Can anyone explain what the raven is???????

The raven in the poem is a symbol of the narrator going insane over the lose of his love, Lenore. And Edgar Allen Poe isn't creepy, he's brilliant. He's the most well-known Dark Romanticist and is considered the father of the modern detective novel. His poems and stories really aren't that difficult to understand if you take the time to think deeper into what he's saying.