herappleness's opening statement in her answer to your question caught my eye: "Historically in many cultures the raven is seen as a sign that evil and unpleasant events are about to occur." I'm sure this statement is true in some instances, with the raven appearing as a dire portent (e.g. in biblical references cited in one of the links below), but the raven has a lot of other associations. In Norse mythology, two ravens are the messengers and informants of Odin the All-Father, the ruler of the gods. In Native American mythologies of the Pacific Northwest, the raven is a trickster figure who generally is a friend of humans.
I can imagine how the raven might be a suitable symbol for loss because the bird often feeds (at least in stories) on corpses, particularly corpses on the battlefield.
As a side note, Edgar Allan Poe talks extensively in his short essay "The Philosophy of Composition" about his use of the bird symbol in the poem "The Raven." He even gives some interesting trivia, such as stating that he had initially thought of using a parrot!
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