ...  p. 8
2.5. Style ...  p. 8
2.5.1. Symbols ...  p. 8
2.5.2. Stylistic Devices ...  p. 10

3. Summary ...  p. 11

4. List of Works Cited ...  p. 13

1. Introduction

1.1. What is this Paper about?

The course during the semester was about American poetry of the nineteenth century but it was also concerned with the discussion of poetry in general.
At first I will give some information about the life and work of the author Edgar Allan Poe and the plot of "The Raven" which is said to be his best known piece of work. Then under the headline "Analyzation" I will analyze the poem by considering intrinsic points of view in order to take a close look at it and how it is arranged, as well as extrinsic points of view, in order to give some background information about the history of the text.

Finally I will summarize my results by answering several questions:

1. Did Poe′s life influence the story that is told in The Raven?
2. Why is this poem so famous?
3. Is The Raven a `good′ poem?

I will try to find the answers to these questions in agreement with authors and critics who wrote about this poem.

1.2. About the Author

1.2.1. Early Life and Work

Edgar Poe was born on January the nineteenth 1809 in Boston. His parents, David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins, were touring actors; both died before he was 3 years old, and he was taken into the home of John Allan, a prosperous merchant in Richmond, Virginia, where he was baptized Edgar Allan Poe. His childhood was uneventful, although he studied for 5 years (1815-20) in England. In 1826 he entered the University of Virginia but stayed for only a year. He ran up large gambling debts that his stepfather refused to pay. Therefore he had to leave the college. He broke with Allan and went to Boston, where he published his first book of poems, Tamerlane and other Poems (1827). Because of not having any financial support and the book being unsuccessful, Poe enlisted in the army.

In 1829 he left in order to accept an appointment at West Point, as an enlisted man. At this time he had already published Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. After leaving West Point he asked his stepfather for financial assistance but Allan refused. He then moved to Baltimore in 1833 and lived in the home of his aunt Maria Glemm, where he fell in love with his cousin Virginia. His stepfather died one year later.

1.2.2. Editorial Career

In 1833, he won a $50 prize in a short story contest for “The Manuscript in the bottle“. Poe, his aunt, and Virginia moved to Richmond in 1835, and he became editor of the Southern Literary Messenger. In the same year he married Virginia, who was only 14 years old at this time.

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