1. By Edgar Allan Poe Pages 312-317
The Raven
By Edgar Allan Poe
Pages

2. Setting Describe the setting of the room. Describe the speaker.
a chamber, midnight, dark, dreary
(think The Simpsons)
Describe the speaker.
a young student who has lost his love

3. Plot What does the narrator expect to find when he opens the door?
a visitor
What does he find instead?
“Darkness there and nothing more.”
What is his first reaction to the raven?
amused, glad to have company

4. Plot
When the raven first says “Nevermore” what is the speaker’s guess as to why?
it is the bird’s name
What is his next guess as to why the raven is saying “Nevermore”?
it is the only word that his master has taught him to say

5. Plot
Near the end of the poem what two questions does the speaker ask the Raven to which it responds “Nevermore”?
Will he get over his suffering?
“Respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore”
“Is there balm in Gilead?”
Will he see Lenore again?
“Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,/ It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore.”

6. Literary Elements
The theme of The Raven is best described as the pain of
The speaker’s tone toward the raven undergoes what transition?
from amusement to annoyance to rage
lost love.

7. Inference We can infer from the ending of the poem that
the speaker will never escape his despair

8. Symbols What does the raven symbolize? divine judgment
“perched upon a bust of Pallas”
“Night’s Plutonian shore”
“thy God have lent thee – by these angels he hath sent thee”
“prophet still, if bird or devil”

9. Symbols What does the raven symbolize? obsessive mourning
“And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor/ Shall be lifted – nevermore!”

10. Onomatopoeia
Which word in the following passage is an example of onomatopoeia?
“While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,/As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door-”
tapping
rapping

11. Alliteration Once upon a midnight dreary, I pondered and
Over many a and volume of forgotten lore— While I 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— Only this, and nothing more.
while
weak
weary,
quaint
curious
nodded,
nearly
napping,

12. Rhyme Scheme What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven? End rhyme
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 - Only this, and nothing more.'

13. Rhyme Scheme What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven? End rhyme
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 - Only this, and nothing more.'

14. Rhyme Scheme What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven? End rhyme
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 - Only this, and nothing more.'

15. Rhyme Scheme What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven? End rhyme
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 - Only this, and nothing more.'

16. Rhyme Scheme What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven? End rhyme
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 - Only this, and nothing more.'

17. Rhyme Scheme What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven? End rhyme
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 - Only this, and nothing more.'

18. Rhyme Scheme What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven?
End rhyme – abcbbb
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 - Only this, and nothing more.'

19. Rhyme Scheme What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven?
Internal rhyme
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 - Only this, and nothing more.'

20. Rhyme Scheme What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven?
Internal rhyme
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 - Only this, and nothing more.'

21. Rhyme Scheme What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven?
Internal rhyme
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 - Only this, and nothing more.'

22. Rhyme Scheme What rhyme scheme did Poe use in The Raven?
Internal rhyme
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 - Only this, and nothing more.'

23. The Black Cat Main Characters Narrator
Kind, animal lover who turns abusive and insane due to alcohol
Wife
innocent, patient, caring
Cats
loyal, tormenting

24. The Black Cat Setting house and its cellar
Where is the narrator as he writes?
jail awaiting execution
What crime did he commit?
murdered his wife and cat
Is he remorseful? no

25. The Black Cat Why is the story a flashback?
he starts writing about current situation and flashes back to the story about how he got in jail
Why did he get caught by police
the cat was making noises in the wall

26. The Black Cat Compare the two cats in the story Pluto – all black
Second – all black except for white spot on the breast, missing eye
How does the narrator describe himself?
A normal man who turns violent and crazy due to alcohol

27. The Black Cat How does the narrator behave? Neurotic, violent
On what does the narrator blame his behavior?
alcohol, first cat
What is the disconnect between the way he views himself and his actual behavior?
He views himself as sane but his actions say otherwise

28. A Rose for Emily
“So she vanquished them, horse and foot, just as she had vanquished their fathers thirty years before about the smell.” Where does the smell come from?
Miss Emily’s unclean house
the decaying body of Homer Baron
a rat or snake that was killed in Miss Emily’s yard

29. A Rose for Emily
1. “So she vanquished them, horse and foot, just as she had vanquished their fathers thirty years before about the smell.” Where does the smell come from?
Miss Emily’s unclean house
the decaying body of Homer Baron
a rat or snake that was killed in Miss Emily’s yard

30. A Rose for Emily
2. “She told them that her father was not dead.” Why does Miss Emily tell the visiting ladies this information?
She has a good imagination.
Her father is not really dead.
She is too proud to accept their pity.

31. A Rose for Emily
2. “She told them that her father was not dead.” Why does Miss Emily tell the visiting ladies this information?
She has a good imagination.
Her father is not really dead.
She is too proud to accept their pity.

32. A Rose for Emily
3. “’Do you suppose it’s really so?’ they said to one another. ‘Of course it is. What else could …’” What fact does this open-ended sentence refer to?
Miss Emily’s possible relationship with a laborer
The fact that Miss Emily has no family in Jefferson
Her father’s legal troubles over the estate of old lady Wyatt

33. A Rose for Emily
3. “’Do you suppose it’s really so?’ they said to one another. ‘Of course it is. What else could …’” What fact does this open-ended sentence refer to?
Miss Emily’s possible relationship with a laborer
The fact that Miss Emily has no family in Jefferson
Her father’s legal troubles over the estate of old lady Wyatt