10 Striking Poems about Ravens

Ravens have long held a significant role in ancient mythologies and folktales. For instance, Noah dispatches a white raven from the ark in Hebrew folklore to assess conditions. Meanwhile, Ovid’s Metamorphoses recounts the tale of a raven that begins as white before Apollo; enraged by its delivery of a message revealing a lover’s infidelity, he curses the bird, turning its white feathers into black. Greek and Roman mythologies, too, have their share of raven lore. Across various cultures, this bird is often portrayed as a messenger or guardian of the spirit realm, possessing an aura of mystique.

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In poetry and literature, ravens have been prominent subjects and symbols, embodying mystery, darkness, wisdom, death, bad omen, etc. These poems use this philosophical bird’s enigmatic and mystical nature, drawing inspiration from symbolic meanings in diverse mythologies and cultures. They encapsulate the bird’s dark and mysterious essence, whether echoing the darker aspects or presenting a more nuanced perspective – sometimes portraying them as bad omens or symbols of wisdom or leaving the ambiguity of mystery. Some poems simply portray ravens as ordinary birds.

Ravens in these poems evoke emotions ranging from melancholy and foreboding to mystery and fear, creating a supernatural aura. Against moonlit skies, these solitary creatures become emblematic of solitude and mystery, lending an extraterrestrial atmospheric quality to the poetry.

Poems about Ravens Visual Representation

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Nationality:

Themes:

Emotions: Grief, Love for Him, Sadness

Topics:

Ravens

Birds, Life, Light, Mythology

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Ballad

Couplets

Genre:

Folklore

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The Three Ravens (English Folk Ballad)

by Thomas Ravenscroft

‘The Three Ravens’ is an Old English folk ballad in the songbook ‘Melismata’ compiled by Thomas Ravenscroft in 1611.

This poem offers a whimsical representation of ravens, portraying them simply as birds or creatures in nature planning their breakfast. While ravens are often associated with death and darkness in literature due to their natural way of living, here they are depicted as part of the natural order, contemplating feeding on the fallen knight without any sinister connotations. Moreover, far from being ominous, they are left without any food. Thus, with its playful tone, the poem challenges the cultural interpretation of ravens by showing their association with death as a natural way of living.

There were three rauens sat on a tree,

downe a downe, hay downe, hay downe,

There were three rauens sat on a tree,

with a downe,

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The Raven

by Edgar Allan Poe

‘The Raven’ by Edgar Allan Poe presents an eerie raven who incessantly knocks over the speaker’s door and says only one word – “Nevermore.”

Raven is the central symbol representing the speaker's troubled state, the nature of memories, and the relentless struggle they cause. The speaker paradoxically cherishes the memories of his dead lover yet desires to move on, dealing with the psychological battle between forgetting and remembering while seeking comfort in delusions like the raven. Notably, Poe was influenced by the presence of ravens in folktales and mythology. For instance, the German pagan God Odin had two ravens representing thought and memory.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

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The Human Abstract

by William Blake

‘The Human Abstract’ from William Blake’s ‘Songs of Experience’ criticizes traditional Christian values favoring human reason.

Initially named 'The Human Image,' this poem questions religious dogmas and rigid moral codes that are unnatural, superficial, and deceitful. It uses a raven to convey the destruction, foreboding, and darkness associated with organized religion, arguing that such morality or fruit of the metaphorical tree of religion might seem sweet, but it, in fact, bears deceit, and the raven makes his nest in its thickest shade; the presence of ravens deep inside the religion conveys its dark mystery associated with evilness and depravity.

Pity would be no more,

If we did not make somebody Poor;

And Mercy no more could be,

If all were as happy as we;

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Twenty-One Love Poems XIII

by Adrienne Rich

‘Twenty-One Love Poems XIII’ by Adrienne Rich is a poem about same-sex relationships and how couples experience a new, uncharted love.

Ravens often represent mystery and wisdom; here, chasing the raven signifies the couple's journey into uncharted territory and knowledge sans any maps. The metaphor of 'chasing the raven' accentuates the poem's mystery while alluding to the fear of entering unknown territory as the speaker hopes to cross the desert and reach 'simple villages.' Since the poem is about breaking conventional orthodox rules, the allusion to chasing ravens can be interpreted as a rebellious act while demystifying the usual negative connotations surrounding ravens.

