Insanity In The Raven

Can the untimely death of someone you love drive you insane? Generally, people are able to keep their mental stability after a person they loved passed away; only some individuals will lose their grip on reality. In fact, many characters in Edgar Allan Poe's works had mental ailments that lead to hallucinations and insanity; The Raven is a superb example of this tendency. It's entire theme is the depression and mental instability that confronting mortality brings. In the first stanza, we learn of the speakers feelings due to Poe's use of organic imagery on line one when he states, ““Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,” . Then it goes on to explain that he begins to hear a tapping at his chamber door but dismisses
The raven is simply , “Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door” (Line 41) and this ebony bird represents the bringer of death; an angel of death. The speaker starts communing with this angel of death, asking what its name is. It answered, “Quoth the Raven 'Nevermore.'” (Line 48). This is the first time we see the repeated word, which keeps asserting the fact that Lenore will never come back from the dead and that mortality is finite. Also, this solidifies the assumption that the speaker is losing a grip on reality since sane people know that ravens cannot speak. He then expresses his joyful shock and says that he can scarcely believe that another human has met a bird with such a name as Nevermore. In other words, he doesn't believe that any other human has confronted death like he has. In the tenth stanza, the narrator says something very important, “'Other friends have flown before —On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.'” (Lines 58-59) When he mentions other friends flying, he is referring to the fact that other people around him have
When the bird responds negatively by saying “Nevermore”, the speaker then says that the bird could be a demon and finally asks the raven what it is. He begs for an answer, but the raven simply says “Nevermore”. Again, he asks about Lenore but now, stanza sixteen, he inquires if the raven if here to let him have her again; “ 'Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore —Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.' ” (Lines 93-95) The bird utters the same word, “Nevermore”, telling him that he will never have Lenore ever again. Becoming enraged and sorrowful, he tells the bird to leave and let him be alone forever; he is telling death to never return. The bird repeats, “Nevermore”. In the eighteenth and last stanza, he declares that the bird remains on his bust and casts a shadow on him; “And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor, Shall be lifted — nevermore!” (Lines 107-108). The raven, or death, has taken over his psyche and is causing him to live in the shadow of