In Poe's poem, "Raven", we see a number of symbolic elements which can be interpreted in a variety of ways. When describing the instance of bewilderment upon opening his home's door, we may see a possible symbolism in regards to the contrasting light conditions of the scene, as well as the description of the opening of the doors wide open: The differences in light that Poe presents in his poem represent a sense of comfort within his establishment which he doesn't sense once he opens his door. There are unknown things where he cannot see them, and he fears them. What he knows is his loneliness. The body language, so aptly illustrated in this image, may allude to Jesus's crucification. This means that the narrator is sacrificing himself for what he believes - his hopeless solitude. We also see that the Raven may represent his closest friend (which may be himself), who he believes is destined to abandon him:
With this revelation, we can assume that our narrator is comfortable with his disparity, which is why he is so astonished to hear the raven's "Nevermore". At the end, the reader is told that the raven's shadow represents the narrator's dying soul. Then again, it is common to find dark animals and images to represent death, which may just be case. The raven would then be ironic shadow of death that has come to remind our narrator that he is alone in his deathbed. One way or another, our narrator is not comfortable without his solitude.
One curiosity is the fact that the balm of Gilead is mentioned, which led me to some investigation:
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