Gustave Doré: The Raven (1884)

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An engraving by the French artist Gustave Doré (1832-1883). The Raven is a famous poem from 1845 written by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). The poem is about a man who is visited by a talking raven and describes the man's decent into madness. Sitting is his study, the man laments the loss of his lover, "the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore". He hears something knocking on his window and when he investigates the sound, a black raven flies into his study and sits on a bust of the Greek goddess Pallas Athena. At first the man is curious about the bird and asks the bird its name. The bird replies with the word: "Nevermore". The bird can however only that word and after a while the man is starting get annoyed about the bird and becomes increasingly insane: will he forget Lenore (the raven answer's: Nevermore), will he see Lenore in Heaven (the raven answer's: Nevermore), will the raven also leave him (the raven answer's: Nevermore) etc. The engraving is the final picture of the poem and its final text:

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 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!

Engraving from 1884.