The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe performed by James Navé

You probably know The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe from your school days. Most people immediately think of the word "Nevermore" when the poem is mentioned. Of course, "Nevermore" is the refrain the raven repeats throughout the poem, starting with the bird introducing itself as "Nevermore." Like other single-name celebrities, this raven is the most famous raven of them all. 

And yet, "Nevermore" is no more a raven than you or I are. At best, it's a figment of a grief-stricken imagination, perched above a chamber door but never truly there. "Nevermore" is famous, despite its nonexistence—a curious reflection on fame itself. Fame feels real, yet as time passes, it fades into the nothingness from which it came.

With these thoughts in mind, I sat in a white chair by the sea in the Philippines. The waves lapped behind me. As night fell, I decided to perform The Raven. I figured, since the raven above the chamber door doesn't exist, why not place it anywhere? Above a coconut tree, for instance, in a tropical setting where there are no ravens—only birds and humans strolling the shore at sunrise. But two nights ago, it was just me, alone, performing The Raven. The raven came to life in my imagination, as it now takes form in yours. That's the poem's nature: the raven is conjured anew each time it's read.

At its core, The Raven is about grief and heartbreak. A man has lost his love—Lenore—and she is gone forever. By the poem's end, he remains despondent, consumed by sorrow, and we sense he may never recover. Yet the raven becomes a permanent fixture in his mind, whether alive or dead, real or unreal. It perches there, its shadow intertwined with his soul upon the floor, lost without Lenore, a haunting symbol of his grief that will never leave him.

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