Greg’s Third Blog Post
November 5, 2023
Gustave Doré was a French artist known for his illustrations. Doré’s illustrations for “The Raven” capture a very dark and depressed mood throughout the poem. After looking at all of the pictures and types of pictures in this poem I found that there are 27 of them. Many of the illustrations for this poem include a raven. The raven is known as a symbol of death which the poem is about, so seeing a raven in many of the illustrations casts this theme over and over again.
In one of the illustrations I found that the raven is perched on a statue or bust. I’m not sure what the significance of this is, however, in other illustrations the raven is pictured in various strange and mysterious poses also.
Many of the illustrations include images of the narrator of the poem, who is almost always shown as a distraught, sad, grieving and halloween-ish kind of haunted person. The illustrations capture a very gloomy and eerie feeling which is also what the poem describes in its words. The illustrations are dark, gothic, Halloween like scenes, with detailed depictions of rooms and interiors.
Many of the illustrations seem to show the emotions of the writer or character in the illustrations. Looking at the illustrations gives me a feeling that there is much grief, fear, despair, and sadness. These feelings are also expressed through the facial expressions and body language of the person depicted. I have noticed that many of the illustrations in this poem use shadows and light to give the overall feeling of sadness and darkness or someone who is depressed. An abundance of ink in the illustrations that makes them visibly dark….not much white space in these illustrations.
The illustrations depict various scenes and moments from the poem which we already know capture the mood and theme of darkness and sadness, and the supernatural. The illustration here is of the raven perched on a bust above the bedroom door.
It shows the eerie presence of the bird. The birds eyes seem to be staring down and the color of the bird itself (dark/black) and its presence as a symbol of death add to a very unsettling feeling.
This next illustration shows the writer or the main character of the poem mourning his lost love Lenore.
He is sitting by a fire in a dark and gloomy room with the glow and light of the fire casting strange and eerie shadows in the room
This particular illustration shows the bedroom door and how it looks into a strange dark unsettling world that the main character is living in.
The illustrations appear to be printed on the pages using a black ink….yes everything is dark and uses lots of black ink!! Each image uses one full page and the other page is just a few words from each stanza in the poem. Each image is printed on a thick piece of paper while the associated text page is thin paper. The illustrations are likely metal engravings that were printed with a high pressure requiring the thicker piece of paper. The high pressure is required to transfer the ink from all of the fine lines and details in the engraving. A wood block would be very difficult to carve and provide the level of detail seen in these illustrations. A metal substrate would allow for the finer detail an intricate style that includes more curves as we see in these illustrations.
These metal plate illustrations were images that were likely hand engraved onto a metal plate. In a previous printing class at Wesleyan I have learned how this process works. The images are engraved by artists using sharp tools to physically carve out and create lines and details directly into the metal surface. This requires extreme precision and very controlled handwork. After the images are engraved onto the metal plates, ink is rolled and spread onto the entire plate. The extra ink is wiped off the plate’s surface, leaving ink only in the carved recessed areas, while the smooth, raised surfaces remain free of ink. The inked plate is placed on a printing press and a moistened paper is then pressed onto the plate, transferring the ink from the plate to the paper. The amount of pressure on the press and plate is critical for the proper transfer of the image. I know this first hand as I have destroyed many prints from too much or too little pressure
The use of the images in this poem strongly contributes to the overall effect and interpretation of the poem. The raven being a symbol of death uses its ability to enhance and complement the emotions and theme of this poem.