Name: _______________________________

Period: ___________________

Guided Questions for

Edgar Allan Poes
The Raven
For your reference: a stanza is like a paragraph in a poem;
a line is like a sentence
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

What is the emotional state of the narrator at the beginning of the poem?
Where is the narrator in stanza 1, and what does he hear?
According to the first two stanzas, at what time of day and year does the action occur?
According to stanza 2, why is the speaker sorrowful? What terrifies him in lines 13-14?
What is Edgar Allan Poe, the poet, describing in the second line of the second stanza?
What does the last line in the second stanza mean? Why is the name Lenore nameless here?
In the third stanza, do you think the narrators reactions are natural? Have you ever been alone
late at night and heard strange noises?
8. What does the narrator mean by saying in line 19 that his soul grew stronger?
9. In stanza 5, What does the speaker see when he opens the door? What does he say and hear?
10. In stanza 7, where does the Raven perch?
11. What is the bust of Pallas?
12. Symbolism: In line 38, stanza 7, we are introduced to a raven. What do you think a raven
symbolizes? Why do you think that?
13. What is the ravens favorite and only word?
14. In stanza 8, how does the narrator feel about the raven?
15. What feelings does the narrator express in lines 58-59, stanza 10?
16. The narrators attitude toward the raven changes over the course of the poem. How does the
speakers attitude differ here from his attitude in stanza 8 (question 9)?
17. In stanza 11, lines 61-66, what explanation does the narrator give for the Ravens reply so aptly
spoken?
18. In stanza 14, lines 81-83, to whom is the narrator speaking?
19. Infer: In stanza 16, the narrator learns that he will not even see his Lenore again in Heaven. Does
this mean he is consigned to Hell, or that she is not in Heaven?
20. In lines 79-84, what two questions does the narrator ask the raven?
21. How does the raven answer?
22. The mood of a piece of literature is the atmosphere, or the feeling of the piece of
literature. The mood is often described with colorful and powerful adjectives of the setting and
disposition (the way a character acts or feels) of the characters. The mood of this poem comes
from the description of the setting. List eight words that describe the mood of this poem as
mysterious and dreadful.
23. Which point of view is this poem written in?
24. What genre is this piece of literature?

Name: _______________________________
Period: ___________________

Vocabulary Search:
1. Lore = wisdom or knowledge
2. Chamber = large room used for meeting people
3. Wrought = shaped or formed
4. Surcease = relief from / a brief release from
5. Entreating = strongly requesting / begging
6. Mortal = human / earthly
7. Lattice = web/net-like pattern/ trellis
8. Obeisance = bow or genuflect
9. Mien = appearance or expression
10. Bust (noun) = life-sized statute of a persons head and shoulders
11. Pallas = Greek God of wisdom and the Arts
12. Beguiling = charmed/fascinated
13. Decorum = respectability / good manners
14. Countenance = face/ expression
15. Craven = coward/ gutless
16. Plutonian = Black/ Pluto was Greek god of the underworld
17. Discourse = communication/ conversation
18. Placid = easy-going/ calm
19. ..only stock and store.. = only thing he has got
20. Dirges = funeral song
21. Melancholy = sad and gloomy
22. Ominous = warning/threatening
23. Censer = ghost
24. Seraphim = angels of the highest order
25. Nepenthe = drug that makes you unconscious
26. Tempter = The Devil
27. ... balm in Gilead .. = medicine to relieve pain and suffering
28. Aidenn = Like Eden/ meaning-in heaven
29. Plume = feather
30. Pallid = white/ pale/ colourless