The rules break like a thermometer,

quicksilver spills across the charted systems,

we’re out in a country that has no language

no laws, we’re chasing the raven and the wren

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Sweeney among the Nightingales

by T.S. Eliot

‘Sweeney Among the Nightingales’ reflects the modern world’s degraded state through its layered allusions, symbolism, and imagery.

The poem extensively uses Greek mythology to present an intense encounter between Sweeney and Nightingales to mock the anti-hero, Sweeney. In Greek mythology, the Raven symbolizes bad luck and is considered the bird of death in many cultures. Eliot later reflected on the poem, stating, "All that I consciously set out to create... was a sense of foreboding."

Apeneck Sweeney spread his knees

Letting his arms hang down to laugh,

The zebra stripes along his jaw

Swelling to maculate giraffe.

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The Waste Land

by T.S. Eliot

‘The Waste Land,’ epitomizing literary modernism, is one of the most important poems of the 20th century, portraying its despondent mood.

This poem, embodying desolation and the spiritual and cultural decline of the modern world, seems to allude to the ravens in its third section, 'The Fire Sermon,' while discussing an eerie chuckle around the river Thames. It also refers to some 'sound high in the air,' which is like a 'Murmur of maternal lamentation' echoing the classic ominous association of ravens with decay, death, and foreboding.

April is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

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Sweeney Erect

by T.S. Eliot

‘Sweeney Erect’ presents the complex and ambiguous state of Sweeney, in turn questioning civilization’s state in the modern world.

In his poems, Eliot often uses Greek Mythology in which ravens are associated with ill omen, death, and foreboding. The speaker calls for a haunting desolation in this poem, asking trees to 'be dry and leafless' and 'rocks to groan.' The foreboding presence of ravens lurks within the skies of this bleak and devastated landscape. Eliot's allusion to ravens to convey desolation in other Sweeny poems like 'Sweeney Among the Nightingales and 'The Waste Land' echo the presence of ravens for readers familiar with his works.

And the trees about me,

Let them be dry and leafless; let the rocks

Groan with continual surges; and behind me

Make all a desolation. Look, look, wenches!

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The Bells

by Edgar Allan Poe

‘The Bells’ by Edgar Allan Poe is a musical poem. In it, the poet depicts the various sounds bells make and the events they symbolize.

This onomatopoeic poem describes the distinct emotions evoked by the distinct sound of bells. Towards the end, the pattern of bells ringing changes as if conveying something terrible. Such foreboding and ominous aura makes one feel the unspoken presence of ravens, which represent death, as Poe also employs raven allusions to express such emotions in certain poems.

Hear the sledges with the bells—

Silver bells!

What a world of merriment their melody foretells!

How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,

PDF Guide

Nationality: American

Themes: Beauty, Nature

Topics:

Ravens

Appreciation, Birds, Mountains

"> 36/100

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

by Wallace Stevens

‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird’ by Wallace Stevens uses the blackbird as a way to describe the relations between humankind, nature, and emotions.

Inspired by movements like imagism and cubism, this poem focuses on the distinct understanding developed by a distinct perspective. Even though it doesn't mention ravens, the blackbird being from the same family as ravens evokes their presence. Moreover, blackbirds, crows, and ravens are often confused.

Among twenty snowy mountains,

The only moving thing

Was the eye of the blackbird.

#10

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The Eagle

by Alfred Lord Tennyson

‘The Eagle’ is a poem that captures the strength of the majestic bird, inspiring readers to reach for the heights of their own potential.

This short poem presents the grandeur of an eagle's soaring flight. It mentions that 'The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls' when the Eagle flies; the crawling wrinkled sea can refer to ravens who fly lower than Eagles and are considered lesser who might crawl witnessing Eagles' majestic flight.

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,

Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.

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10 Striking Poems about Ravens

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10 Striking Poems about Ravens

by Thomas Ravenscroft

by Edgar Allan Poe

by William Blake

by Adrienne Rich

by T.S. Eliot

by T.S. Eliot

by T.S. Eliot

by Edgar Allan Poe

by Wallace Stevens

by Alfred Lord Tennyson

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