“The Raven” Discussion Questions
1. Describe the setting of the room.
a chamber, midnight, dark, dreary
2. Describe the speaker.
a person who has lost his love
A melancholy person trying to forget a tragedy
3. What does the narrator expect to find when he opens the door?
a visitor, the deceased woman with whom he has been in love
4. What does he find instead?
“Darkness there and nothing more.”
5. What is his first reaction to the raven?
amused, glad to have company
6. When the raven first says “Nevermore” what is the speaker’s guess as to why?
it is the bird’s name
7. 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 ( to torture the speaker)
8. 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?
• Will he see Lenore again?
9. The theme of The Raven is best described as the pain of _loss of a love can cause a person to become bitter.
10. The speaker’s tone toward the raven undergoes what transition?
from amusement to annoyance to rage
11. We can infer from the ending of the poem that the speaker will never escape his despair.
12. What does the raven symbolize?
obsessive mourning
13. Which word in the following passage is an example of onomatopoeia?
Tapping
14. What does the speaker feel when he first thinks that Lenore may be at his door?
Hope and terror
15. What does the speaker mean when he says, “nameless here for evermore?”
Lenore is so special she is nameless in the speaker’s heart
16. Paraphrase lines 55-56.
The raven spoke only that one word.