TheRaven，aLoner’sPsychologicalAccompanier

【Abstract】Edgar Allan Poes The Raven is well-known to the world for its detailed psychological descriptions in the authors eyes of this essay.Whereas，the Raven is the only one accompanier and the best listener listening to Poes psychological cry for his lover.The author will try to present the scene of the sadness from Poe by employing Carl G.Jungs theories about consciousness and unconsciousness.

【Key words】the raven； personal consciousness； personal unconsciousness； collective unconsciousness

1.The transition from the personal unconsciousness to consciousness

Carl G.Jung，the famous Swiss psychiatrist，held a belief that human psyche consists of these three parts： the personal consciousness，the personal unconsciousness and collective unconsciousness.The personal consciousness or waking state is that image or thought of which we are aware at any given moment.Like a slide show，every moment of our lives provides us with a new slide.As we view one slide，the previous slide vanishes from our consciousness，for nothing can remain in the personal consciousness.Although these vanished slides are forgotten by the personal consciousness，they are stored and remembered by the personal unconsciousness.The third part of Jungs model of the psyche called the collective unconsciousness，houses the cumulative knowledge，experiences，and images of the entire human species.

The poem The Raven is a monologue spoken by the poet，and the raven is a listener.Without it，the poet couldnt succeed crying out his personal unconsciousness （his miss to his dead lover） into his personal consciousness.Some unimportant images or notions are usually rejected by the personal consciousness and store in the personal unconsciousness.In The Raven，the poets miss to his lover is one of his personal unconsciousnesses，which hide in the depth of his heart and forgotten by himself.Once the circumstance satisfies it，his miss will be recalled and accepted by his personal consciousness.A dreary midnight creates a nice chance for the poet to speak out of long-years-old thoughts buried in his unknown part of his heart.The poets blurred psychiatrical state dues to the cover of the midnight.At that moment，he could not distinguish whether he was in the dream and the real world.As result of this situation，his unclear mind and his abnormal behavior produces a bowl of fantastic spirit soup.

However，the flood of the poets miss opened under the premise of the existing raven，though it seemed to be virtual.When “I” nearly napping，a tapping came into my ears，so the poet began to make use of it to present the appearance of his unconsciousness gradually.He guessed“Tis some visitor tapping my chamber door—Only this and nothing more”.Thus，he opened the door to welcome the visitor，but behind the door，was there darkness and the whispered word-“Lenore”.“Lenore”，the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore，has been forgotten by the poet.However，the forgotten Lenore （the poets unconsciousness） appeared in front of his personal consciousness on a dreary midnight in the bleak December.He reminded of her so much that he could not wait to see the morrow because he vainly had sought to borrow surcease of sorrow--sorrow for the lost Lenore from his books.His jumped-out unconsciousness would not disappear at once.In contrast，it would last for a long time.So the long and sufferable night would not comfort to his sleep，and it tortured the poets spirit more--missing his lover more and more painfully.Under such circumstances，he mistook the heard voice “nevermore” for “Lenore”.In other words，he lived in the life of his long- lost unconsciousness and behaved in a form of the conscious state.

Since the strength of the unconsciousness broke out and turned into the consciousness，how did he succeed in escaping away from the darkness and loneliness of the long night？ Having searched for the origin of slight tapings，he behaved abnormally not only to explore its mystery but also to entertain himself to exclude his inner sorrow.The main reason was the heard voice “Lenore”，and he thought his lover had come home.That was the role played by the personal consciousness.At last，he found a raven perching above his chamber door.The poet continued to entertain himself and had some doubts about its identity---his friend or his enemy.No matter what kind of identity the raven dressed up，it was the poets best surcease.After all，at the midnight，there was a raven to accompany the lonely poet.From these words“this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling”，the poet seemed to have some prejudice to the raven.Actually，he did not.The poet employed the sarcastic skill to mock himself no ability of helping his lovers death.Whereas，he only poured out his floody miss to his lover by the raven in front of him.However，the raven is just an ordinary one.This ordinary one became the material of the poets imagination and was given the mystery by the poet.No one could understand the poets inner sadness，but still wished that someone could，even some animals.So the apparent raven finished his wish.His real wish was to reduce his relief of missing his dead lover.The raven was known to the world for its grave-like face.How could it beguile the poets sad fancy into smiling？ The answer is definitely not.It was the poets wish and imposed it into the raven with no smile，which produced the effect of the ugly and dissatisfying simile.This effect could make it do with the poets wish---someone could console him，even if someone was a raven.Consequently，the poets unconsciousness now came into his personal consciousness.

