As he shares in his essay “The Philosophy of Composition,” Poe selected the raven as his messenger of choice for two reasons. The raven serves as a “non-reasoning creature capable of speech” while adhering to the poem’s funereal tone in the way, say, a parrot could not. Poe also cites the raven as “the bird of ill omen,” which is consistent with many cultural depictions of the raven.

The lamplight serves as the catalyst for the poem’s chilling closing image. The light—once again a representation of the harsh truth of Lenore’s irreversible death—strikes the raven, casting a shadow on the floor. That shadow becomes a manifestation of the narrator’s grief, from which he “shall be lifted—nevermore!”

The light shed by the narrator’s lamp serves as a representation of the harsh truth of Lenore’s death. Here we see the lamplight “gloating o’er” the cushion Lenore will never again sit on.

Two of the poem’s scenic details are conspicuously purple: the “purple curtain” and the chair, with its “velvet violet lining.” In both Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian symbolic systems, purple serves as a mark of class and aristocracy. If nothing else, Poe likely uses these touches of purple to give the narrator some social context. These suggestions of class are consistent with his scholarly nature.

Pallas may also refer to the daughter of the sea-god Triton, who raised Athena alongside his own children. According to some stories, Athena killed the young maiden Pallas. In her sorrow, Athena took Pallas’s name out of remembrance, referring to herself thenceforth as “Pallas Athena.” This myth is helpful in our understanding of “The Raven” in that Pallas represents a parallel of Lenore. Both Pallas and Lenore are tragically killed maidens who live on only in name.

The final "nevermore" in this poem comes from the narrator. The narrator gives over to the bird and adopts a fatalistic attitude: he is resigned to a future trapped within his sadness and imprisoned by his loss of Lenore.

Plutonian means of or relating to the underworld. Pluto was the Roman god of the underworld, and the "shore" refers to the River Styx, one of the major rivers in the underworld. The narrator is banishing the Raven back to the hell he assumes it came from.

"Tempter" is another name for the Devil. The narrator begins to imagine the bird as an evil entity sent by the Devil. The Raven now takes on supernatural qualities—he is no longer a normal bird that learned a word from a former master, but the embodiment of death, the Devil's orders, and evil.

Nevermore, which the narrator originally interpreted as the Raven's name here becomes a menacing threat: the narrator will never forget his lost Lenore, he will never recover from his grief. Notice that the meaning of "nevermore" underscores the narrator's decline into madness.

"Gloated" in this context means to gaze with malignant pleasure; to feast one's eyes upon. Notice that the narrator personifies his surroundings with words that make them menacing. The narrator imagines everything as hostile, demonstrating his feelings of vulnerability.

The narrator is intrigued by the Raven, amused slightly out of his depression by his interest in the bird. Juxtaposing this happy feeling with the melancholy contemplated in the previous stanza suggests that the narrator is experiencing an unstable kind of happiness akin to mania.

A dirge is a lament sung for the dead, especially during funeral rites. Here the narrator plays on birdsong and blames the melancholy word for transforming the Raven's birdsong into a dirge. "Nevermore" thus becomes a symbol of death and dying that destroys hope.

The narrator realizes that the bird can only say this one word in a rote recitation. However, rather than dismissing his ability to speak as something random and meaningless, he creates a story to explain the Raven's word. He imagines a miserable master who repeated this word enough times that the bird learned it. Notice that the story the narrator ascribes to the bird's former master mirrors his own.

The second time the Raven utters this word, it suggests that he will never again leave this chamber. The narrator initially fears that the bird, a brief source of entertainment and levity, will leave him as his friends and hopes have. With this, he sees the Raven ominously promising to stay indefinitely, and the bird becomes more menacing than friendly.

Notice that the first repetition of "Nevermore" comes from the narrator, not from the Raven. The narrator immediately internalizes the word and repeats it in his own mind. This suggests that the narrator is susceptible to fantastical thinking.

