Basic Meaning
“Quoth the Raven, ‘Nevermore.’” What does “quoth” mean?
What is "said"
“Quoth the Raven, ‘Nevermore.’” What does “quoth” mean?
What is "Said"
What literary device is used in this line:
Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,
What is alliteration
From what point of view is this poem told?
First Person
What is the "Bust of Pallas"?
What is head/chest statue of the goddess of Athena? (Goddess of Wisdom)
What is the setting of this poem? (must have a time frame)
ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore,
What is the definition of "ghastly"?
What is "like a ghost"
Poe uses "And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain" to create this type of sound-related imagery.
Onomatopoeia
The color of the "silken sad uncertain rustling curtains".
Purple
In "The Raven," the purple curtains symbolize the narrator's descent into madness and a connection to the supernatural. The color purple, in both classical and Christian symbolism, represents royalty and nobility, which the narrator is suggested to have due to his scholarly nature. The rustling of the purple curtains also evokes a sense of sadness and mystery, mirroring the narrator's grief and the unsettling supernatural events that follow.
What does the narrator call the raven throughout the poem?
What is "a phrophet"?
“Take thy beak from out my heart…” – What does this symbolize?
What is: The emotional pain (the raven symbolizes)
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore
What does "decorum" mean?
What is "Dignity"
Poe refers to “Night’s Plutonian shore.”What figurative language is this using?
Allusion: Pluto's Shores (the God of the Underworld)
This is an example of which type of poem:
haiku, ballad, limerick, narrative, or free verse?
What is narrative
What is the RHYME SCHEME of this poem?
6 lines in each stanza produce the ABCBBB throughout the whole poem!
What is the MOST important question to the speaker?
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore:
What does "Melancholy" mean?
What is "deep sadness"
Other than personification, what literary device is used in this line:
“And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain”
What is Assonance?
What was the year "The Raven" was published?
What is 1845 (and he earned $14!)
"So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating / 'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door.'" What is the narrator doing?
Telling himself it is only a visitor!
“Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.”
What is a “Seraphim”?
What is "angel" or "celestial being"
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
What does "discourse" mean?
What is "Speech"
The phrase “the lamplight gloated o’er” is an example of this literary device.
What is "Personification"
Edgar Allen Poe considered using a different bird for this poem-- what type was it?
What is "a parrott"
When the narrator whispers "Lenore" into the darkness, what happened?
It was whispered back!