The Raven
By Edgar Allan Poe
Pages 312 – 317
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Setting
• Describe the setting of the room.
– a chamber, midnight, dark, dreary
(think The Simpsons)
• Describe the speaker.
– a person who has lost his love
– A melancholy person trying to forget a tragedy
Plot
• What does the narrator expect to find when
he opens the door?
– a visitor, the deceased woman with whom he
has been in love
• What does he find instead?
– “Darkness there and nothing more.”
• What is his first reaction to the raven?
– amused, glad to have company
Plot
• When the raven first says “Nevermore”
what is the speaker’s guess as to why?
– it is the bird’s name
• What is his next guess as to why the raven
is saying “Nevermore”?
– it is the only word that his master has taught
him to say ( to torture the speaker)
Plot
• Near the end of the poem what two
questions does the speaker ask the Raven
to which it responds “Nevermore”?
– Will he get over his suffering?
• “Respite and nepenthe from thy memories of
Lenore”
• “Is there balm in Gilead?”
– Will he see Lenore again?
• “Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant
Aidenn,/ It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the
angels name Lenore.”
Literary Elements
• The theme of The Raven is best described
as the pain of loss of love. (causes a
person to become bitter)
• The speaker’s tone toward the raven
undergoes what transition?
– from amusement to annoyance to rage
Inference
• We can infer from the ending of the poem
that
– the speaker will never escape his despair
Onomatopoeia
• Which word in the following passage is an
example of onomatopoeia?
– “While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly
there came a tapping,/As of someone gently
rapping, rapping at my chamber door-”
• tapping
Alliteration
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered
weak and weary,
Over many a quaint
and curious
volume of
forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping,
suddenly there
came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my
chamber door—
`Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my
chamber door—
Only this, and nothing more.
Rhyme Scheme
• What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven?
End rhyme
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door Only this, and nothing more.'
Rhyme Scheme
• What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven?
End rhyme
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door Only this, and nothing more.'
Rhyme Scheme
• What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven?
End rhyme
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door Only this, and nothing more.'
Rhyme Scheme
• What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven?
End rhyme
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door Only this, and nothing more.'
Rhyme Scheme
• What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven?
End rhyme
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door Only this, and nothing more.'
Rhyme Scheme
• What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven?
End rhyme
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door Only this, and nothing more.'
Rhyme Scheme
• What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven?
End rhyme – abcbbb
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door Only this, and nothing more.'
Rhyme Scheme
• What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven?
Internal rhyme
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door Only this, and nothing more.'
Rhyme Scheme
• What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven?
Internal rhyme
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door Only this, and nothing more.'
Rhyme Scheme
• What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven?
Internal rhyme
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door Only this, and nothing more.'
Rhyme Scheme
• What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven?
Internal rhyme
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door Only this, and nothing more.'
Symbols
• are well known, at least in a particular
culture, and that their meaning is agreed
upon.
• Writers and artists often create their own
unique symbols.
Guidelines for recognizing symbols:
•
A symbol is a concrete object, a person, a place, or an
action that works on at least 2 levels: It functions as
itself and suggests a wider meaning.
•
Symbols are often visual.
•
The symbol is identified with something that is very
different from it, yet the 2 things share a similar quality.
•
The writer gives the symbol a great deal of emphasis.
•
The symbol usually relates to the story’s theme.
Symbols
• What does the raven symbolize?
– obsessive mourning
• “And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating
on the floor/ Shall be lifted – nevermore!”
Discussion Questions
• Add the following questions to your notes
• Copy the questions, then begin answering
them
Questions
1. When the speaker first thinks that Lenore may
be at the door, what are his feelings?
(Hopeful)
2. In “The Raven” what is cause of the speaker’s
sadness and what is the effect?
(Cause-lose Effect-heartbreak)
3. In the line, “perched upon a bust of Pallas”, what
may the Pallas represent?”
(Wisdom)