The Raven Case

The unnamed narrator appears in a typically Gothic setting with a lonely apartment, a dying fire, and a "bleak December" night while wearily studying his books in an attempt to distract himself from his troubles. He thinks occasionally of Lenore but is generally able to control his emotions, although the effort required to do so tires him and makes his words equally slow and outwardly pacified. However, over the course of the narrative, the protagonist becomes more and more agitated both in mind and in action, a progression that he demonstrates through his rationalizations and eventually through his increasingly exclamation-ridden monologue. In every stanza near the end, however, his exclamations are punctuated by the calm desolation of the sentence "Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore,'" reflecting the despair of his soul.

He feels a poignant sadness

So great is his love for someone, when that love is torn away from us. We are left completely by that one emotion of our love leaving us. Here that love has been wrenched from him forever ( since she is dead) . Poe knows that nevermore will his love be returned back to him. Even rejection or living separated still has a glimmer of hope, but death severs every relation between him and Lenore. The finality of death and sense of hopelessness and sorrow is portrayed by the use of 'nevermore'

The poet as noticed becomes more and more irrational and agitated through the course. Even in the morning the bird will leave him like other things that have left and he will return to his loneliness

The raven has only one word in his vocabulary. His voice sounds like a funeral song , a dirge. The author feels the bird's original owner was a man who understood the finality of life and that is the reason why the bird knows only one word. Poe has acknowledged that all hope is lost. Now in the next stanzas, the author interprets the words of the bird. He feels that nevermore he will meet his lover. He is clinging to some kind of hope but the message of the raven is clear. Death is the ultimate disconnector

He says he can see the velvet lining shine in the lamplight , but nevermore will she ( Lenore ) lie against those cushions. He sees all these objects in the room but she will nevermore use those objects. " she shall press,ah , nevermore"

Edgar Poe's agitation increases as we carry on. The air becomes thick and heavy as if smoke s rising from an incense burner (unseen censer) . He wants to let go of the memories of Lenore which pain him but he will never more be able to forget Lenore. He is continually plagued by the memory of his love. He wants to ease the pain inside him not erase her from his memory . In time her memory wont plague him anymore. He asks the bird will I forget her ? The raven says no, nevermore as in you will not be able to remove her from your memory.

You the raven

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