The Raven The Raven "The Raven" is a 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 distress the protagonist with its constant repetition of the word "Nevermore". The poem makes use of folk, mythological, religious, and classical references.
Poems by Edgar Allan Poe eternally. Poe biographer Daniel Hoffman says that "Bridal Ballad" is guilty of "one of the most unfortunate rhymes in American poetry this side of Thomas Holley Chivers". He is referring to the name of the bride's dead lover, "D'Elormie", which he calls "patently a forced rhyme" for "o'er me" and "before me" in the previous lines. Aldous Huxley made the same observation, calling the rhyme "ludicrous" and "horribly vulgar". The poem is one of the few works by Poe to be written in the voice of a woman. See also the humorous tale "A Predicament". In its first publication in