Then Edgar Allan Poe fell in love with his cousin Clem, Virginia。 In 1835, he married 13-year-old Virginia。 The Story of A Gore Pim was published by Harper Press in July 1838。 Under the life pressure, Edgar Allan Poe agreed to use his name of shell science for his authorship。 On January 1845, Edgar Allan Poe published poetry The Raven, which has a great social influence。 Unfortunately, in 1847, his wife died, leaving Edgar Allan Poe alone。 Edgar Allan Poe began to publish his own journals, Pennsylvania, but he did not have time to see the magazine that was released。 On October 7, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe died at the age of 40。 

Since his first work Tamerlane and other poems was published in 1827, Allan Poe has been standing within the spotlight of critical attention。 Researches on him cover every aspect, ranging from his psychology and biography to his literary creation, which fall into three categories: (1) the root of his creation; (2) psychological effects of the morbidity and perverseness on his characters; (3) his critical views。 In recent years, some Chinese scholars and critics have been probing into Allan Poe’s poetry。 A large number of academic papers have been published, which not only provide some useful information about Edgar Allan Poe and his poetry, but also have a great practical significance in the research on Edgar Allan Poe’s poetry。 However, these researches has great limitations which mainly focus on the theme of poetry, aesthetic quality, creative arts, comparative analysis, and the analysis of the works。 

This paper is pided into five parts, in which it introduces the poet, makes an appreciation of the poem and then discusses the writing techniques in The Raven by analyzing the Gothic writing technique, symbolism and the rhetorical techniques in it through text-analysis and close-reading in the hope that a further understanding of the literary giant’s talent can be deepened so that the theme of this poem and its realistic significance can be better understood。

II。 An appreciation of The Raven

The Raven was first attributed to Poe in print in the New York Evening Mirror on January 29, 1845。 Its publication made Poe widely popular in his lifetime, although it did not bring him much financial success。 Soon reprinted, parodied, and illustrated, critical opinion is pided as to the poem’s status, but it nevertheless remains one of his most classic poems and fully reflects his poetic theory。 The Raven is a ballad of eighteen six-line stanzas with decidedly emphatic meter and rhymes。 Narrated from the first person point of view, the poem conveys, with dramatic immediacy, narrator’s shift from weary, sorrowful composure to a state of nervous collapse as he recounts his strange experience with the mysterious ebony bird。 文献综述

2。1 An appreciation of the Content of The Raven

The whole poem consists of 108 lines, with suitable length, neat rhyme and beautiful rhyme。 The tone of the whole poem is sad。 According to the development of the plot, it can be pided into four parts。 The first six stanzas are the beginning of the story, which pave the way for the appearance of the raven and establish the setting and the time of the story。 The hero becomes demoralized and depressed after he lost his beloved。 He thinks of his girl alone every day and thereby he see some illusion, in which his beloved, “Lenore” comes to him。 He whispers her name, but there is no one answering him but the echo and the wind, which makes him feel sadder and more heartbroken。 The second part starts from Stanza Seven to Stanza Twelve, which depict the first appearance of the raven, who perches on the statue of Athena。 Weak and worn out with grief, the speaker has sought distraction from his sorrow by reading curiously esoteric books。 Awakened by a sound outside his chamber at midnight, he opens the door, expecting a visitor but only to find darkness。 He whispers his lost love’s name Lenore and shuts the door。 When the tapping persists, he opens a window, letting the raven that perches upon a bust of Pallas (Athena) in。 Part Three consists of Stanza Thirteen and Fourteen。 In this part, the poet relates to the origin of pain, Lenore。 He imagines that he can drink nepenthe to stop his thought for Lenore。 However, the raven still tells him “Nevermore”, so his sadness and pain increases。 The narrator settles himself on a velvet cushion in front of the bird and whimsically contemplates on what the raven meant by repeating a word he inevitably associates with thoughts of the departed Lenore。 At this point, the grieving lover, in anticipation of the raven’s maddening repetition of “Nevermore”, begins masochistically to frame increasingly painful questions。 Thus, he is disillusioned and his desperation is gradually strengthened。 The last four stanzas was the climax of the poem。 The depressed emotions of the narrator suddenly breaks out in this stanza。The narrator has lost his mind, getting himself involved into the sorrow of losing his lost love Lenore and knowing that she will return “nevermore”。 Despite several declarations by the raven himself that he is not there for good, the narrator holds on to the slim hope that the raven can help him forget his sorrows。 The narrator is not the smartest guy alive。 He again asks the raven if he will be relieved of his suffering and at least be able to meet Lenore in paradise。 The raven answers, “Nevermore”。 It is apparent that the narrator is wallowing in self pity and enjoying every second of it。 He knows what the raven’s answer will be, yet he purposely asks questions that will justify him feeling sorry for himself。