College Prep Poetry #6
Narrative Poem
“The Raven” – pg. 940
 Complete questions 1-6
 1. The poem’s speaker seems out of it, he hears a bird talking, that’s very strange.
 2. A. Lenore is the speaker’s wife, she died.
 B. The speaker loved her very much and is having a very hard time letting go of her.
 3. A. The speaker uses the adjectives weak and weary to describe his mood at the beginning
of the poem.
 B. At the end of the poem the speaker’s mood is upset and unsettled.
 C. The speaker’s mood has changed because he has realized that Lenore is never coming
back.
 4. A. The raven says ‘nevermore.’
 B. I think the raven is responding to the questions he asks him.
 5. A. My opinion of the raven hasn’t changed throughout the poem because I thought it was
eerie the whole time.
 B. My impression hasn’t changed; I thought it was weird the whole time.
 6. If Poe used a parrot instead of a raven it wouldn’t have the same effect because parrots are
comical birds and ravens are creepy birds.
 List at least 3 poetic devices found in the poem (Name the literary device and list the
example from the poem.) EX: Simile – “And the river flows like a stream of glass” - Line 4
(from “Sympathy”)
 Allusion- “Perched upon a bust of Pallas” Line 41
 End Rhyme- “Door” Lines 52-54

“Door”

“Nevermore”
 Internal Rhyme- “But the fact is I was napping and so gently you came rapping.” Line 21
 Rate the poem on the following scale accompanied by a 1-3 sentence specific explanation for
the rating.
Approval Rating Scale:
Liked it!
It was ok.
UGH! Did not like it!
I didn’t like it at all at first because I didn’t understand it at all, I was lost and it
didn’t keep my attention. Once you explained it to me then I liked the meaning of
it.
Label this page: Raven
Home Work Activity: Paraphrase the poem “The Raven” stanza by stanza.
OR
Find a song that illustrates the theme, mood, and situation of “The Raven.” Explain the
connections you see between the song and the poem, and include a copy of the lyrics.
OR
Find a piece of art work that illustrates the theme, mood, or situation of “The Raven.” Explain
the connections you see between the art work and the poem, and include a copy of the art work
or at least the title of the work and the artist’s name
Louise Nevelson is the artist, and Case with Five Balusters is the artwork. I picked this because
how Poe writes is different and this sculpture is very different also. Not many people write in the
way Poe does and not many people see art the way Nevelson does.