The Raven | Quotes

This opening line establishes the mood of the poem by offering a bleak setting.

The speaker introduces Lenore and her death. He uses study to fend off his sorrow and grief at her passing.

Upon finding no one at his door, the speaker briefly wonders if it is Lenore's spirit reaching out to communicate with him, giving a supernatural air to the poem and making us doubt the speaker's reliability.

The raven appears at the speaker's window, brought by there by the foul weather. The raven is given a noble descriptor and assigned a feeling of great age and import.

The speaker likens the bird to a nobleman or woman, personifying it and giving it human characteristics. It enters his rooms as though it belongs there and then sits on the statue of Athena, the goddess of wisdom.

The speaker speaks to the raven as if to a human, as if it will answer him. He makes reference to the god of the underworld, and ties the raven to images of death and darkness.

The raven's response to every question the speaker asks is "Nevermore." The speaker assigns different meanings and intonations to the bird's response.

The speaker fears the raven will abandon him, as hope has abandoned him. Lenore's death has left him grieving and despairing of the future without her, to the point that he feels hopeless. This drives home his feelings of isolation.

The speaker thinks he smells incense in the air and ascribes it to angels from heaven, where he believes Lenore awaits him. Whether he is visited by the supernatural or is just hallucinating due to madness is left up to interpretation.

The speaker wishes to forget his memories of Lenore since they cause him so much pain. He'd rather forget her than go on remembering what he's lost.

The speaker associates the raven with the supernatural, either as a prophet—foretelling the future—or as an infernal beast. He wonders if the raven has been sent by the devil or simply arrived due to the storm. He is assigning supernatural agency to the bird.

Gilead is heaven, and the speaker asks the raven if he will be reunited with Lenore when he dies. That would give him hope and make the memories easier to bear.

Again the speaker asks for confirmation that he will meet Lenore in the afterlife, hoping for a more palatable answer. His grief is turning to madness as he begins to hound the bird for an answer it cannot give.

The speaker orders the bird away after receiving an unsatisfactory answer. It has killed his dream of reunion with Lenore.

The speaker has given in to his despair. The raven sits on the bust of Athena and watches over the speaker as he sits in the chair and gives himself over to his madness.