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In Western culture, ravens, because of their black feathers, rasping call, and tendency to eat carrion, have always been harbingers of doom. Yet, ravens are extremely smart. They can be taught to speak. They learn through trial-and-error. They have been observed to play and even mourn for their dead. These behaviors have also made ravens a symbol of wisdom, as evidenced by the Norse god Odin's two ravens who fly around the world every day and tell him of everything.
Edgar Allan Poe used the raven's reputation to his advantage in The Raven, his poem about lost love and longing. Here's the first stanza:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door —
Only this, and nothing more."
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