I want everyone's opinons please!

-- Anonymous, April 29, 2003

Answers

I believe the man in "The Raven" is insane with grief, depression, and the desire to die.

-- Anonymous, April 29, 2003

I do not believe he was insane, but I guess that would depend on your definition of insane. If a raven knocked at your door on a dark terrible night, flew in, and started talking to you, don't you think it would put you a little bit on edge? Of course, if you're not used to that kind of thing happening to you, you would probably think it was insane.

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2003

I do not believe that he is not supposed to be "insane". He is a deaply depressed person, mourning the death of his beautiful wife which he has recently lost. Now, many people might think of him to be insane, which he could be (Poe never left us a note on what he was thinking for this story) because the Raven could very well be his imagination. He could just be in such deep misery that he realises that he will never be with her again, and that she is never coming back. It all depends on what angle you look at it.

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2003

Unstable and pushing himself to the edge with his own mock debate with the bird. But no, he does not finally or clearly invest the bird(or his own arguments) with full reality. Yes, he has worked out the arguments of despair and lost the fanciful hopes he had at the beginning before the symbol of the raven invaded his attempts at self-comfort.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2003