The mortality and immortality in "The Raven"

Text originally published in Coursera. 

The main subject of the poem “The Raven” is the dichotomy between mortality and immortality.

The title makes a clear reference to death since ravens are usually portrayed as inhabitants of cemeteries. The root of this now common image comes from Greek mythology. The ravens were supposed to be as white as doves, and they would bring the news from the Earth (where the mortals live) to the Gods (the immortals). But unlike their doubles, once the news to Apollo (the sun god¹) were bad ones, in his rage, he made the raven’s feathers become black. In the poem, the raven is the messenger who remembers that Lenore will not come back. He reminds the narrator of her – and his - finite nature.

In addition to the mentions to the Greek mythology, there is a clear reference to the fairy tales. Both the beginning “Once upon a midnight dreary…” and the finish line “nevermore” are the perfect opposite to “once upon a time” and “ever after”. In the last case, instead of the continuity implied in “…and they lived happily ever after”, it presents the idea of rupture. When it is said “…curious volumes of forgotten lore” might also allude to the idea of a written a text about an ancient period. However, on the contrary of what happens in fairy tales, it is evident that it mentions a decadent time and not a happy one.

The fear of death – and the sordid curiosity about it – grows the closest to knowledge someone gets. The books and the Palas (Athena, wisdom goddess) bust are references of that approaching. It is not by chance that the raven perched above that sculpture, it is a portrayed of an immortal, something the narrator is not.

The very act of writing is an attempt to achieve eternity. Even after the author is long gone (and there is no balm for death), his words will remain. His lines, and nothing more.