The Raven Interpretation

NAME ______DATE______PER ______

Directions: Use this website (http://knowingpoe.thinkport.org/writer/annotated.asp) to explore the meanings of and literary devices used in Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven”.

PART 1 – Read the information on the website’s main page. Then, scroll down to the text that reads: “You might want to start by clicking here to learn more about The Raven's unique rhyme schemes.” Click on the link and access all three sections of “The Raven’s Rhymes” to answer the following questions.

Internal 1. How many unique rhyme schemes are found in “The Raven”? Rhyming 2. List the internal rhyming scheme words from two different stanzas in the poem. (cite line numbers)

Example 1:

Example 2:

External 3. What is the external rhyme scheme used? Rhyming 4. Give one example of external rhyme from the poem.

5. Why does a poet use rhyme schemes?

PART 2 – From the main website, click on the ANNOTATED POE interactive. Use the “What Does That Mean?” tab to answer the following questions. 6. In stanza 2, what does the word ember mean?

7. What clue does it give about where the author is sitting?

8. What does Poe mean when he says “surcease of sorrow” in stanza 2?

9. What is window lattice?

10. Define stately. NAME ______DATE______PER ______

11. What does Poe mean when he says “Not the least obeisance made he”?

12. What is a bust of Pallas?

13. Rewrite the following in everyday English: “Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore.”

14. Define craven.

15. Define melancholy

16. What does “fancy unto fancy” mean?

17. Explain this line: “Then, me thought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer, Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.”

18. What does the narrator want when he asks for “a respite and nepenthe”?

PART 3 – Use the “How Did He Do That?” tab to answer the following questions about poetic devices. Alliteration 19. What is alliteration?

20. Give 3 examples of alliteration in “The Raven.”

Example 1:

Example 2:

Example 3: NAME ______DATE______PER ______

Onomatopoeia 21. What is onomatopoeia?

22. This device is used to:

23. Give 1 example of onomatopoeia from the poem.

Mood/Tone 24. Poe carefully sets the mood of the poem by using precise language. Describe the mood in stanza 1.

25. What words or sounds contribute to this mood? Consider the feelings the narrator experiences.

26. What poetic devices can you find in this first stanza?

27. Click on “Surely, said I”. From what perspective is the poem being told?

28. To whom is the narrator speaking when he says, “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…”

29. What is it called when a character speaks aloud to himself in a story, poem, or play?

30. Name the literary device being used in the phrase “is there balm in Gilead?”

31. What is the meaning of that phrase as it applies to this poem?

PART 4 – Using what you know about the elements of a narrative, answer the following questions. Setting 32. Using stanzas 1-3, describe the setting of this poem. NAME ______DATE______PER ______

Characters 33. How many characters are there in the poem?

34. Name them.

Plot 35. List the events of the narrative in chronological order.

Climax In which stanza does the climax of the action occur?