The Melancholic Tone of “The Raven” Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” is representing Poe’s own introvertedness, which is strangely moving and attractive to the reader. In his essay entitled “The Philosophy of Composition,” Poe reveals his intent in writing “The Raven” and also describes the work of writing the poem as being carefully calculated in all aspects. Of all melancholy topics, Poe wished to use the most understood, death, specifically death involving a beautiful woman.
The tone in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” represents a painful state of mind, a mind that is vulnerable to madness that is brought upon by the death of his beloved lady. Which is representing Poe’s own personal problems, with those of the narrator in “The Raven,” his use of symbolism, and the language through the use of the raven’s refrain, the reader becomes aware of Poe’s prominent tone of sadness. A way that really brought out the melancholic tone in “The Raven” is Poe’s use of the first person. Poe used his real life experiences and put it down as first person so it seems more real.
After all his misfortunes in his life, which included living a life of poverty and being orphaned at a young age, Poe’s beloved wife Virginnia, died after a long illness. The narrator’s sorrow for the lost Lenore is paralleled with Poe’s own grief regarding the death of his wife. Confined in the chamber are memories of her who had frequented it. These recollections cultivate an enormous motive in the reader to know and be relieved of the bewilderment that plagues the narrator and Poe himself; the narrator wonders whether he will see his wife in the afterlife.
After Virginnia’s lingering death, Poe tried to relieve his grief by drinking. A parallelism is formed in “The Raven” between the condescending actions of the raven towards the narrator and the taunting of alcohol towards Poe. The raven patronizes Poe that he will never see his lost love again when uttering, “forget this lost Lenore” (Thompson, 83). Alcohol taunts Poe into never-ending depression and caused Poe to have a life-long problem with alcoholism, which led to his death.
In a similar way that the alcohol explored Poe’s inner devastation, the raven gives a look into the narrator’s innermost fears that he will never see his Lenore again. In the first stanza, questioning from what direction the “tapping” came, he throws open the door, the narrators’ nemesis not to be found. In fact it was some other realm that must have been opened up about his lost love and the noise, which is driving him insane. The narrator then opens the shutter, which could be interpreted as opening his soul to the outside world.
To his surprise, he discovers a raven, a “beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door” (Thompson, 53). The raven directs all further action in the poem, it ridicules and patronizes the narrator throughout the poem and its evil force creates a sense of suffering and anguish within the character. The climax of the poem is when the narrator faces his confused and disordered world and in the narrator’s madness he cries out, “Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore! ” (Thompson, 98).
Poe’s use of symbolism was influential in making the literary reputation of “The Raven”. The raven is symbolized as the narrator’s mournful and ceaseless remembrance of his lost love. The raven is important to the melancholic theme because it is often seen as being a bringer of death. Another symbol Poe used was the bust of Pallas, the Goddess of Wisdom. This is symbolic because it leads the narrator to believe that the raven speaks from wisdom.
When Poe writes, “… distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December… ”, he is again giving another symbol (Thompson, 7). Midnight and December oth symbolize closure, as midnight is the last hour of the day and December is the last month of the year. Kenneth Silverman connected the use of December with the death of Edgar’s mother (Silverman, 241), who died in that month; whether this is true or not is, however, not significant to its meaning in the poem. “Midnight” and “December” could also represent the anticipation of something new, a change to happen. Symbolism can also be seen in the chamber. The chamber in which the narrator is in is used to give a sense of the loneliness of the man, and the sadness he feels from the loss of beloved Lenore.
The room is well furnished, and this reminds the narrator of his lost love, which creates an effect of beauty in the poem. The storm outside is used to signify the isolation of the man. It shows a big difference between the calmness and stillness in the chamber and the harsh and wild storm outside. The language used by the raven is also utilized to give the piece a melancholic tone. In this poem it’s important to answer the questions that are already known, to create a picture of the self-torture in which the narrator endures. This way of interpreting igns are “one of the most profound impulses of human nature” (Quinn, 441).
Repetition of “Nevermore” impedes the speaker’s mindfulness in all actions, and baffles him into a victimized state of mind. The raven speaking, especially the sole phrase in the refrain is very important, for the exchange of conversation would not go on without the person or thing having something to respond to. The poem has a series of consecutive stanzas ending with the line “Quoth the Raven Nevermore”, which establishes the unchangeable supremacy of the raven, and causes the melancholic condition of the man.
The word nevermore also has a lot to do with the melancholic tone of the poem, specifically it’s meaning. Focusing on the raven and its raspy way of saying “Nevermore”, an effect is developed that shows a gloomy and depressed state of mind. That one word “Nevermore is used throughout Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” to underscore the developing tone of melancholy. This line completes the mood by giving the awareness of the inevitable; realizing that the raven’s response to any questions posed will be “Nevermore,” the character asks about his lost love, the “rare and radiant maiden hom the angels name Lenore,” probably on purpose to further torture and anguish himself (Thompson, 95). Throughout the poem “The Raven,” Poe makes a personal, introverted hell strangely mesmerizing poem to all. Poe’s haunting descriptions, unnerving parallelism between his life and the poem, and startling yet purposeful exploration of symbolism and situation, makes the reader look into realms of insanity which explores the soul in which is enjoyable yet strange.