The narrator first interprets the repetitive line as the bird's name. Nevermore, the state of being no longer, at no future time, or never again, recalls the narrator's first description of Lenore being "nameless here for evermore" because she has died. This suggests that the Raven is either an embodiment of his lost lover or death incarnate. The narrator sees the Raven is a symbol of loss and mortality.

The narrator perceives the Raven as a wandering ancient creature. In Genesis 8:7, Noah sends a dove and a raven in opposite directions to test if the water had receded enough for his family and the animals to leave the ark. The dove remains famous for returning and signaling the end of the flood. The raven never returns to the ark, and is lost to the night. Referencing the grim associations given to the bird since Greek mythology draws on a long standing history that relates this bird to wandering, absence, and omens.

Perched means both seated on a perch and to be presumptuous and assertive. The narrator ascribes power to the Raven in repeating this word three times. The Raven reflects the narrator's unstable mental state and dejected psychological state; he feels powerless against a mere bird.

Obeisance is the respectful acknowledgement of one's superior. Notice that the narrator immediately attributes human characteristics to this bird, even before it speaks. Because one would not normally expect an animal to bow or perform social customs upon entering a chamber, this expectation reveals the narrator's unstable mental state.

"Flung," meaning to open with haste or violence, directly contradicts the sense of calm the narrator tries to convince himself to feel in the previous stanza. His actions clash with his attempts to quiet his nerves, and this tension builds suspense within the poem.

A "window lattice" is a window in which the pieces of glass are set in diagonally crossing strips of wood, vinyl, or metal. In the 19th century, windows were made this way because large single sheets of glass were extremely expensive due to primitive glass-making technology.

Poe uses a common trope of gothic and horror genres. Rather than describing a particular fear, he invites the reader to fill in the "fear" and "dream" with their own imagination. He emphasizes the darkness, the emptiness, and the unknowable to allow the possibility for supernatural horror to creep into both his own mind and the readers.

This long and polite apology demonstrates two things about the narrator. First, the narrator's politeness and social etiquette suggest that he is a member of the upper class. Second, the speaker is nervously prattling to whomever he thinks is outside the door. This suggests that he is nervous and afraid of whomever, or whatever is on the other side of the door.

Notice how the "nothing more" that the narrator was using to reassure himself that he was not hearing things has now changed from something reassuring to something not only unsettling but also upsetting.

Repetition is a literary technique that Poe uses throughout this poem. In the beginning, the narrator uses repetition to reassure himself and calm his nerves. However, this same technique will later be the source of his distress when the Raven begins to repeat "nevermore."

"Silken sad uncertain rustling" is a type of alliteration called susurration. Susurration is soft repetition of the s sound. It creates an eerie sense of whispering, hissing, or swishing. But while eerie, it can also have a calming or lulling effect. This line simultaneously shows the narrator's discomfort at this uncanny experience and paints the image of a still, silent room.

The em-dash punctuation signals an abrupt change of thought or tone. Poe uses it frequently within this poem to build intensity and demonstrate the narrator's wavering mind. Notice how the narrator interrupts his train of thought, or attempts to stop his fantastical thinking using this punctuation.

In his "Philosophy of Composition," Poe claimed that “Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears. Melancholy is thus the most legitimate of all the poetical tones.” He chose to make the death of a beautiful woman his topic because he believed that nothing was more poetical than the beautiful melancholy that this topic would evoke.

Poe begins his poem by playing with an opening well known in fairytales and folklore, "Once upon a time." This situates his story in the fantastical world of fairytales, but also establishes the dark and ominous setting of "dreary midnight."

Notice Poe's use of subtle alliteration of s sounds in these two lines. After sounds in "denser...unseen censer," the reader might expect that to be all. But since Poe is describing a swinging censer containing burning incense, it is pleasantly surprising when the weighty (literary) device seems to swing back at the beginning of the next line with, "Swung by seraphim," two more alliterative s sounds.

“Nevermore” can be interpreted to mean no as well as never again. This first instance of speech captures the narrator’s attention, and while he initially regards the Raven’s refrain as nonsense, it soon takes hold in his mind as something meaningful.

