Once upon a midnight dreary, “The Raven” was published.
Arguably one of the most famous poems in the American literary canon, Edgar Allan Poe reportedly composed much of it while living in New York with his wife, Virginia, throughout the whole of 1844. After being rejected for publication by Philadelphia’s Graham’s Magazine, the poem was finally accepted by the New York Evening Mirror in January 1845.
“The Raven” was an immediate success, allowing him to publish and sell a small poetry collection in November 1845, which included some of his other notable works like “The City in the Sea,” “Eulalie” and “The Conqueror Worm.” Although Poe achieved notoriety, he received little financial prosperity, a hardship that would plague him until his death only four years later.
The narrator of “The Raven” grieves his lost love, Lenore, when an ominous raven enters his study, perches itself atop a bust of Pallas (the goddess Athena), and cryptically answers the narrator’s questions with one sole word: “Nevermore.” The narrator grows increasingly more agitated, yet the raven remains indifferent. Religious and mythological references are woven throughout. The climax arrives when the narrator, furious and despairing, demands to know if he will be with Lenore in heaven. Poe’s raven grimly responds, “Nevermore.”
Famously, Poe believed that “The death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world,” as seen in the character Lenore’s appearance both in “The Raven” and in her own titular, mournful poem “Lenore.” Some scholars theorize that Lenore is meant to represent Poe’s cousin and wife, Virginia, who would die of tuberculosis in 1847. Her death deeply affected Poe, who spiraled into alcoholism and was frequently spotted sitting at her graveside even in bitter snow. Although Virginia was alive during “The Raven”’s conception, Poe’s anticipatory grief at her illness likely played a part in its tone and subject matter.
“The Raven” is, in a way, one of those immortal poems. Even after nearly 200 years, the iconography of the black bird remains synonymous with Poe, the Gothic aesthetic, and even the city of Baltimore. Poe, having spent his early career there, was buried in Baltimore’s Westminster Hall. To honor Poe, the Baltimore Ravens football team was inspired by the poem.
No other poem encapsulates the grim genius of Edgar Allan Poe—moody, mysterious and macabre. Two centuries later, “The Raven” endures in the public mind as a masterpiece of poetry, one that will never be forgotten, nevermore.
