Reflection on "The Raven"

I read this poem about a year ago, and I remember thinking that the poem was very strange. I thought it strange that in this poem a man goes insane because of an encounter with a raven that can say the word “nevermore”. What I didn’t realize until I read the poem again was that the man is already insane. He is so paranoid that he has to reassure himself "'Tis some visitor," that is knocking and not “the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore”.

Another thing that I found interesting is the raven itself. The man in the poem can’t decide if it is a “bird or devil!”. That is the same thing that I am wondering. Many different kinds of bird can be trained to say a few words. Then again, one of the scariest things thinkable is an evil that cannot be distracted from its cruel goal. So, is the raven simply a trained bird flown astray from its owner? Or is it truly a “Wretch” that’s purpose is to torment a disturbed man farther into his own insanity? Or is it simply a symbol of the man's own insanity?

The Raven demonstrates Anti-Transcendentalism very well. The Ant- Transcendentalists believe that evil is a very real thing. They also believe that people can be insane. In the poem, the man refers to the raven as “thing of evil!” and “Wretch”, as it haunts him. This would give the appearance that the raven is evil. There is also the possibility that the man is insane. As I stated earlier, the man is very paranoid, and believes in a spirit that is haunting him. That make him seem relatively insane.