Poe's narrative poem follows the development of an unnamed speaker/narrator whose interaction with a raven causes him to go mad. The story implies that the narrator lost his lover Lenore and is greatly devastated due to her death. He decides to cope by reading, hoping it will drive his mind off the terrible circumstances. On a cold December night, the narrator hears knocking on his chamber door and wonders who it could be at this time. He opens it only to find no one, which causes him to question more. He looks around into the darkness and sees no one. Upon closing the door, a raven enters. The narrator humorously asks the bird for its name and hears it speak. Shocked by the raven's ability for speech, the narrator begins to question it as if it were a person to see if it can give him answers and solutions.

Like many of Poe's other pieces, this one inspired the feeling of grim due to the poem's darker tone. He accomplishes and achieves this tone by using words in his diction associated with feelings of despair and sorrow, such as "haunted" and "grim," in addition to depicting the setting with a cold and unsettling vibe.

I would give the book a rating of 4 due to the elements it possesses. I enjoyed how Poe uses the raven as a symbolic figure for the narrator's pain and sorrow to further display its message to the reader by portraying the raven as a dark figure who casts a shadow upon the narrator. I also liked how the book sounded like a poem. Throughout the dialogue, it connects the narrator's thoughts well, allowing the reader to comprehend his thinking without disruptions, such as abstract or vague language, as seen in other poems that need to be read more than once to better understand them. In addition, Poe uses repetition and rhymes in his dialogue to establish a consistent structure of phrases to express the narrator's distress further also creates a well pacing in the process.

Review by: Jordy I.

—Amanda Charles, Central Libray - Teen'Scape