What is the setting of the poem The Raven?
In Poe the physical setting reflects the personality of the central character. The poem begins at midnight December, the last moment of the final month of the year, a time of death and decay. The dying fireplace embers reflect the gloomy atmosphere. The setting is claustrophobic–a single room. The narrator himself is Weak and weary, trapped in his richly furnished prison. He hopes for the morning, the return of light and life,but tonight all he can do is brood on his dead love. The narrator hears a mysterious tapping at his chamber door. He thinks at first it is a late night visitor, but opening the door, he finds only “Darkness there, and nothing more.” This glimpse into black nothingness will prove prophetic. The tapping resumes–now at his window. The raven flutters in and perches on the bust of Pallas Athena, the classical goddess of wisdom. The imagery contains conflicting worlds of light and darkness. Every detail in the poem reflects one world or the other. Lenore is described as
