The work is published in 1845 during a serious illness of the author's beloved wife, who foresees an imminent tragedy. At the same time, the poem is dedicated not to the author's wife, but to the Victorian poetess Browning Elizabeth. When the poem is published, the author receives a fee of five dollars, but despite this, the work quickly becomes very popular.
n accordance with literary traditions, the work is a poem, but the author himself refers it to a simple alternation of short poems, not recognizing it as a single major work.
As a poetic size, the author uses an eight-foot trochee, called the trochee by literary critics. The poetic construction is manifested in the alternation of male and female endings. The meter is borrowed by the author from the poetess Elizabeth Browning, but the structural stanza is characterized by originality.
The compositional structure includes eighteen stanzas, each of which consists of six lines, with the latter being an insistent refrain, emphasized by constant repetition, as well as a rhyming system in the form of a rhyme of the final verse and the second, fourth and fifth lines.
The narration in the poem is conducted on behalf of the lyrical hero, whose beloved is represented in the image of Linora, which indicates the use of ballad traditions by the author.
The main theme of the poem is the author's depiction of human fear of death. The melancholic mood of the poem emphasizes the suffering, fatigue of the lyrical hero by describing the deep night, which is replaced by the anxious state of a person who anticipates trouble. The theme of the poem is revealed by the author through the use of the image of a raven, which, according to folklore traditions, is a harbinger of death.
As a means of artistic expression in the poem, the author primarily uses alliteration, which contributes to the creation of an appropriate atmosphere of horror and darkness. In addition, it should be noted the use of assonance in the refrain, symbolizing the cry of a raven. The author also uses the technique of metaphor, which is the leading trope in the poem, while the most striking metaphor is the gaze of a bird in the form of burning eyes, burning through the hero to the very heart. It is also necessary to emphasize the presence of antithesis in the poem, which the author repeatedly refers to in the form of opposition to the black raven of white marble, the contrasting image of a bird in the form of either a majestic, or an unsightly, or a funny, or a terrible raven. In addition, the poem is characterized by numerous contrasting epithets that focus on the spiritual unrest of the lyrical hero.
The semantic meaning of the work lies in the depiction of the inevitability and hopelessness of death, which the lyrical hero realizes, experiencing painful longing for the deceased beloved woman, realizing that there will never be a return to her former life.
The poem "The Raven" has become one of the most important works in the work of Edgar Allan Poe. Written at a time when the author's wife was suffering from fatal consumption in those days, but dedicated to another woman, the poetess Elizabeth Browning (it was from one of her poems that Poe borrowed meter), the poem was begun in 1844 and completed a year later. Poe published "The Crow" in one of the New York newspapers, selling it for a ridiculous five dollars, but the work almost immediately brought him fame and popularity. The poem has been translated into many languages, and to this day it is one of the most famous among all the works of one of the greatest American romantic writers.
The poem consists of eighteen stanzas of six lines each, the verses themselves in the stanzas are built through the alternation of masculine and feminine endings. The author himself believed that his work should not be considered a poem, for him "The Raven" is more like a few small poems, and not a single work.
The theme of the poem and the mood that permeates it is revealed even in the title. Traditionally, the raven is not just a bird, but a gloomy harbinger of death. So the raven seems to the lyrical hero to be an ominous spirit that was sent from the realm of the dead to tell him that eternal misfortune awaits him due to the death of his beloved. The name of the beloved, Linor, is a reference to the famous ballad by G. Burger. In addition to references to the classic German ballad, there are many biblical references and allusions in the poem.
The protagonist of The Crow appears before us sad and melancholy, tired and exhausted, throughout the poem, growing anxiety is gradually added to his longing, which at the end makes the hero scream. The key moment of the work, when a premonition of imminent trouble and fear appears in the mind of the hero, is the episode when he, having opened the door to a guest who has just knocked on it, does not find anyone on the threshold. Soon, a raven flies through the open window, with which the hero enters into a conversation, during which the fear of the imminent death of his beloved is replaced by the fear of the imminent death of all the good that, in principle, was in his life.
The fear of death is one of the strongest and most ancient human fears, however, Edgar Allan Poe, shifting his own feelings and experiences onto him, creates a truly gloomy picture, adding to the fear of the imminent death of his beloved lyrical hero with a bang not to survive this death, not to cope with this misfortune, as well as the fear that the hero’s continued existence will be meaningless and useless, and that everything he has ever loved will lose its former colors and all sorts of meaning, and he will be doomed to exist in an empty world.
History of creation
The author wrote his legendary work while married to Virginia, his cousin. He felt as if his feelings were not real, as if he had replaced real love with imaginary feelings. While writing the poem, his wife was mortally ill. Edgar Allan Poe wrote many works at that time, including The Crow, but he did not dedicate it to his wife.
Poe said that he tried to write a work that would please not only him, but society would also like. He was inspired by the talking raven from Dickens' novel. The poem was first published in 1845, and although it was able to make the author famous, it did not bring income.
Genre : poem, poem
Plot and theme
The main theme of the work is the feelings and experiences of the protagonist. The author, with the help of symbols, such as sounds and colors, tries to convey all the feelings, fears and experiences of the protagonist to the reader.
One quiet December night, the main character, on whose behalf the story is being told, sits at old books, trying to distract himself from thoughts about his beloved woman with their help. Lenore, that was her name, died.
Suddenly, the hero hears someone knocking on the door, but when he opens it, he finds no one. He walks back into the room, however the knocking sounds are heard, and louder than usual. After the hero decides to open the window, a raven flies into his room. Ignoring the person, the bird proudly sits on the bust of Pallas, which is located above the door.
The hero is interested in the name of the raven, but he answers only one thing: “never”, which surprises the man. No matter how many people ask after that, they always get the same answer. Then he decides that the bird knows only this word.
Having moved a chair, a person sits down opposite the bird, and begins to think about what “never” means. Thoughts about his beloved, which he kept pushing into the background, come back again. It begins to seem to him that he feels the presence of the supernatural, angels and God. Maybe this is a sign that he should forget about his love.
"Never"; The bird seems to be answering the question about the release of a man from these thoughts. The narrator becomes angry with the raven, calling him a prophet. He asks another question, will they be together with their beloved in the next world? The bird still answers: "never." The man, furious, scolds the bird, calling the raven a liar, and yells for it to get out. Raven does not react to this, continuing to sit quietly, forming a shadow with his figure, saying that the human soul will never come out of this very shadow.
main characters
The raven is an image with which the author displays all the sadness and problems. The raven is used as a harbinger of trouble.
The lyrical hero is a man suffering from his feelings for his deceased beloved Linore. In this hero, the author displays his own experiences and worries.
Composition
Consists of eighteen stanzas of six lines, the final stanza is a refrain. The poem was written in eight-foot trochaic.