In the poem, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, a simple bird harasses the narrator. The bird, a raven, enters through the window that the narrator opens in order to find out who or what is tapping at the window. The narrator is obviously depressed over the loss of his love, Lenore; however other than that there are no other indications of mental illness. Some could argue that the Raven is just a figment of the speakers imagination, but upon further analysis the raven is indeed real. While reading the poem, one can find that there is physical evidence scattered throughout.
First of all, the raven flies in from the outside as poems speaker opens the window. This one thing alone proves that bird is tangible. Then as the poem progresses, the narrator always says Quoth the raven, Nevermore he never states that the raven directly says nevermore. He only quotes what the raven croaks and all quotes can be left to interpretation. In the final stanza, it is noted that the raven has a shadow, And the lamp-light oer him streaming throws his shadow on the floor. If the bird was imaginary, then the light would obviously pass through it, thus producing no shadow.
However this is not the case, in this situation. With this physical evidence alone, it can be deduced that the raven is indeed real, but the narrators mental state also contributes to this fact. The speaker, despite being depressed, describes the scene with such great detail. Anyone, who supposedly has no mental stability, does not describe things in such painstaking detail. The passage, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor, gives the reader the sense that the narrator knows exactly what he is talking about.
In the opening line of the second stanza the speaker says, Ah, distinctly I remember it. The narrator would not have the ability to say that he remembers the event distinctly, if he were not sound of mind. The speakers state of mind may alter the way that things are portrayed in the poem. An examination of the narrators relationship with the bird reveals that the bird is present, however what the raven is croaking is in the mans imagination. When the narrator hears the raven croaking all he hears is the word nevermore. He is thinking about his lost love Lenore, whom he will never see again.
So he just hears this word over and over again in his head. A glance at the questions that the speaker asks the raven reveal that they could all can be answered with never more. If the bird were imaginary, then the man would make him say more that nevermore. The man is asking questions that when answered negatively make him progressively mentally unstable. He knows the answers to these questions himself, however he is waiting for someone or something else to confirm his fears. So he uses the ravens croaking as the confirmations that he needs to get out of his denial.