"The Raven" Response

The first time I read "The Raven" was in 7th grade. As cliche as it sounds, reading this poem was a magical experience for me. It was my first introduction to Poe and my most memorable introduction to adult poetry. At the time, I was attending a private Christian school (where up until this point, we had only ever read "safe writings"). My seventh grade teacher, however, believed that we should be reading texts with more challenging themes (which often happen to be considered controversial). 12-year-old me had never felt so rebellious. Reading was my favorite thing to do and the fact that there were books and poems out there that were eerie and taboo in my religion excited me.

I remember being very confused the first time we read through the poem as a class, yet I knew that I there was something special about it. After reading the poem for a second time, this time on my own, I began to understand it better and the haunting quality was even more intense and exciting. I felt like I could actually participate in class discussions, which made the wonder of Poe that much more accessible to me. In fact, this poem is the reason I decided to start writing poetry of my own. As a voracious reader, I had always had an immense amount of respect and appreciation for writing, but it wasn't until my first introduction to reading "The Raven" that I felt confident enough to write my own poetry.

Poe has a way of reaching into the reader's mind and haunting them with terrifying concepts--in this case, a raven predicting the death of the protagonist's lover, Lenore. The repetition of the raven uttering "nevermore" produces a sense of dread and a feeling of inescapable death. The fact that Poe could communicate such a foreboding tone in such a short space allowed me to see that writing can be whatever the writer chooses to make of it. It inspired me to take on my own style.