The Raven: Rhetorical Analysis

In his essay “The Philosophy of Composition”, Edgar Allen Poe provides a complete account of the steps he took in writing his most famous poem “The Raven”. When describing how he begins the process for each of his pieces, Poe said that he “prefers commencing with the consideration of an effect”. The effect is the focal point for the rest of the poem. The purpose of “The Raven” then became to use the chosen effect of beauty to “excite the sensitive soul to tears”. To do this, Poe employs rhetorical devices to allow the reader to sympathize with the protagonist’s situation before the poem’s end, where the protagonist, along with the reader, is then emotionally devastated.

Because “The Raven” is a poem and not a more formal piece of writing, Poe only utilizes pathos as a means of connecting with the reader; Poe’s artwork is completely an emotional experience. Immediately, Poe helps the reader identify with the protagonist through the description of the emotions that the bereaved lover is experiencing. He portrays the protagonist as lacking sleep and filled with pain and sorrow over his loss. The lover is “weak and weary” but is still awake at midnight in “bleak December” examining Lenore’s book collection. This paints a picture of a man that is very heart broken. Furthermore, when the protagonist opens his chamber door, hoping to see Lenore on the other side, Poe displays the longing that the lover has for his deceased maiden.

By illustrating the protagonist as heart broken, Poe achieves two critical goals in the process of leaving as big an effect as possible on the reader. First, he establishes a feeling of pity for the protagonist. After discovering of all the pain that the lover has already gone through, no reader will want the protagonist to experience any more tragedy. Second, Poe appeals to the reader’s sympathetic side to ensure that the reader feels emotionally invested in the protagonist. Poe assumes that nearly all of the readers will have dealt with some sort of loss in their life and that the emotions they felt are similar to those of the bereaved lover. By having something in common with the protagonist, the reader is expected to sympathize with the protagonist and ultimately feel closer to the character as an actual person. This connection between the emotions of the lover and the emotions of the reader allows Poe to create a much more powerful effect at the conclusion of the poem. Because the reader is now invested in the situation of the protagonist, any pain that the protagonist feels will also be felt by the reader. The reader will be more shocked, more saddened, and more effected by the conclusion of the poem because Poe has employed pity and sympathy to make the reader more involved in the poem.

Through this emotional technique, Poe has successfully established a bond between the protagonist and the reader. Thus, Poe has made it easier to accomplish the goal of the entire poem, which was to “excite the sensitive soul to tears.” When the raven reveals that the soul of the protagonist will remain on the floor and never be lifted into heaven, the reader is greatly affected. The reader shares the tragedy of the protagonist more significantly. There is even a slight moment where the reader wonders if something like this could ever happen to them. All of this was possible because of the rhetorical technique that Poe employs at the beginning of the poem.