Analysis of the structure, contrasts, and complex of the
lost love in The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

by

Bagossy, Renate

Contents

1. Introduction 3

2. Structure of the poem 4

2.1. The three parts 4
2.2. Rhyme and refrain 5

3. Contrasts in the poem 6

3.1. Contrast in the course of the conversation 6
3.2. Heaven and hell 8

3.2.1. God contra devil 8
3.2.2. Angels contra demon 9
3.3.3. Contrast between heaven and hell 10

4. The raven′s credibility 10

5. The lost love 11

6. Conclusion 13

Works Cited 15

1. Introduction

Edgar Allan Poe´s The Raven "was the poem that finally made him popular as it popped up in a number of magazines and newspapers" (Shucard, 1990: 120). This may be so, among other things, because of the extraordinary usage of refrain, alliteration, assonance and the complex structure of this poem. In this term paper I am going to concentrate on the structure of the poem. First I will give a general overview of the structure and then will give a more detailed appreciation of the poem. I have chosen two contrasting aspects which I will analyze in more detail: the contrast in the course of the conversation between the raven and the speaker and the contrast between heaven and hell. Then I will make a short sidestep to discuss the credibility of the raven. This is necessary for the confirmation of some elements of the contrast between heaven and hell. Finally I will examine the elements of and the ideas presented by lost love. The individual elements of this poem can not be separated totally from each other, as these said elements often overlap. Sometimes, I feel that it is not possible to discuss something in full detail in one part of this work, as the same elements appear later again in another context, where the discussion can assume new and different aspects.

After the quotations from the poem itself, I will only give the number of the line or lines where it comes from. In order to talk about this poem it is essential to mention The Philosophy of Composition by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe´s discussion of ´The Raven´ in ´The Philosophy of Composition´, ..., offers the reader a unique opportunity to learn from the author the meanings he consciously expressed in his own work [and] the forms he fashioned to express himself. ( Wuletich-Brinberg, 1988: 77) Therefore I will quote some - in my opinion - important sections of this work during my discussion of the poem to bolster and quantify my assertions. Furthermore, besides books about American poetry and books on Poe´s work, I have also used Wörterbuch der Symbolik and Brockhaus Enzyklopädie to round off my work. These books are a necessity for my work to explain not only certain words but also their symbolic meaning.

2. Structure of the poem

2.1. The three parts

A clear pattern can be found in the poem. It is written like a narrative, like a story using the typical expressions like "once upon" and "then". The poem can be divided into three parts. The first part lasts until the end of the sixth stanza. The speaker¹ is introduced: he is thinking about his dead love Lenore. He hears a tapping and opens the door but there is nobody. He goes back into his chamber but can hear the tapping again, this time at the "window lattice" (33). In this first part the reader gets to know about the sorrow of the student. The raven is still not in the room, but the title of the poem and the constant rapping and tapping, foreshadow its arrival.

In the next part (7-13 stanza) the raven enters the house and gets into a conversation with the student, in which the latter asks questions. These are all continually with the same reply: "nevermore". Firstly this conversation seems to divert the speaker′s attention from Lenore but at the end of this second part the speaker is again thinking of her. At this point the student still does not suspect anything about the bird.

[...]

1 In The Philosophy of Composition the speaker of the poem is also called ´student´ or ´lover´. In the following I will use all of these expressions.