Rob Roy

LA 10
3rd Hour
11/23/15
The Raven

Doom, gloom and sadness have been around since the beginning of time, everyone has

experienced it at some point in their life. “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe is about a man who is

trapped in his sadness and sorrow thinking about his recently departed wife. He heard a tapping

and when going check and open the window, the Raven flew in, and when the Speaker asked the

raven serious questions about the his own life, the Raven only responded with “nevermore”. The

Speaker imagined the Raven to cope with his sadness and doom. While others may, disagree, the

Raven in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” is imaginary because the speaker was so sad and

doomed he imagined it.

One Reason the Raven s imaginary is because the Speaker is responsible for his own

sense of doom and entrapped in his own loneliness. The Speaker is seeing the room as very sad

and depressing and keeps thinking in a very melancholy manner. In the beginning of the poem

the Speaker says to himself: “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,/

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,/ While I nodded, nearly napping,”

(Poe 1-3). The Speaker was already sad trying to deal with his departed wife and his mind starts

to wander to sad thoughts. He begins to fall asleep because of his sense of loneliness and doom

which caused the imaginary presence of the Raven. His mind was ensnared by the thoughts of

doom and sadness so he created the Raven to cope.

 Another reason the Raven was imaginary because the words Edgar Allan Poe used

showed the Speaker was responsible for creating the sense of doom in the poem. The words Poe

uses explains the sadness and sense of doom in the speakers head. In the first part of the poem,

the Speaker explains his surroundings. The Speaker says: “And the silken sad, uncertain rustling

of each purple curtain/ Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;” (Poe 13-

14). These particular words Poe used shows how the Speaker was so sad, he thought everything

around him seemed sad and depressing. This mindset and sad words supports the sense of doom

in the poem and the depressed Speaker and the creation of the Raven.

Others may believe the Raven is real because the Ravens presence has contributed in the

inability to escape his own loneliness. Near the end of the poem in stanza 17, the Speaker wildly

exclaims: “Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend’ I shrieked upstarting - / ‘Get the back

into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian Shore!” (Poe 97-98). By the end of the poem the

Raven has clearly motivated the Speaker’s doom and depression even more by infuriating him.

However the Raven is actually imaginary because the argument that at the end the Raven made

him angrier doesn’t prove entirely the Raven is real. The Speaker could have created the Raven

and when trying to cope with everything, his mind just gave up. Everyone has breaking points

and your mind can set one self off if pushed to its limits. The Speaker says at the very end: “And

my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor/ shall be lifted - nevermore!” (Poe

107-108). The Speaker explains how finally his soul is doomed completely. The Speakers doom

led to his creation of the Raven because he was so lonely and he discovered he could not handle

it anymore.
 The Raven in “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe is imaginary because the Speaker was

lost in his loneliness and entrapped in his own doom. The Speaker was already sad and depressed

about his dead wife and his deep sense of doom about life which caused the Raven. The words

Edgar Allan Poe used proved the Speaker was responsible for his own doom because he was sad

about everything the room and depressed about his surroundings. Doom and sadness have always

been , some can handle it, but others like the Speaker just let it overtake them. Doom and sadness

have always been in the world, and everyone has been through it and some cannot handle it, like

the Speaker.