The Raven
A Poem by Edgar Allan Poe
The poem features a
mysterious bird that
speaks only one word…
…a grieving
narrator…
… and a lost
love.
The Basic Plot:
A raven visits a distraught
student who descends into
madness.
The student is lamenting the
loss of his love, Lenore.
The raven, sitting on a bust of
Pallas, seems to further
instigate the student’s
distress by repeating one
word, "Nevermore".
THE NARRATOR
• A student who grieves for his
dead love
• He longs to be reunited with
her in Heaven…
• But obsesses over whether
he will see her again
• Wants to be left alone
THE RAVEN
• Enters and won’t leave
• Speaks one word to the
narrator: “NEVERMORE”
• The narrator at first sees him as
a wise creature… but then
believes that the Raven is evil
for telling him that he will
“NEVERMORE” be reunited with
his lost love.
LENORE
• Dead before the poem begins
• The narrator has undying devotion
and love for her; he misses her
• Could she represent Poe’s wife
who died 2 years before this was
published?
POEM SUMMARY
It is midnight on a cold
evening in December in the
1840s. In a dark and shadowy
bedroom, a man laments the
death of Lenore, a woman he
deeply loved. To occupy his
mind, he reads.
But a tapping noise disturbs
him.
When he opens the door to the
bedroom, he sees nothing–
only darkness. When the
tapping continues, he opens
the shutter of the window and
discovers a raven.
The raven flies into the
room and lands above
the door on a statue of
Pallas Athena, the
goddess of wisdom and
war in Greek mythology.
The Raven says only
“Nevermore.”
Does the Raven mean the
man he will never again
("nevermore") see his
beloved, never again hold
her– not even in heaven ?
Why won’t he be
reunited with Lenore?
Is the narrator not
bound for heaven? Is
he not meant to ever
leave the room?
The Raven & the
narrator’s placement
when the story begins
/ ends.
**The Raven has
already landed when
the poem begins.**
Symbols
Raven: evil, mournful,
unending rememberance
Bust of Pallas: wisdom
Winter / December: things
coming to an end
TONE: Mournful / depressed
MOOD: Eerie / creepy
SUBJECT: Death
THEME: If you don’t move on,
you’re really stuck. / Love
doesn’t die. / What we think is
wise might be evil.
Remember…
Poe chose to use a
raven for a reason…
Ravens are scary, dark,
they don’t sing, & they
haven’t been tamed as
pets… not like…
The
End.