At midnight, a grieving man is visited by a raven who will answer every desperate question with a single word: "Nevermore." Poe's most famous poem turned a simple bird into American literature's most chilling symbol of loss and encroaching madness, and its hypnotic, musical rhythm made it an instant sensation on publication in 1845. Poe himself called it a calculated exercise in pure effect — and it remains one of the most quoted, parodied, and unforgettable poems ever written in English.