1a. What is the speaker doing when he first hears the rapping at his door?
2a. Who or what enters the room through the open window?
3a. What is the raven's single-word answer to every question?
4a. What are the stages of the narrator's developing anger?
5a. Other birds, such as the parrot, also can be trained to speak. Evaluate whether Poe's choice of the raven achieves his desired effect in this story.
1b. Why does the speaker hesitate before answering the door?
2b. Describe the raven. How is it different from normal birds?
3b. The speaker soon knows how the raven will respond to his questions and commands. Why does he continue to talk to it and ask it questions?
4b. What does the narrator's anger have to do with the lost Lenore?
5b. What other animal could Poe have chosen? How would a different animal have changed the poem?
Rhyme. Read line 61 of the poem for an example of internal rhyme. Find at least five other examples of internal rhyme in the poem.
Does the internal rhyme add to your enjoyment of the poem? Why, or why not?
Alliteration. The repetition of initial consonant sounds is called alliteration. Here are examples of the use of alliteration in lines 3, 11, and 12. line 3 nodded nearly napping line 11 rare radiant line 12 silken sad
Make a list of other examples of alliteration in other lines of the poem.
Run-On Line. Find two examples of run-on lines in "The Raven." Then identify two examples of end-stopped lines. What is the effect of including a variety of lines in a poem rather than only one?
1. Write a paragraph describing the feelings the word nevermore creates in you. Why is it such a powerful word?
2. Using your own paper, draw a comic strip telling the story of "The Raven." Include details about the changing appearance and emotions of the speaker, as well as details about the setting, such as the speaker's lonely, gloomy room.
3. Talking animals have appeared in folk tales, myths, children's stories, and fantasies for centuries. Write a dialogue between yourself and a talking animal in which the animal repeats a word or phrase, as the raven does in the poem.
Quotation Marks. Read the Language Arts Survey 3.92, "Quotation Marks." Rewrite each quotation below and add the correct punctuation.
1. It is a visitor tapping at my door I said.
2. Nevermore said the enigmatic raven.
3. I said that the others had left me and that the raven would soon leave, too.
4. I pleaded Tell me if I shall ever escape from my memories of Lenore.
5. Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door I shrieked.
Lost and Found Ad. Write a lost and found ad, looking for the owner of the raven that appears in the poem. Describe the physical characteristics, behavior, and speech pattern of the bird.
Reference Works. Find one traditional reference and one on-line reference that contain literary information about Edgar Allan Poe. Write a reference list for the sources in which you found the information you were seeking.
1. Sources used:
