In the reading from Poe, The Raven, we see a poetic piece of writing. In our last discussion about Poe, we discussed his idolization of poets and how they connect material thoughts to the spiritual world. After reading The Raven, I googled the meaning of ravens and I found results such as ravens being prophetic whisperers offering insight, and the symbols of ravens intertwine with human imagination, loss, and omen. Most importantly, I found a result saying that a talking raven, in addition to prophecy, act as a connection from the material world to the spiritual world. Given our last discussion about Poe and claiming that they were God’s and offering a connection from material thoughts and the material world to spiritual thoughts in a more spiritual setting; bringing forward abstract ideas to make people think outside of their immediate material surroundings.

In this poem, the idea of the talking bird brought me to a place where I was questioning the symbolism of the bird, as talking birds is something we don’t see in our surrounding world. Finding the meaning of ravens to be prophets makes the connection to a spiritual world and the talking raven to be a symbolism/a voice of God. This raven, being a fictional being/idea, was bringing the connection between the material world and the narrator to the spiritual world of a God. It also makes me believe that Poe as a writer views himself as a poetic God, speaking to people to bring them to a spiritual world and acting as a prophet himself. 

These are sources I was looking at when looking at the symbolism of ravens:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_depictions_of_ravens#:~:text=Because%20of%20its%20black%20plumage,with%20the%20world%20of%20spirits
• https://a-z-animals.com/blog/raven-spirit-animal-symbolism-meaning/#:~:text=com%2FPiotr%20Krzeslak-,The%20raven%20symbolizes%20prophecy%2C%20insight%2C%20transformation%2C%20and%20intelligence.,and%20stillness%20over%20constant%20movement.
• https://www.thornandclaw.com/blogs/news/raven-meaning-symbolism#:~:text=Ravens%20often%20represent%20ancient%20wisdom,symbols%20intertwine%20with%20human%20imagination.

In another addition to this blog post, on page 679 it says “‘Not altogether a fool,’ said G — “but then he’s a poet, which I take to be only one remove from a fool.'” This part was so interesting to read given Poe’s past descriptions of poets as God’s and symbolizing them as prophets, and then includes a narrator that refers to poets as fools in another story.