<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> "The Raven" Audio 7min 12s </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Problems playing this file? See media help . </Td> </Tr> <P> "The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe . First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere . It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow fall into madness . The lover, often identified as being a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore . Sitting on a bust of Pallas, the raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repetition of the word "Nevermore". The poem makes use of folk, mythological, religious, and classical references . </P> <P> Poe claimed to have written the poem logically and methodically, intending to create a poem that would appeal to both critical and popular tastes, as he explained in his 1846 follow - up essay, "The Philosophy of Composition". The poem was inspired in part by a talking raven in the novel Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of' Eighty by Charles Dickens . Poe borrows the complex rhythm and meter of Elizabeth Barrett's poem "Lady Geraldine's Courtship", and makes use of internal rhyme as well as alliteration throughout . </P>

Who is the young man's lost love in the raven'