Poe - The Raven

Having read Edgar Allen Poe earlier on in high school, I can say this poem means a whole lot to me than it used to. For one, as an English major, I can more easily pick out an abundance of the literary elements that make this poem so iconic in the first place. For example, the element of rhyme is ever-persistent throughout; literally, every second, fourth, fifth, and sixth line ends in some kind of "or" sound. This alone makes the poem all the more fun to listen to and keep in rhythm if one were to read it. The next thing is the element of repetition; the poem literally repeats the word "Nevermore" for the last couple stanzas and is, perhaps, the main thing the poem is remembered for. Also the fact that the raven can talk in the first place leads readers to wonder whether what the narrator is experiencing is either a hallucination or if it is simply a personification of his feelings. This, however, is a debate for another post in another place.