Nevermore

Growing up, I had a fascination with Edgar Allen Poe. I was too young to understand his work at the time, and barely read or listened to any of it. I'm not sure why I was fascinated with him, but I was. His name had weight to it, it carried with it mystery, the macabre, and a darkness that should have scared me away, but instead drew me in. Today I think I understand why I was fascinated by Poe. The one story I remember by Edgar Allen Poe is, "The Raven".

This dark poem tells of a man, who in mourning for his deceased love Lenore, finds himself in his chamber late at night. An ominous tapping from outside his chamber startles him, and as he seeks to find its owner he discovers a raven who enters the room. Curious at first, the man questions the raven, seeking to learn the name of his new companion. To his surprise the Raven responds with "Nevermore". Fascination rising, the man continues to question the raven, each inquiry more serious than the last. To each the Raven responds, "Nevermore".  By this grim declaration he is told that he will never see again his lost love and that he will never have respite of the pain of losing her. As the poem progresses he descends into madness, tormented by the raven who will leave him, "Nevermore".

Edgar Allen Poe published this poem in 1845, and two short years later his wife died. Two years after that Edgar himself passed away. This poem seemed to foreshadow the remainder of Poe's life. "The Raven" is a masterfully crafted poem which gives us a glimpse of the darkness within each of us and in the world. I feel as though the raven in this story represents our own demons, deep within us, that want us to fail, that want us to grieve and suffer. If we engage our demons at the wrong time or in the wrong way, they can pull us down into the depths of misery and despair. We can break ourselves if we aren't prepared for the darkness inside of each of us. Like the grieving man in the story who curiously engaged with the raven and soon found himself shattered and broken even more than before, each of us deal with our own hardships and losses and we too can engage with our own ravens. But when we do we walk the razors edge between madness and sanity.


The mysteriousness and eerie feeling in this poem connect with me because I have those feelings in myself. I have suffered loss and I have let myself descend into darkness before. I enjoy this type of art not because I like those feelings, but because they are part of me and I need to recognize them and see them for what they are. We all need to stand up to our own ravens and not let them define how our life will go, or how it will end. We need too shoo the ravens within us and give heed to them "Nevermore".

I highly recommend you watch this video in the dark on full screen to get the full effect of this poem.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7N663YgwxM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BefliMlEzZ8