The Raven

I like Edgar Allen Poe this is the first time I’ve ever read any of his stuff I liked it 👍

i honestly cannot tell if he likes the bird or not

It's a nice and short poem, worth reading.

The poem itself might come off as confusing, due to the words and descriptions that aren't commonly used in today's vocabulary, so it might require reading it a few times or seeking out external sources for explanation.

Ultimately, it's a poem about grief where the narrator gets awoken from sleeping by what sounds knocking at the front door. He opens it, calling out for a deceased woman by the name of “Lenore”, but only sees a raven which lands upon the statue of Pallas(Athena, goddess of wisdom). Initially he was amused by the bird, which can only reply with the word “nevermore”. The narrator starts asking it questions, that are rational and in composed manner but slowly starts slipping off into madness, grief and irrationality when the raven, from narrator's point of view, starts confirming and agreeing with the man's dark thoughts.

This starts happening when the bird agrees with his words that it'll leave him like everyone else in his life. Then the narrator starts asking it, will Lenore and him unite in heaven, and he interprets the ravens “nevermore” as a “no, never.”. This causes the narrator to start calling the bird “evil” and “the devil”, while spiraling into madness, consumed by the grief. The poem ends with the raven still standing on the statue while the narrator says that his soul “shall be lifted– nevermore”.

PS. English isn't my first language, and this is only my personal interpretation from someone who is trying to get into reading as a hobby. Have a good day, to anyone who read this review/analysis/interpretation ❤️