spirit of the person left to grieve. As a symbol, the raven leaves open to interpretation in the poem its meaning in terms of death, questions of the supernatural, and an afterlife.

For example, the raven says “nevermore” several times in the course of the poem. This one word builds suspense because its meaning can be interpreted as changing each time the word is uttered toward a dramatic climax. It is ambiguous as to whether the bird is literally saying “nevermore” or if the word is simply reverberating again and again in the tortured mind of the narrator.

The imagery is evoked of a bird literally saying the word while the actions of the poem take place in the narrator’s recollection of Lenore. Yet, the repetition of “nevermore” by the bird also works figuratively as an imagination by the narrator through grieving for her and contemplating an end to life with the visitor, who could be interpreted as the grim reaper. As such, the word “nevermore” certainly refers to Lenore, yet also foreshadows doom for the narrator.

Poe has a great talent to expose the development of madness in people--a condition not discussed in private or in public during his time. Today, awareness for different mental illnesses is common and often looked upon with compassion. In Poe's day as well as today, however, the process through which a person turns mad is interesting, intense, and suspenseful in and of itself. One might ask how a person gets to the point of overwhelming madness or loss of self-control. Poe uses this curious process as the background for "The Raven."

Along with the use of an intense and confusing scene, Poe uses the techniques of repetition, alliteration and rhythm to bring about the madman's process towards loss of self-control. Words that are repeated often are: "Lenore," the symbol of his emotional pain; "chamber door," the focus of audible irritation; and the bird's unsatisfying response, "Nevermore." Examples of alliteration that create the repetition of maddening sounds are: "While I nodded, nearly napping"; "Perched upon the bust of Pallas"; and, "Startled at the stillness." Finally, the rhythm of the rhyme scheme (trochaic octameter) seems to remind one of a spastic rhythm that can't quite be grasped or understood fully as Poe does not finish some lines' meter but does finish others. Here, Poe creates chaos that the character and reader alike cannot align or make sense of. Through these techniques, confusion and chaos are maintained throughout the drunken period of grief that the main character travels through. The raven then becomes the most confusing symbols of death and chaos in literature as seen through a madman's maddening state of mind.

Edgar Allan Poe creates suspense in his poem "The Raven" through the implementation of several poetic devices. 

Repetition: While repetition is frequently used by poets to emphasize a phrase or meaning in a work, Poe uses repetition to build tension. By describing the action of the "tapping, tapping" upon the chamber door several times throughout the poem, the reader's attention is repeatedly drawn to the mysterious noise before Poe actually reveals the source of the sound. Like the speaker of the poem, the reader begins to obsess over what the source of the sound could possibly be, which creates suspense as they await the answer. 

Rhyme Scheme: Poe uses a fairly unique ABCBBB rhyme scheme throughout the poem. The slight variation keeps the piece from sounding tedious to the ear, however the constant return to the B rhyme, the "or" sound, pulls the reader onward from line to line through the poem. The expectation of this end rhyme quickens the pace of the poem, which also works to increase the suspense as the speaker becomes more frantic. 

Personification: Poe is a master of using the supernatural to create suspense, and in this poem such an employment of the supernatural takes the form of the talking raven. While birds appear frequently in poetry, they are typically presented as symbols of the serenity of nature or freedom. In Poe's case, he uses the raven as a taunting, demon-esque figure, which can speak but only ever repeats the word "Nevermore." Again, repetition comes into play, and each time the raven says "Nevermore," the speaker becomes more and more irritated and more and more consumed by thoughts of his lost love. Face to face with this supernatural entity whose sole purpose seems to be to torture him, his rising temper creates suspense as the reader does not know how he will react to this torment. 

Edgar Allen Poe creates quite a bit of suspense in "The Raven." The setting is established as a "midnight dreary" and  "bleak December" where our narrator cannot seem to rest peacefully. He begins to hear noises and voices "rapping at my chamber door." He proceeds to open the door to find no one there, yet he still hears voices that speak the name of his lost love, Lenore. Now, by this point, we realize that the narrator is very upset about Lenore noting being present for the narrator declares, "For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—Nameless here for evermore." While we do not know the circumstances of this lost love being gone, the narrator is up late at night, thinking about Lenore when he begins to hear the name whispered. The curtains are moving and the narrator peers out into the darkness, wondering and fearing, attempting "to still the beating of my heart." Readers too wonder what might happen next. Is someone or something there?

Finally, a raven seemingly appears at his window. The narrator, relieved, proceeds to have quite an intense conversation with this bird, most likely due to the narrator being reclusive upon stating "other friends have flown before." He seems to dwell and more the lose of Lenore by isolating himself from the world. The narrator becomes further mystified when  the raven begins to speak and say "nevermore." Immediately the narrator believes the raven is referring to his lost love and the mood of the poem shifts as the narrator's anger builds the more the raven replays "nevermore" to his inquires about being with Lenore once more. The continued repetition of 'nevermore' along with the intensity of the narrator's dialogue build upon the suspense of what is or is not real. Is the narrator have a conversation with a raven or is this all in his imagination, stemming from too much time alone? The many references to evil, hell,shadows and demons place a further chilling mood to the poem. 

"The Raven" is about a man who is grieving over the death of his lost lover, Lenore, and how he plunges deeper and deeper into depression. Poe uses suspense to help readers empathize with the man's feelings even as they hope he will find some relief from his despair. Poe builds the suspense through repetition, dialogue, and descriptions of the man's thoughts. 

First, the repetition at the end of six of the first seven stanzas of the words "nothing more" gradually builds suspense, convincing readers there must be something more. The repeated words "Lenore" in stanza 2 and again in stanza 4, as a question, build the suspense that the something more might be an apparition of Lenore herself. When the final word of each stanza changes to "Nevermore" for the last eleven stanzas, suspense builds again. Readers wonder how long this can go on. Surely the refrain will change to something more positive in the next stanza!

The dialogue also contributes to the suspense of the story. When the man begins speaking to the raven, readers also are carried along by the mystery of this "ungainly fowl," wanting more information about its origin and purpose. Readers soon come to understand, as the narrator has suggested, that this one word "is its only stock and store," and they remain in suspense wondering when the man will catch on and stop expecting the bird to say something else. 

Finally, Poe gives readers glimpses into the psyche of the narrator to increase the poem's suspense. He begins in sorrow, and soon the rustling of his curtains "filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before." This reference to "terrors" so early in the poem builds suspense in readers. Why should the man be in such a fragile state of mind? After speaking with the raven, the man starts "linking fancy unto fancy" and "guessing," feeling the raven's eyes burning into his "bosom's core." Readers perceive he is losing his grip on reality and wonder where that will lead. Sure enough, the narrator then imagines he smells Lenore and hears her footsteps, and the suspense from the earlier expectation of an apparition builds. As the story nears its climax, the man asks the wrong question of the raven — one he should have known the raven had to answer in only one way. The man's rants against the bird, which has now become not a real bird but a "devil" and "thing of evil," are powerless to lift him from "out that shadow that lies floating on the floor." The narrator has completely succumbed to depression. 

The suspense Poe creates through repetition, dialogue, and descriptions of the man's mental state help readers understand the downward spiral into depression to which a grieving person's perseverating thoughts can lead.