In "The Raven", what does the bird intrusion in the speaker's life represent? Why can't the speaker make it leave? What does the bird 's continuning a...

The raven was
invited into the house by the narrator of the poem. He is lamenting his lost love .  The
narrator is using the symbol of the raven to exemplify is feelings of depression, decay and
hopelessness. Other symbols of death and decay are the weather: rainy and stormy, the month:
December, and time: midnight.

Since the speaker has invited the raven in, he
is the one who must invite it to leave.  I think he is wallowing in the pain of loss. He has
gone to the edge of human misery and has found it easier to keep the pain than to move on with
his life.

It may be that the narrator of the poem is caught up in the
nightmare of grief and loss and simply has no power or ability to make the raven
leave.