The Raven: Does it Apply to Us?

It's strange to think that a man that married his cousin, was ostracized from his father, and essentially went completely mad would be considered one of the greatest literary minds of the 1800s.  Edgar Allan Poe's piece "The Raven" on the surface seems to be a ghastly take on a man that is mourning over the loss of his love but what happens if we decided to take a deeper look into this piece and apply it to our own lives.

We need to realize that the raven in the story was not necessarily the bringer of bad news or a bad omen, but rather we can view the raven as our own conscience.  In essence the raven never does anything malicious or beneficial, rather the man comes to all of his own conclusions through the questions that he answers.  Was Poe trying to illustrate this to his reader, or was this piece supposed to be about the blanch starkness and the impending reality of death?  I think the raven's neutrality lays light on the idea that no matter what happens, we are indeed the masters of what happens, and we are able to change.  In the piece, it seems that the man does not want to change, perhaps because he feels that it could be an injustice to his lost lover.  The raven could be seen as both a physical entity in our own lives (such as those that give us advice) and/or metaphysical (such as our conscience).  Either way you look at it, The Raven speaks to the reader in one way or another, but it should not be waved aside without taking the chance to apply it to your own life.