How does Poe's "The Raven" reflect the era in which it was written?

This poem was written during the Romantic era, an age that privileged emotion over reason, and the experiences of the individual over those of society. The narrator's feelings are given total primacy in this poem as he experiences fear, hope, anger, and despair in turn. This is one way in which the poem's content reflects the era in which it is written. Romantics believed that the experience of intense emotion is more fundamental to the human experience than the application of logic or reason because we are born knowing how to feel deeply (and we must be taught to be reasonable). The narrator certainly experiences intense emotions both before and after the raven appears.
Further, in many Romantic and Gothic texts, the possibility of something supernatural seems to exist, as it does in this poem as well. First, the narrator hopes that the ghost of his dead lover, Lenore, has returned to him. Later, he attributes a great deal of supernatural knowledge to the strange raven, believing it is a messenger from the underworld who knows the secrets of the afterlife.

There are several ways in which the poem reflects its period. The first is that the setting points to a fairly limited chronological range. A poor student who nonetheless could afford many books is something only possible a few centuries after the invention of the printing press. Lamplight and velvet cushions suggest technology and decor typical of the nineteenth century. 
Next, the use of the pathetic fallacy, in which the external weather echoes the mood of the narrator is something typical of Romantic and Victorian poets as is the intensely melancholic tone and use of a poor, depressed, sensitive student as a narrator. The protagonist, as is typical of nineteenth century writing, is not an heroic figure, but an outsider distinguished by a superior degree of taste and sentiment rather than by wealth, bravery, or strength as one might have found in earlier poetry.
The metrical experimentation and intense musicality are also typical of the period. Trochaic octameter is an unusual choice of meter, but Poe, like Tennyson and other mid-nineteenth century poets used unusual meter and frequent assonance and alliteration to create a dreamlike and emotionally charged atmosphere.

“The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe was published in January of 1845 during the era of Romanticism, which occurred from the late 1700s into the mid-1800s. Romanticism does not focus solely on love; it also delves into the human condition, mystery, and the unnatural. “The Raven” does have undertones of romantic love. The speaker is suffering the loss his young love, Lenore. He is aware she will never come back to be with him in his now-lonely room. The poem also includes the unnatural existence of the talking raven, who provides mystery.
The raven, who repeats only one word, is an unnatural or exotic element in the poem. Poe uses the raven to exploit the condition of the man’s mind, which leads the reader to feel empathy for him. The speaker delves deeper and deeper with his questions as he seems to lose his mind with sadness, but the raven continues to answer with the word “nevermore.” All of these characteristics point to the warped realism common in the era of Romanticism.