Dark Romanticism Assignment 5: The Raven

The poem is expressing Poe's feeling over the death of his wife, and probably his sense of loss in general. There is a sense of mortality throughout the poem, illustrating life through the lens of impending loss. Poe views life as a passing parade of thoughts and individuals, everything eventually fades into the distance. The raven, "nevermore" to some extent symbolizes things gone past, or more directly his remembrance of this, which is the human condition of loneliness. Poe writes "This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er, But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er, She shall press, ah, nevermore!" establishing the connection between the loss of his wife and the raven.

The poem repeatedly emphasizes the word "nevermore" concerning Poes regret at the loss of his wife, expressing the idea that there is nothing more in the death, or the end, of things. This goes against the core idea of transcendentalism that there is something more, and higher, in life, the poem displays life as a progression towards inevitable death.