How is the poem "The Raven" a psychological study in self-torment?

Edgar Allen Poe's life
was filled with the deaths of the women he loved most in his life. Not only did his mother die,
his wife (and cousin) Virginia died from consumption (tuberculosis). Poe watched Virginia die a
bloody death for five years.

His poem, ""," is one of his most
well-known poems. Given it simple repetition of "Nevermore," it has been a favorite of
classrooms and media alike (as in The Simpsons, during a "Treehouse of
Terror" Halloween special).

That said, the repetitious nature of the
word "nevermore," has led critics to examine the self-torture aspect of the poem. Like
Poe, the speaker of the poem laments the death of his beloved. A raven flies into the room, and,
in the speaker's mournful state, he turns the bird into a foreseer of the future. The raven
tells the speaker that he will never be reunited with his lost love--even in heaven.

The fact that the speaker is so torn apart by the loss of his (or her) beloved speaks
to the idea of self-torture. Instead of moving on, the lamenting becomes constant. This is an
example of self-torture, failure to accept things as they are and more forward from them.