After reviewing the vocabulary for the poem, students should listen to a reading or recording of 'The Raven' to hear the darkness and the repetition of the poem. It is suggested that students listen to the poem in its entirety for the first introduction. Replay the poem again with frequent stopping at the end of stanzas and/or as dictated by the discussion guide questions below.

Prior to the first meeting with the poem, the readers should understand that this is an old poem. Poe was a master of the English language and very talented when utilizing it. Incorporate that the stanza is a group of lines defined by a space from another, usually of equal length. While each stanza represents a new thought or action, it is unlike a paragraph because it is organized around meter (a measure or pattern of syllables) and end rhyme patterns that are repeated from stanza to stanza. This repetition gives the poem a rhythm, like music without instrumental accompaniment.

Class Discussion:

“The Raven” is about a man and his encounter with a raven, an ominous looking bird made more terrifying by the uneasy mental condition of the poem's speaker.

Stanza 1.

• What was the speaker doing?

• What condition was he in?

• What does he say he was doing in line three? (DO GESTURE)

• What did he hear?

Stanza 2.

• What does the speaker give us to see in the second line?

• What is the speaker wishing for?

• What had he been doing? With his books? Why?

• How was he feeling? Why?

• Who is Lenore?

• What does the last line mean?

Stanza 3.

• What vision does the speaker give in the first line?

• How does he make it seem eerie?

• What does he say in the second line?

• What seems to be happening to him?

• What type of state does he seem to be going into? Why?

Stanza 4.

• Does he open the door before or after he speaks?

• What does he find when he opens the door?

Stanza 5.

• Does he close the door or keep it open?

• What does he see?

• What is the darkness like?

• How does it make him feel?

• What does he say?

• What does he hear? Does he really hear something or is it his imagination?

Stanza 6.

• He has shut the door and moved to the window, how does he open the window?

• What does he find?

• What do you know about Ravens?

• How does the speaker say the Raven acted in lines three and four?

• What does the Raven do?

Stanza 7.

• What does the bird do for the speaker in the first line?

• Knowing what you know about Ravens, how is this ironic?

• Where does the speaker think the bird has come from? Why?

• What does the speaker ask the bird?

• What does the bird reply?

Stanza 8.

• How does the speaker feel about the Raven in his chamber?

• Does he think that the bird's presence has any significance? Why/why not?

Stanza 9

• Has the Raven moved since entering the house?

• How do you know (L.1 and L.3.)?

• What does the speaker believe the bird will do?

• When does he believe that the bird will leave?

• What does the bird say?

Stanza 10

• What word does the speaker wish to be the last spoken between him and the bird?

• Where does he tell the bird to go?

• What does he tell the bird not to leave?

• What is a black plume?

• What does the speaker imply when he tells the Raven to take its beak from his heart?

• How does the speaker feel about the Raven at this point?

• Is he still happy to see the bird or does he perhaps wish he had never met him?

Stanza 11.

• In the last stanza, where is the bird?

• What eerie vision does the speaker give in lines three & four?

• When else in the poem did he speak of shadows?

• Who or what might the Raven symbolize?

• What does it mean when the speaker says that the shadow on the floor shall be lifted nevermore? (He will always carry his guilt/mourning.)

• Who says nevermore?

• What conclusions can we draw about what effects the Raven has had on the speaker?

Review and Conclusion questions:

1. Why did Poe use a Raven instead of another bird?
2. What would have happened if he used a blue bird?
3. What is the symbol of a Raven?
4. When did the speaker become paranoid? Why?
5. When have you felt paranoid/scared? Why?
6. What movies/TV programs can you think of when a person becomes scared of something outside?
7. Why would Lenore be at his door if she died?
8. How do you think she died?
9. How do you feel when you lose something?
10. What type of poem was this? (Prose = tells a story.)

Literary Elements as applied to “The Raven”

SETTING

• How did the poem begin?

• Where was the speaker?

• What types of images did the speaker draw for us?

• What time of year was it?

• What type of atmosphere did the speaker make us feel?

• What type of character was the speaker?

• What connection can we make between the setting and the speaker?

TIME

• How long did the poem take place? A day, week, etc.?

• What reference does the speaker make to the Raven?

• What physical objects help to define the time period?

• When was Poe's time?

PROTAGONIST

• Who is the main character?

• What do we know about him?

• By the conclusion of the poem, is he a static or dynamic character?

ANTAGONIST

• Who is the ‘bad’ character of the poem? Why?

• What does it do to the speaker?

• By the conclusion of the poem, is he a static or dynamic character?

CONFLICT

• Man vs. Nature (symbolism of Raven)

• Man vs. Self (power of the mind/imagination)

POINT OF VIEW

• Who tells the poem?

CLIMAX

• Where does the speaker's imagination take control of his mind?

THEME

• If someone is dead, are they dead in all ways?

• How do you relate to the story?

OTHER CHARACTERS

• Lenore?
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