Summary of The Raven Myth

In the beginning there lived a Chief and his daughter. The Chief hoarded all the light in the world. He did not want to share any of his precious light. The Raven was sick of this. He hated flying around in the dark and he hated not being able to see anything. So he decided to change himself into a cedar leaf and snick into his den. He fluttered into the Chief's daughters drink and when she took a sip he went through her body. He then made her pregnant. When the baby was born, he had black hair and dark eyes and when he was mad he would shriek. The Chief wanting to be a devoted grandpa gave the baby the a bag of stars. He was delighted. The raven played and played with the bag of stars. Then one day he got very bored and he untied the bag and all the stars flow through the smoke hole and then scattered the sky. He then started to shriek and cried at the top of his lungs. The Chief decided to give the rowdy baby the moon. Once the Raven got his hands on the moon, he fell in love with it. He bounced the moon everywhere and then a day came were the moon flew out of the smoke hole and into the sky. The baby deprived of his beloved toy would not stop shrieking. The Chief's daughter made he gifts and toys for him. But he did not desire any of those toys, he wanted the last bag. Chief tearing out his hair finally gave him and gave the Raven the last bag. Before he did so he told the baby not to untie the bag because it holds light. Once he handed him the bag he had no need to untie the bag of light. He changed into himself and flew away. The Raven had fulfilled what he needed and he then spread light across the world.

The resolution of the conflict

The resolution of the conflict happens when the Chief finally gives up trying to please the baby with the moon and the stars so he finally decides to give him the sun. When he finally is able to get the sun he transforms his self back into The Raven. He is finally happy that he doesn't have to flutter around in the dark and can see where he is going.

Climax of the conflict

Then climax of the conflict occurs when the Raven had to turn himself into a baby. He had to be very loud baby to manipulate the Chief into getting the sun. The Raven had to wait and wait tell the Chief finally gave him the sun. First the Chief gave him the stars, then the moon, and then finally the sun. 

The Conflict

The conflict that occurs in the Raven myth is being able to steal the sun without the Chief knowing. He has to turn himself into a cedar leaf and sink into where the Chief lived. The Raven then had to flutter into the drink of the Chief's daughter, where he makes her pregnant. He then had to go through being a baby to be able to steal the sun from the Chief.

Charater development

The Raven was frustrated at the Chief for hogging the sun, so he plotted to steal the sun. He used his powers to change himself into a leaf and make the Chief's daughter pregnant. He went through the process of being a destructive baby, so the Chief gave him the sun to play with. Once he got the sun he felt proud of himself that he achieved his goal and was happy that he didn't have to flatter around in the dark anymore.

The Raven Setting

The setting is dark except for the Chief's sun. It smells of the Chief's daughters drink. The is setting is also sometime in the past at the Chief's teepee. The Raven, the Chief's daughter and the Chief himself are the only ones there. The setting also includes planets earth because the raven had to spread light throughout the world.

Three references to The Raven

The Raven is referred in the Bible.






Pallas (41, 104): This is a reference to the Greek goddess Athena, often called Pallas Athena, or just simply Pallas. She is primarily associated with wisdom, which makes her head an ironic place for the Raven to sit, since we can never quite tell if the bird is actually wise or is just saying the only word it knows. Since she's a goddess, though, she's also a symbol of the ideal woman, perfectly beautiful wise, virtuous, and strong. For a man who spends all his time thinking about the perfect maiden he has lost (Lenore), a bust of Pallas seems like a pretty good choice.

Balm in Gilead (89): This refers to a biblical quote, from Jeremiah 8:22 "Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?" In a general sense this famous balm (a kind of healing ointment) has come to represent hope, peace, an end to pain. Obviously, since the origin is Biblical, there's an aspect of the peace of Christian salvation, although we can't quite tell how much the speaker of the poem believes in that.

The Raven was referred to in Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven.


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—
“ ’Tis some visiter,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
“ ’Tis some visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door—
Some late visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door;—
This it is and nothing more.”

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
”Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you”—here I opened wide the door;—
Darkness there and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”
Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping something louder than before.
“Surely,” said I, “surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore—
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;—
’Tis the wind and nothing more!”

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door—
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door—
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,
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.”

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door—
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as “Nevermore.”

But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing farther then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered—
Till I scarcely more than muttered “Other friends have flown before—
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.”
Then the bird said “Nevermore.”

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
“Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore—
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
Of ‘Never—nevermore.’ ”

But the Raven still beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore—
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking “Nevermore.”

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o’er,
But whose velvet-violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o’er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
“Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore;
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—
On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore—
Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I implore!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us—by that God we both adore—
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

“Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!” I shrieked, upstarting—
“Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted—nevermore!

The Raven is also referred to in sculptures symbolizing knowledge and creation.