The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe 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--_______ 5 Only this and nothing more." _______ Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December; _______ And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. _______ Eagerly I wished the morrow;--vainly I had sought to borrow_______ From my books surcease of sorrow--sorrow for the lost Lenore--_______ 10 For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore--_______ Nameless here for evermore. _______ And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain_______ Thrilled me--filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; _______ So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating, _______ 15 "'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door--_______ Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;-- _______ This it is and nothing more." _______ A B B B B A B C B B B A B C B B B C Rhyme scheme establishes ________ Rhyt hm Inter nal Rhyme Allite ration Conson ance Assona nce Poetic Elements of the 1 st three stanzas

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe 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--_______ 5 Only this and nothing more." _______ Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December; _______ And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. _______ Eagerly I wished the morrow;--vainly I had sought to borrow_______ From my books surcease of sorrow--sorrow for the lost Lenore--_______ 10 For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore--_______ Nameless here for evermore. _______ And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain_______ Thrilled me--filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; _______ So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating, _______ 15 "'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door--_______ Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;-- _______ This it is and nothing more." _______ The speaker is fading in and out of sleep, while reading “ forgotten lore ” Trying to Forget Lenore The speaker believes the “ tapping ” is the knocking of a visitor Setting Mood

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer, _______ "Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; _______ 20 But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, _______ And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, _______ That I scarce was sure I heard you"--here I opened wide the door;---- _______ Darkness there and nothing more. _______ Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, _______ 25 Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before; _______ But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token, _______ And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?" _______ This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"-- _______ Merely this and nothing more. _______ 30 Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning, _______ Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before. _______ "Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice; _______ Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore--_______ Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;-- _______ 35 'Tis the wind and nothing more!" _______

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, _______ In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore; _______ Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he; _______ But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door--_______ 40 Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door--_______ Perched, and sat, and nothing more. _______ Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, _______ By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore, _______ "Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven, _______ 45 Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore--_______ Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!" _______ Quoth the Raven "Nevermore." _______ Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly, _______ Though its answer little meaning--little relevancy bore; _______ 50 For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being_______ Ever yet was blest with seeing bird above his chamber door--_______ Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door, _______ With such name as "Nevermore." _______ the speaker smiles at his strange visitor Allusion to Pluto – Roman god of the underworld The speaker believes the Raven has come from “ Night ’ s Plutonian shore ” - Hell

But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only_______ 55 That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. _______ Nothing further then he uttered--not a feather then he fluttered--_______ Till I scarcely more than muttered "Other friends have flown before--_______ On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before." _______ Then the bird said "Nevermore." _______ 60 Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken, _______ "Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store_______ Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster_______ Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore--_______ Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore_______ 65 Of 'Never--nevermore.'"_______ But the Raven still beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, _______ Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door; _______ Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking_______ Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore--_______ 70 What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore_______ Meant in croaking "Nevermore." _______

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing_______ To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core; _______ This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining_______ 75 On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er, _______ But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er, _______ She shall press, ah, nevermore! _______ Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer_______ Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor._______ 80 "Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee--by these angels he hath sent thee______ Respite--respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore; _______ Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!" _______ Quoth the Raven "Nevermore." _______ "Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!-- _______ 85 Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, _______ Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted--_______ On this home by Horror haunted--tell me truly, I implore--_______ Is there--is there balm in Gilead?--tell me--tell me, I implore!" _______ Quoth the Raven "Nevermore." _______ 90 Allusion to the Bible The speaker is asking if he has any HOPE of relief from his grief and sorrow which he wants more than anything else

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil--prophet still, if bird or devil! _______ By that Heaven that bends above us--by that God we both adore--_______ Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, _______ It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore--_______ Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore." _______ 95 Quoth the Raven "Nevermore." _______ "Be that word our sign in parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting--_______ "Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore! _______ Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! _______ Leave my loneliness unbroken!--quit the bust above my door! _______ 100 Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!" _______ Quoth the Raven "Nevermore." _______ And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting_______ On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; _______ And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, _______ 105 And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; _______ And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor_______ Shall be lifted--nevermore! _______ the raven has taken away / dashe d all of the speaker ’ s hopes the raven symbolizes the speaker ’ s suffering, insanity, loss, and grief and will remain a part of the speaker ’ s life

How Poe used poetic techniques to convey mood in his poetry: In his essay “ The Philosophy of Composition ” Poe explained that he was attempting to create a melancholy mood with his poem “ The Raven.” – He believed the long “ o ” sound in the word “ nevermore ” had a very sad sound, so he repeated that sound at the end of each stanza. – Poe also noted that the saddest subject in the world was the death of a beautiful young woman, so he chose that as the subject of his poem. – He then concluded that the narrator of the poem should be the dead woman ’ s lover, the one, Poe believed, would be most deeply affected by her death.

How Poe used poetic techniques to convey mood in his poetry: Throughout the poem Poe uses imagery that conveys a sense of sorrow over the death of the narrator ’ s lover Lenore. For example, he describes the dark night outside his room as a “ Plutonian shore,” making an allusion to the god of the underworld Pluto. The same symbol he uses in “ The Black Cat.” What effect does referencing the god of the underworld have on the reader? Poe also devotes a great deal of attention to the lyrical qualities of his poetry in order to convey a sense of beauty, the contemplation of which, he believed, “ invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.”