Defining "The Raven" (Never)More Quiz

Answer:

First published in the "New York Evening Mirror" in January of 1845, this classic Victorian horror poem is amongst the most famous of its kind, and it's often a gateway piece for Poe readers before looking into his short fiction tales like "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", "The Masque of the Red Death", or "The Tell-Tale Heart". It's because of "The Raven's" evocative imagery and its storytelling that it's been frequently referenced and adapted in different forms-- even "The Simpsons" used it as the basis of a vignette in their very first "Treehouse of Horror" episode back in 1990.

The poem itself tells the story of a man who, mourning over the loss of his love, Lenore, lets a raven into his chamber to, uncannily, speak the word "Nevermore", as in the fact that his soul will be lifted nevermore. It's a grim story of depression and longing; the narrator seems unendingly fated to living in the darkness of his grief, and the raven, an omen of such death, is the perfect vehicle for this conflict.

The poem itself, once it was published, took off immediately due to its evocative story, and it helped elevate Poe to household name status in the American literary world. Interestingly, most of his more famous works, in retrospect, were written well before this point. For the next four years he would continue to write poetry and short stories and even an essay on "The Poetic Principle" in the year after "The Raven" hit its peak popularity. He would pass away in 1849, possibly due to his rampant alcoholism in his later days. He would, nevertheless, be seen as one of the great pioneers of horror literature.