Poe was heavily influenced by other storytellers, poets and philosophers. In addition to this, he was also a fan of classical music including Mozart and Haydn. But the biggest influence on his work was his love of cryptography. Cryptography is the science of breaking and creating codes and as Poe himself stated, his stories are written in codes and he challenges the reader to decipher them. The form of
The Raven, one of his classics contributes a lot to the over all effect of the poem. How it is written and read determines the macabre tone and the eerie symbolism of this masterpiece. For more information on Poe and his works, you can check out Shmoop.com