List some of the themes found in "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe.

The unique
aspect of bycomes from its genre: poetry.  This is a horror story but in the form of a poem. 
To add more interest, the poem was written in 1845.  It is interesting to think that even in the
middle of the nineteenth century people like to be scared.

The confrontation
between the raven and the nameless narrator creates anof evil, remorse, loneliness, and death.
As the man sits in his room languishing over his lost love, his privacy is invaded by this
strange black bird that seeks harbor from the storm.  If the raven is real and not an
hallucination, then he probably has escaped his cage. He has been taught one word:
nevermore.

Thematically, the poem abounds with contemporary concepts.
Evaluating the human minds ability to cope with
loss pervades the poems atmosphere.  The narrator suffers from the loss of his
love . His loneliness has debilitated him.  He is depressed, spiritually overwrought, and
emotionally over loaded. The ravens repetition of the word nevermore indicates that the speaker
may have crossed the line to insanity.  Life is moving on without the narrator; but in
the narrator's mind,  the raven will never leave him because it understands the dark side of the
human mind.

In literature, the raven represents evil and
death. When the bird enters the mans chamber, the narrator reacts by pulling up a
chair and observing the bird.  Self-pityingly, the speaker tries to befriend the bird but feels
that he will leave him as others have left him.  The raven brings an important question with
him.  Is this real or a hallucination? "Death is one of the few things that cannot be fixed
or reversed, and the enormity of it is therefore entirely appropriate for the exaggerated
emotions in Poes work."

Ghastly grim and ancient
Raven wandering from the Nightly shore €“
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the
Night's Plutonian shore!"
Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."

The unhappy narrator begins to lose control as the bird seems to
have no emotion but repeatedly says the word nevermore.  He begins to think that the raven
represents a sign from God telling him to forget Lenore. Finally, he asks the raven if he will
ever be united with Lenore in heaven; of course, the raven answers, nevermore.

The natural world signifies the mans lost dreams.  Nature
is what it is.  Man can only experience nature; man cannot change nature.  Nature will not
intentionally hurt man; however, it will not interfere with his destiny.  The man imagines
aggressive natural forces at work against him.  His room has been invaded by darkness, sounds,
the wind, and the inclusion of the raven. 

The raven breaks into his world as
an arrogant entity. The mans conflict becomes man versus nature [the raven]. The raven and the
rest of the natural world do not want to hurt or destroy the narrator at all. In fact, it is
only his growing madness that makes the raven appear evil.