Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” is one of the most memorable poems in American literary history. The haunting refrain of “Nevermore” echoes through generations of readers. Many literary enthusiasts don’t realize that the poem could have gone a completely different way. This masterpiece of Gothic poetry nearly featured a very different feathered messenger from the raven we know and love. Before the raven perched upon the bust of Pallas, Poe had initially envisioned a colorful, tropical alternative: a parrot.
The Parrot That Almost Was
Poe initially considered a parrot to deliver the haunting repetition. This would torment his protagonist as he crafted his narrative poem about grief and lost love. This early conception reveals much about Poe’s methodical approach to composition and symbolism.
The choice of a talking bird was deliberate from the start. Poe needed a creature that could plausibly speak. And, it had to do so without reasoning. This mechanical repetition would drive his narrator to madness. A parrot, with its well-known ability to mimic human speech, was the logical first choice.
In Poe’s own analysis of his composition process, he detailed his thoughts in “The Philosophy of Composition.” He describes his thought process there. He says, “I had to imagine a non-reasoning creature capable of speech. Very naturally, a parrot suggested itself.” However, he quickly rejected this idea as “insufficient” for his purposes.
The Dickens Connection
What changed Poe’s mind? The answer lies in his literary encounters, specifically with Charles Dickens. Poe was deeply familiar with Dickens’ novel Barnaby Rudge. This novel featured a talking raven named Grip. Grip was based on Dickens’ own beloved pet raven. Poe had reviewed this novel. He demonstrated an exceptional understanding of its plot. The Encyclopedia Britannica noted that Poe was one of the few people who truly mastered the complex narrative.
In his review of Barnaby Rudge, Poe was impressed by the raven character. He wrote that its “croakings might have been prophetically heard in the course of the drama.” This statement foreshadows the prophetic quality he would later give to his own raven’s utterances.
The Symbolic Transformation
The shift from parrot to raven was more than a simple avian substitution. It fundamentally changed the poem’s atmosphere. It also altered its symbolic resonance.
Ravens have jet-black plumage. They are associated with death and ill omens across numerous cultures. This association brought an inherent darkness. It perfectly complemented Poe’s Gothic sensibilities. While parrots are vibrant, exotic, and often comical creatures, ravens carry centuries of folkloric weight as harbingers of doom.
This symbolic significance wasn’t lost on Poe. He recognized that the raven’s cultural associations with death would heighten the emotional impact of his narrative. The story is about a man mourning his lost Lenore. As the Smithsonian Magazine noted, Poe “decided on a raven, since the large black bird is often associated with death.”
The Linguistic Transformation
Another fascinating aspect of Poe’s bird substitution involves the evolution of the bird’s speech. In Dickens’ novel, the raven Grip’s favorite words were “Never” and “Nobody”—words carrying a negative, nihilistic quality. Poe transformed these into his raven’s immortal “Nevermore,” creating a perfect phonetic balance of melancholy and finality.
The word “Nevermore” itself became the foundation upon which Poe built his entire poem. In “The Philosophy of Composition,” he explains that he began with this refrain, and he constructed the narrative around it. He determined that it would be most effective when repeated by a non-reasoning creature.
The Aesthetic Considerations
Beyond symbolism and literary influence, aesthetic considerations likely played a significant role in Poe’s decision. The visual contrast between the “ebony” raven and the white bust of Pallas creates a striking image that a colorful parrot simply couldn’t match. This visual juxtaposition mirrors the poem’s thematic contrasts between life and death, hope and despair.
The raven’s distinctive silhouette—perched ominously, wings folded like a shroud—creates an unmistakable Gothic tableau. It reinforces the poem’s atmosphere of dread. A parrot, regardless of what it might say, would inevitably bring tropical associations. A brightly colored bird would undermine the bleak December setting Poe so carefully established.
The Cultural Ripple Effects
Had Poe stayed with his original parrot concept, the cultural landscape of American literature—and beyond—might look remarkably different today. The Baltimore Ravens NFL team might instead be the Baltimore Parrots. The ominous bird associations in countless films, stories, and artworks inspired by Poe might feature splashes of color rather than that infamous midnight black.
Some literary scholars have even suggested that Robert Louis Stevenson’s choice to give Long John Silver a parrot in Treasure Island might have been different had Poe’s iconic poem featured a raven instead—perhaps giving us pirates with ravens on their shoulders rather than parrots.
Poe’s Calculated Creativity
What’s particularly fascinating about the parrot-to-raven transition is how it illuminates Poe’s creative process. While many Romantic poets of his era emphasized spontaneous inspiration, Poe took pride in his methodical approach to composition.
In “The Philosophy of Composition,” Poe presents his process as entirely logical, claiming that “The Raven” was crafted through deliberate decision-making rather than emotional impulse. He describes considering a parrot, then a raven, as if the entire poem were a mathematical equation to solve.
However, some literary historians suspect this essay may represent Poe’s attempt to retroactively justify choices that were more intuitive or influenced by his reading of Dickens than he cared to admit. His conspicuous omission of any mention of Dickens’ Grip in his discussion of choosing a raven suggests a desire to distance himself from this influence.
The Literary Context of Poe’s Decision
Poe’s switch from parrot to raven also reflects the broader literary environment of mid-19th century America. As the young nation sought to establish its literary identity, Poe was at the forefront of developing a uniquely American Gothic tradition distinct from its European counterparts.
European Gothic literature often drew upon medieval imagery and ancient castles, elements largely absent from the American landscape. By incorporating the raven—a bird native to North America as well as Europe—Poe grounded his Gothic vision in imagery accessible to American readers. Still, he maintains the Old World associations needed for his themes of ancient wisdom and timeless sorrow.
Conclusion: The Perfect Choice
In retrospect, Poe made a decision to replace his initially conceived parrot with a raven. This stands as one of the most fortuitous substitutions in literary history. The raven had dark plumage and cultural associations with death. Its capability for speech provided the perfect messenger for Poe’s meditation on grief. It also embodied the finality of loss.
The raven’s “Nevermore” transcended mere animal mimicry to become a philosophical pronouncement on the permanence of death and the persistence of memory. Just imagine if a bright tropical bird delivered these same words. Much of the poem’s Gothic atmosphere and psychological impact would have been lost.
As with many aspects of great art, what seems inevitable in retrospect was once a creative crossroads. Poe’s decision to change birds transformed what might have been merely a clever poem into an enduring masterpiece. Now, “The Raven” continues to cast its shadow over American literature nearly two centuries later.
Esther Lombardi is a literary expert and regular contributor to abookgeek.com. She specializes in 19th-century American literature and the development of Gothic traditions in world literature.
