Most people know Edgar Allan Poeâs poem The Raven, but why is it still so haunting almost 200 years after it was published in 1845? The poem itself can be classified as psychological horror, but when you look beneath the surface, itâs a critique of how humans survive and succumb to their grief.
Throughout the poem, Poe uses a hypnotic, drum-like rhythm to represent a human pacing restlessly around a room. Each stanza ends with either the word âmoreâ or âevermore,â which represents when you turn around after reaching one end of the room while pacing. People typically pace when theyâre anxious, so by creating a more back-and-forth structure, Poe adds anxiety and uneasiness to the poem thatâs felt on a deeper level by the readers. He also closely clusters the rhymes within the poem’s stanzas, which makes it almost claustrophobic because you donât get much of a break from the eerie rhyming and cascading momentum. This mimics a panic attack or racing heart, making you feel the narratorâs hysteria alongside him.Â
 The Raven, which is actually just a figment of the narratorâs imagination, could be classified as a type of self-torture or even insanity; although the narrator realizes that the Raven can only repeat one word, he still asks increasingly devastating questions about his dead lover, Lenore. Poe utilizes the phrase âQuoth the Raven, ‘Nevermoreââ to demonstrate how words can be used as a weapon, as the narrator repeatedly asks questions and receives the same answer so he can hear the bird destroy his hopes of his dearest Lenore returning to him. This captures a flaw in human nature: the tendency to pick at our wounds, so to speak, and wallow in despair rather than try to fix it. Itâs a familiar reaction, but not quite reflective of what would happen in real life, adding a relatable uneasiness to the tale that puts us on edge.
Something else that Poe critiques in the poem is how someone can live within the prison of their memory. The raven doesnât fly away at the end of the poem, but instead remains perched right where it was at the beginning, symbolizing how the unyielding grief of the narrator has permanently conquered his reason and sanity. Itâs also important to note that the Raven is perched above a bust of Pallas Athena, who symbolizes wisdom, which lays bare how his usual wisdom and reason have fled him in losing his beloved Lenore. Additionally, the birdâs shadow swallowing the room illustrates how loss can turn a personâs life into an inescapable prison of grief and sadness.Â
There are many uncanny elements within the poem that also make it so haunting. One element is the Raven itself because itâs an animal that will only repeat the word âNevermore,â It doesnât have any supernatural elements but is just a reflection of the narratorâs own psyche. Another element is the bust of Pallas Athena where the bird perches because itâs a symbol of reason and logic, whereas the bird is a representation of wildness and chaos that is indicative of the narrator slowly being driven mad in his grief. There is also a representation of a familiar element that has become strange, like the quiet night in the narrator’s study which is normally a safe space, but becomes oppressive because of the tapping at the door and the Raven. All three of these examples can be explained by Freudâs essay, The Uncanny, in which he explains how the double represents a split in a person’s psyche. Each of these elements function as a depiction of the narrator’s externalized guilt and despair that heâs trying to suppress.Â
The narratorâs reaction to her death and how he deals with the grief is very similar to how someone might realistically experience grief, and the realism of his reactions, like in many Gothic works, makes the poem truly haunting. The Raven is a representation of how we deal with loss on a subconscious level â shedding light on thoughts or feelings we may not want to outwardly express. This makes it alluring but forbidden, which is what draws readers to come back time and time again despite being scared of the tale.Â