The Raven

...Quoth the Raven Nevermore. The Raven is a classic narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845 the poem is often noted for its musicality stylized language and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover tracing the man's slow fall into madness. The lover often identified as being a student is lamenting the loss of his love Lenore. Sitting on a bust of Pallas the raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repetition of the word Nevermore. The poem makes use of a number of folk mythological religious and classical references. Poe claimed to have written the poem very logically and methodically intending to create a poem that would appeal to both critical and popular tastes as he explained in his 1846 follow-up essay The Philosophy of Composition. The poem was inspired in part by a talking raven in the novel Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty by Dickens.