Symbol of Raven

A symbol such as a flag can mean just an object flag, but it can also mean something other than just being a flag. In Poe’s poem “The raven”, the raven symbolizes more than just being a black bird. The bird can also be symbolized as the messenger of heaven or soul. However, since the bird can only say “Never more” when the student tried to ask question to it, the student interpret the bird’s answer as the truth that he will nevermore unite with Le nore’s soul again. I think Poe choose a raven to be the character in the poem because a raven in European’s mind often symbolizes as a evil, devilish being like a crow. Since the raven is black and feeds on dead corpse, the raven is considered an evil spirit. Also, raven, like a parrot, can talk. It allows the bird to have interaction with the human character in the poem and make it as if they are having a conversation. This dark bird allows the poem to have a style of dark romanticism. With a man talking to a talking bird and taking the bird’s answer seriously, we can clearly see that the man might be just insane or the bird really is the messenger of the devil.