Midnight In The Raven Analysis

Symbolism in The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe primarily occurs in the image of the raven itself, the room, the month of December, the time of night, the statue and perhaps less obviously, the cushion, the window and the door. From the very beginning of the poem, the mood and tone, which is set to prepare us for the symbols is sombre and gloomy. The phrase 'once upon a' prepares us for the fact that we are about to hear a story, but fast on the heels of the phrase we learn that this is not going to be one of those happy fairy stories.
The next words are 'midnight,' and 'dreary' and 'December.' Therefore we see that the raven is not the first symbol to be introduced. Midnight, down throughout the ages, has always been referred to as a darkly magic
time, symbolising the end of the light, and death as the end of life, a sort of 'witching hour.' Often at this time those who sit up too late working can become drowsy and start to see visions, nightmares or dreams. Also, December in pagan times was the low point or 'dying time' of the year.
The door and the window in this poem are symbols of the portal from this world into the next, of the thoughts of reality crossing into the thoughts of the dream world. The door is referred to in deliberately antiquated language as a 'chamber' giving the whole poem a Gothic feel, right from the start, and the word 'visitor' is reminiscent of Walter De La Mare's supernatural poem 'The Listeners.'
The picture of the medieval style of door that we imagine is reinforced by the image of the heavy velvet curtains, for they are not at the window, but most probably draped as draught-proofing over the door. Their rustling creates excitement and drama around the symbolic opening of the door opens out to a dark 'other world.'
The window, however, is the opening through which the next symbol, the raven, eventually appears. This opening also is given 'the Gothic treatment' as it is described as a 'lattice' a quaint old-fashioned term for multi-paned antique windows. The tapping reminds us of the ghostly Cathy trying to get in the window in Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights'.
Throughout history and literature, ravens have been symbols of many things -bad luck, death, the black magic powers of wizards such as Merlin, or as the familiars of evil-doers. In Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Raven' poem, the bird represents some or all of these things but they all have one thing in common, fear.
The narrator of the story poem or narrative poem fears greatly that he will never see the beauty of his beloved Lenore again. He gives vent to these fears and indulges in the self-pity of deliberately asking closed questions to which he has gleaned that the bird has only one answer 'nevermore.'
It is well documented that birds of the crow family, being the most intelligent of the bird kingdom, can utter simple sounds that to us can sound like words.
In his tired pre-sleep mood, the narrator convinces himself that this sound is 'Nevermore' and uses this fact to make his sorrow at the loss of Lenore's life and beauty deeper. The questions become more and more intense, signifying the symbolic deepening of his fear, bereavement issues, and loneliness. The 'bust of Pallas' is a statue which represents only the head and shoulders of a venerated subject, in this case Pallas, Greek goddess of wisdom. In alighting upon its head, the raven appears to add credence to his prophecy. A wise source adds weight to the mere squawks of a
bird.
The room of the bereaved is given much attention by the poet.
Referred to in Gothic-style language as a 'chamber' it appears for all the world like a funeral parlour of Victorian times. Particularly in England, where the only plush furnishings a poor person might see might be either the doctor's, boss's or undertaker's parlour, these rooms were decorated in the traditional bereavement colours symbolic of death violet, black, mauve, purple and grey. With due pomp and ceremony, there would have also been evident the fashions of the time coal-black funeral drays or horses, ebony-black coffin hearses and wagons with glass-sided windows, attendants liveried in black plumes of feathers from near-extinct birds, violet silks and satins lined coffins and deathly slow funeral marchers wearing high sooty-black top
hats.
The mood would have been calm and sombre and this is the atmosphere Poe creates for his room the symbol for funerals. Even the luxury of a cushion is added, a symbol of the presence of Lenore, one of the few places in the poem where light is mentioned. The lamp-light shines on the place associated with Lenore's beauty and presence a thing of softness, beauty and comfort the cushion.
There are many more symbols, themes and associations in Poe's poem 'The Raven' each of those mentioned here is a good place to start looking. Poetry is subjective and different images will symbolise different themes to readers.
There are several symbols present in "The Raven." The most prominent one is the raven itself. The raven symbolizes the narrator's grief and memories of Lenore. The narrator even realizes this by the end of the poem when he states that the raven would be with him forever because his thoughts of Lenore would be with him forever. His soul would never be freed from hers.

Another symbol is the statue of Athena (also known as Pallas) - goddess of wisdom and war. When the raven first flies into the room he perches "upon a bust of Pallas just above [the narrator's] chamber door" (line 42). The raven brings the narrator wisdom over the war that is going on inside of the narrator's head. He is fighting to forget Lenore, but the raven allows him to realize that he cannot forget her, he just has to go on despite his mourning.