Notice how the narrator repeats “nothing more” to comfort himself and dismiss his fears, and how the effect of the phrase changes with each stanza. Poe repeats this refrain to emphasize the narrator’s increasingly agitated state of mind and to gradually develop the poem’s mysterious, threatening atmosphere.

Disturbed by the way the Raven appears to have intentionally disagreed with him, the narrator rationalizes the repetition of the ominous word “Nevermore”: He imagines that the Raven’s master, having suffered unendurable disasters, taught the bird to utter the single word most expressive of the owner’s sense of hopelessness.

Imagining a perfumed presence in the room, the narrator asks if the Raven has been mercifully sent by God to bring him nepenthe, a potion of forgetfulness mentioned in Greek mythology. The Raven, of course, replies with a bleak “Nevermore,” which the self-tormenting narrator takes to mean that he will never find a moment’s rest from his grief.

Notice how Poe creates a distinct transition here in both the structure of the poem and the way the narrator regards the Raven. After attempting to contemplate his visitor objectively, the narrator connects the Raven’s refrain of “Nevermore” with his personal grief. The narrator begins to ask increasingly painful questions in masochistic anticipation of the inevitable response.

The narrator’s ultimate question is if he will be reunited with Lenore in “Aidenn,” a poetic spelling of Eden, after he dies. The contrast between his self-description and Lenore reveals how lowly the narrator regards himself and how highly he regards his memory of Lenore.

Gilead was a region known in biblical times for its healing plants. The narrator desperately implores the Raven to tell him if there is “balm” or medicine as promised in the Bible, metaphorically questioning whether there is any hope or remedy in religion for his grief.

The first seven stanzas establish the narrator’s melancholic, impressionable state of mind. Now, the narrator playfully asks the raven its name, as if to reassure himself that it portends nothing ominous. However, although what the raven says initially has little relevance or meaning, the narrator is sobered by the bird’s forlorn utterance and begins to try and rationalize it.

At first, the narrator tries to interpret the bird as a source of humor. However, his failure to continue to do so helps establish the prevailing tone. Notice how the narrator’s choice of words when addressing the raven become more intense and extreme as the mood of the poem darkens to reflect the growing misery of the narrator.

This adjective relates to the underworld realm of the Roman god Pluto who ruled over the dead. The narrator's choice to associate this word choice with the night suggests his fear of the closeness of death, the supernatural, and the raven’s association with these things as a messenger of sorts.

The notion that the rustling of the curtains thrills the weary and depressed narrator is perhaps a little odd. However, considering the time of night and his current mental state, it's very possible that Poe is implying that the narrator has a more vivid imagination than is good for him, especially considering how he soon behaves.

This is the first example of Poe’s frequent use of alliteration, the repetition of initial sounds, and internal rhyme. Notice how Poe uses internal rhyme throughout the first and third lines of each stanza, and particularly how repetition represents an essential technique and theme in the poem.

"Its ghost" refers to the dying embers of the fire that is about to go out. By using mysterious and depressing words such as “bleak,” “dying,” and “ghost,” Poe’s metaphors and word choices help set the mood of the poem.

Pallas, a reference to Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, is representative of knowledge, reason, and logic, while the Raven embodies imagination, darkness, and the unknown. By having the Raven perch unceremoniously on the bust, Poe is possibly belittling wisdom itself, suggesting that when the two collide, imagination will overpower reason.

Also throughout the poem, Poe chooses words that rhyme with more in the second, fourth, fifth, and sixth lines to create a very strong, unified effect for the poem. In his “Philosophy of Composition,” Poe states that he consciously chose the or-sound because of its sonorous quality.

Poe's poem is primarily about death—of his beloved Lenore, and of hope. Here, the narrator makes the implication that other friends have died, along with hope, and he hopes the bird will as well (which is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek joke that he would refer to the raven as a friend). However, the raven’s reply suggests that the bird, as death personified, has arrived and will remain.

By whispering the name of the deceased Lenore, the narrator reveals the extent of his depression and how her loss has so affected him. This perhaps explains why the initial rustling of the curtains and tapping on the door provoked such a reaction within him.