2.The return from the personal consciousness to his unconsciousness

With the communication to the raven，the author finds that the poet was indulged in the conflict---a state between his missing and forgetting his lover.In the lines of The raven，what the poet said was try to distinguish the racens identity.In fact，he tried to forget or bury his miss to his lover（his personal consciousness）by transferring the topic of the speaking.This kind of folding his miss to his lover meant that the poet wanted to put his personal consciousness into the state of his unconsciousness.The ravens answer “nevermore” crushed the poets beautiful wish （he thought his lover had come），and slung him very much because of the lover nevermore in reality.The reason why“Nevermore” was mentioned many times was out of the poets consciousness---his miss to his lover.Though he tried to forget the miss to his dead lover，he hoped that the miss could turn into the reality---he could hear “Lenore” instead of nevermore.The more “nevermore” he heard，the more he suffered.“Nevermore” crushed his wish time by time and promoted the desire to miss his lover more and more intensively.In other words，his personal consciousness would not fade and become more defensive.

Generally speaking，on the one hand，the poet tried to cover his personal consciousness （his miss to his lover ） by some irrelevant words for some relief and made it become unconsciousness； on the other hand，the ravens answer ---“nevermore” indicated that it was pretty difficult for the poet to forget his consciousness.His deep love to his lover made the process of the return from his consciousness to unconsciousness inflexible.He preferred the suffer of missing his lover to forgetting it for some relief.Since the unconsciousness arrived the place of the consciousness，the poet was bound to enjoy the suffer，despite his heart being broken.When “I” accomplished the crazy inner cry，“Lenore” would be hidden in “my unconscious place” not known by “myself”.At last，the personal unconsciousness combated the consciousness contemporarily，because the latter would break out again.

3.Conclusion： the collective unconsciousness

The collectiveness houses the cumulative knowledge experiences，and images of the entire human species.In the poem The Raven，the collectiveness is the poets means to express his miss to his lover.In our daily life，the shared image of the poet crying his lover is common and called one kind of archetype---the miss to the dead.The poet made use of this kind of archetype to show his deep love to his lost lover.The archetype in this poem presents in front of us clearly---from the rise of the miss to the dead by taking advantage of something or someone as the listener to open the floody miss，then to endure the suffer of the process to miss and have the dialogue between the suffer and the insuffer，and at last，to the disappearance of the miss.In other words，this process experiences the route from the personal unconsciousness to his consciousness，and to his personal unconsciousness.

If the conditions are ready，whoever will behave like the poet.During the process of the miss，the conditions consist of the two main elements： one is a kind of related injury hurt in the early period of the one person and another is the condition allowed to transfer the unconsciousness into consciousness.If the reader knows the cause of the collectiveness in The Raven or experiences the similar archetype，the author of this essay holds a firm belief that this poem The Raven will be understood well and the poets colorful feelings which can not be expressed by the words will be read comprehensively and perfectly to enrich the readers inner emotional world.

References：

[1]Jung，Carl G.The Collected works of C.J.Jung.Ed.Herbert Read，Michael Fordhan，and Gerhard Adler.20 vols.，plus supps.New York： Bollingen Foundation，1953-83.

[2]Charles E.Bressler，Literary Criticism，Higher Education Press and Pearson Education，2004.

[3]霍尔等.荣格心理学入门.三联书店出版社，1987.

作者简介：

商滔，硕士研究生学历，研究方向：英语语言文学。