Akhtar 1
Zaira Akhtar
English 2341
4, February 2011
“The Raven” Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe’s poem is based upon his loss (I do not believe that the poem is based on
his loss, but the loss to a distraught lover) of his wife and shows how her death affected his
writing, “The Raven” depicts a man who has lost his love Lenore and is tormented by a raven
that makes the author confront his loss. As the narrator in “The Raven” continues to speak of the
raven on his chamber door, the poem unfolds as he descends into madness because the raven
continuously reminds him of Lenore’s absence. Edgar Allan Poe uses rhyme and repetition of
phrases and words in each stanza to show the narrator’s loss of sanity due to the agony and
loneliness caused by Lenore never being able to return to him. Also, Poe uses symbolism of the
raven and diction to identify where the raven came from and why the narrator is unable to be
with Lenore. (Is this your thesis sentence? )
A. Body Paragraph: Rhyme
a) Internal Rhyme within lines: ex: “remember, ember” (second
stanza) pg.838
b) External Rhyme: ex: “floor, Lenore, nevermore”
B. Repetition
a) Repetition of Diction: ex: “rapping, tapping,” “chamber door”
b) Repetition of phrases in the last two lines of each stanza
Akhtar 2
c) Repetition of the words “nothing more” for the first half of the
poem and for the second half of the poem repetition of
“nevermore” (the last word after each stanza)
C. Symbolism and Diction:
a) Raven symbolizes the constant reminder of Lenore’s death.
b) Diction: “plutonian”: Pluto, god of the underworld
D. Conclusion
 If needed also incorporate the poem’s setting into essay to further relate to the
main theme of a man whom lost his wife and is having trouble dealing with it.
(This is your main theme. The thesis statement should mirror it)
Overall I would like to see the finished analysis. Poe is a dark figure, often fighting bought of
depression, and the poem could be based on the death of his mother and the resents illness of his
wife. He did a follow up and addressed how he wrote the Raven. The follow-up is The
Philosophy of Composition. It might help with your analysis of the poem.