The End of the Raven is a short poem by Henry Beard (co-writer of Bored of the Rings) in his volume, Poetry for Cats, that serves as a continuation of The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, and follows the same structure and rhyme scheme of The Raven. The narrator and stated author of the poem is Edgar Allan Poe's Cat, with Poe taking the role of The Raven's unnamed protagonist.
The poem provides a Belated Happy Ending to The Raven, as the cat takes care of the raven problem as one might expect a cat to do. A copy of the poem can be found here
. Not to be confused with the Swedish film, Raven's End.
The End of the Raven contains the following tropes:
- The Alcoholic: Poe seems to be this, likely due to mourning his lost Lenore.
- Cats Are Snarkers/First-Person Smartass: The cat has a rather ironic tone in describing the mad standoff between Poe and the raven and how ridiculous the situation would look to an outsider.
- Deadly Lunge: The raven does not survive the cat's deadly pounce.
- Intellectual Animal: Poe's cat is credited as the author of the poem, and considering it perfectly mimics Poe’s original structure, that's quite impressive.
- Introverted Cat Person: The reclusive Poe's only companion is his cat.
- Murder Ballad: The poem tells of how Poe's cat kills the eponymous raven.
- Named in the Sequel: The unnamed protagonist of the original poem is now identified as Poe himself.
- Non-Protagonist Resolver: The cat serves as this for the original poem.
- Not Enough to Bury: After the cat's attack, the raven is described as "a heap of plumage, and a little gore — only this, and not much more."
- One-Hit Kill: The cat takes out the raven with one quick pounce.
- Original Character: There is no mention in The Raven of the protagonist having a cat.
- Quit Your Whining: The cat's killing of the raven effectively serves as this for Poe, allowing him to finally get passed his mournful self-pity.
- Suspiciously Stealthy Predator: The cat is very mindful to make sure that "nothing clattered, creaked, or snapped, or fell, or shattered as [he] crossed the corridor."
- Toppled Statue: The poem ends with the cat knocking over the bust of Pallas for good measure.
