The Raven
1. The first stanza of "The Raven" presents a speaker who is physically exhausted and under obvious emotional strain. He reads, as we learn in the next stanza, to distract himself from sorrow, but the "quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore" implies a taste for the occult or the fantastic. How do these details relate to his later assumption that the raven is an agent of the supernatural?
2. The second stanza establishes the speaker's grief for the lost Lenore, and the third stanza sharply increases the emotional tension.
o Why, in lines 15-18, does he need to reassure himself by repeating that the tapping is only some late-night visitor--"and nothing more"?
o What else does he seem to expect?
3. At first, the raven makes the speaker smile (line 43). But his first speech to the raven associates the bird with Pluto. the ruler of infernal regions (lines 45-48). What does this tell us about what is truly in his mind?
4. Lines 49-78 take the speaker through a number of reactions: surprise that the bird speaks; the melancholy assumption that this companion will fly from him as "other friends" have done; a sensible explanation of how the bird may have learned its single word; and even playful amusement. Still, it becomes clear that, beneath his apparent assurance, the speaker is moving toward hysteria.
o What loss of control is indicated in line 74?
o Why is it appropriate that this stanza should end with the speaker now using the word nevermore?
The Raven
1. The first stanza of "The Raven" presents a speaker who is physically exhausted and under obvious emotional strain. He reads, as we learn in the next stanza, to distract himself from sorrow, but the "quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore" implies a taste for the occult or the fantastic. How do these details relate to his later assumption that the raven is an agent of the supernatural?
2. The second stanza establishes the speaker's grief for the lost Lenore, and the third stanza sharply increases the emotional tension.
o Why, in lines 15-18, does he need to reassure himself by repeating that the tapping is only some late-night visitor--"and nothing more"?
o What else does he seem to expect?
3. At first, the raven makes the speaker smile (line 43). But his first speech to the raven associates the bird with Pluto. the ruler of infernal regions (lines 45-48). What does this tell us about what is truly in his mind?
4. Lines 49-78 take the speaker through a number of reactions: surprise that the bird speaks; the melancholy assumption that this companion will fly from him as "other friends" have done; a sensible explanation of how the bird may have learned its single word; and even playful amusement. Still, it becomes clear that, beneath his apparent assurance, the speaker is moving toward hysteria.
o What loss of control is indicated in line 74?
o Why is it appropriate that this stanza should end with the speaker now using the word nevermore?
5. From line 79 on the speaker seems to lose whatever emotional control he had. How is the disorder of his senses indicated in lines 79-80?
6. Since the raven repeats only a single word, the significance of Nevermore as an answer depends entirely on the question asked. In the dialogue of lines 91-95, how does the speaker use the bird to confirm his own worst fears?
7. After the frenzy with which he proclaims that the raven's word is a "lie" and tries to drive the bird from him, the speaker seems strangely calm in the last stanza, as if he had recovered his reason.
o How does the repetition of the phrase, "still is sitting" (line 103) indicate that this is not so?
o How does the poet make this repeated phrase sound even more ominous?
o Which other lines in the final stanza suggest that the speaker may never return to his senses?
8. Read the Primary Sources excerpt on pgs 260-261 for a deeper understanding of the poem.
5. From line 79 on the speaker seems to lose whatever emotional control he had. How is the disorder of his senses indicated in lines 79-80?
6. Since the raven repeats only a single word, the significance of Nevermore as an answer depends entirely on the question asked. In the dialogue of lines 91-95, how does the speaker use the bird to confirm his own worst fears?
7. After the frenzy with which he proclaims that the raven's word is a "lie" and tries to drive the bird from him, the speaker seems strangely calm in the last stanza, as if he had recovered his reason.
o How does the repetition of the phrase, "still is sitting" (line 103) indicate that this is not so?
o How does the poet make this repeated phrase sound even more ominous?
o Which other lines in the final stanza suggest that the speaker may never return to his senses?
8. Read the Primary Sources excerpt on pgs 260-261 for a deeper understanding of the poem.