[SOLVED] “The Raven” Homework Assignment

I’m working on a English question and need guidance to help me study.

Carefully read Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.” (Full text is provided in this week’s module.)

Then, use your lecture notes to help you answer the following questions.

1. What kind of poem is “The Raven”? (Narrative? Ode? Epic? Etc.)
2. How many stanzas does the poem contain? How many lines are in each stanza?
3. Plot the rhyme scheme (end rhyme) of the first stanza of the poem.
4. How does this poem sound when read aloud? Melodic? Cacophonic? What makes the poem sound the way it does?
5. How would you describe the rhythm of “The Raven”?
6. “The Raven” features extensive use of internal rhyme. Find and list 2 examples of internal rhyme.
7. Give at least one example of each of the following: Assonance, consonance, and alliteration.
8. Describe the setting of “The Raven.” How does the setting contribute to the mood of the poem?
9. Describe the speaker’s tone in “The Raven.”
10. Paraphrase the literal action of the poem. What is actually going on?
11. “The Raven” is full of imagery (sensory details.) List at least 3 examples of this.
12. Locate and describe an example of an allusion in the poem.
13. Find examples of symbolism in the poem; which objects do you think are symbolic, and why do you say so?
14. Notice the extensive use of repetition in “The Raven”; which words / phrases do you see repeated, and to what effect?
15. What would you say is the theme (purpose) of “The Raven”? Why do you think so?

…………………

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.”

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

” ‘Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door;

Only this, and nothing more.”

Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December,

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had sought to borrow

From my

books surcease of sorrow, sorrow for the lost Lenore,.

For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name

Lenore,

Nameless here forevermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain

Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;

So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,

” ‘Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door,

Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door.

This it is, and nothing more.”

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,

“Sir,” said I, “or madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;

But the fact is, I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,

And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,

That I scarce was sure I heard you.” Here I opened wide the door;—

Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;

But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,

And the only word there spoken was the whispered word,

Lenore?, This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word,

“Lenore!” Merely this, and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,

Soon again I heard a tapping, something louder than before,

“Surely,” said I, “surely, that is something at my window lattice.

Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore.

Let my heart be still a moment, and this mystery explore.

” ‘Tis the wind, and nothing more.”