The Raven Essay Examples and Research Papers

Poem by Edgar Allan Poe

The rhyme scheme is ABCBBB, and the B rhyme is always an “or” sound (Lenore, door, nevermore, etc.). Most lines use trochaic octameter, which is eight metrical feet (sixteen syllables) that follow the pattern of stressed then unstressed.

The speaker calls the raven a messenger from “Night’s Plutonian shore,” alluding to the Roman god of the underworld, Pluto, and emphasizing the common association of ravens with death. This allusion explains why the speaker asks the bird for news of Lenore, as though the bird can confidently speak about the afterlife.

Throughout the poem, words such as grim, ghastly, melancholy, evil, and ominous help to portray the mood as dark, unsettling, and slightly deranged.

What is the setting of the Raven? A cold, dreary, bleak December night, at the home of the narrator – fire is dying – he is looking over books. The living space seems lonely.