RAVEN

1st February 2024

Photo Credit: fsanchex (Getty Images), CANVA

QUOTATION

Give him tending.

He brings great news. The raven himself is hoarse

That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan

Under my battlements. Come, you spirits

That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,

And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full

of direst cruelty.

LADY MACBETH: Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5

RAVEN (Corvus corax)

The Raven is Shakespeare’s bird of foreboding, croaking its warning cry of imminent misfortune. Raven is also used as a metaphor for black in a series of contexts.

Ravens are found in the mythology and cultural heritage of many communities around the world. Ravens feature in the Geneva Bible in several different contexts, ‘the eye that mocketh his father and despiteth the instruction of his mother, let the ravens of the valley pick it out, and the young eagles eat it’ (PROVERBS 30:17), and ‘his head is as fine gold, his locks curled, and black as a raven’ (SONG of SOLOMON).

There is a legend that the kingdom will fall if the Ravens ever leave the Tower of London.

Ravens are the largest members of the Crow Family (Corvids). They are completely black in colour and live on carrion and mammals, bird and insects

More Information

BTO: Raven

Folger Shakespeare Library: Search Shakespeare’s Works

Geneva Bible, 1599 edition: accessed via Bible Gateway

Historic Royal Palaces: Ravens at the Tower of London

RSPB: Raven