¶ … Raven," by Edgar Allan Poe tells the story of a man who laments the loss of his lover while a raven slowly drives him mad by repeating the same word: nevermore. Poe is employing a theme he is most comfortable with -- the loss of love. By skillfully employing elements of suspense, atmosphere, symbolism, and narrative, Poe creates a tale of madness that made his name and his works popular. In The Raven, the narrator is trying to forget his lost love. This can be seen when we read that he had "sought to borrow/From my books surcease of sorrow -- sorrow for the lost Lenore" (9-10). In a calm voice, the narrator is seeking solace from his sorrow. The element of suspense can be seen as the narrator tells us that his "soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer" (19). We feel a sense of suspense because we know the narrator tell us that he hears a "sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain" (13) in his chamber. Poe builds on this suspense as the narrator says that he was filled with "fantastic terrors never felt before" (14). The suspense is increased when the narrator opens the door and sees no one there. The narrator then tells us that the silence is broken when he hears the name of his lover, Lenore, whispered into the darkness. (28-30) Poe continues in this fashion, letting us walk through the experience of the night...

The effect produced on us is suspense and drama as the poem continues. An example of this would be the growing dislike for the raven. The bird seems innocent enough at the beginning of the poem, but we begin to see it in a different light as the narrator continues to speak to it. Suddenly, the raven is smiling into the narrator's sad soul (67) and its fiery eyes begin to burn into his narrator's core (74). We can see that the bird's presence is slowly driving the narrator mad and Poe does an excellent job of building up to this. Even though the bird only says the one word, that is enough to push the narrator over the edge simply because of the questions he asks it. By the end of the poem, we see that the bird remains in the same spot and his eyes "have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming" (106). Although nothing about the bird's physical appearance has changed since the beginning of the poem, we see that the narrator's soul is "floating on the floor" (109) in the bird's shadow. Poe builds the suspense in the poem by having the narrator use calm and rational voice at the beginning of the poem and an irrational voice at the end of the poem.
Along with the element of suspense, Poe also places much emphasis on setting. The poem also takes place at midnight on a bleak December night when the narrator is…