Response Questions For The Raven

e Losing a loved one can be hard. It can drive you to the point of insanity. In “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe, the narrator is reading in his chamber, whilst nearly falling asleep. He claims to have heard a knock at his door, but he opens the door but nothing was there. He then heard the knock again at his window. He opened the window and a raven flew in and perched on a bust of Pallas just above the door. When the narrator starts to ask the raven questions, it only responds with “Nevermore”. At first, he was fascinated by the raven but soon that fascination turns into irritation. He continues to ask the raven about his lost Lenore, and if he will ever see her again, but is heartbroken when the raven once again answers with “Nevermore.”

The text states “I nodded, nearly napping” (Line 3). This shows that if the narrator is sleeping, his interaction could be just a dream. In addition, in the text, it says that “But the fact is I was napping”(Line 21). This implies he was tired and that he could have fallen asleep and is dreaming about the raven and it talking. Furthermore, he has lost his Lenore and is grieving about her. When he hears the knock at his door he is trying to convince himself that it is only “Some late visitor entreating entrance…and nothing more” (Line 16,18). This suggests that he is nervous at first and is trying to convince himself that there is nothing to be worried about, but when he opens the door and nothing is there, he believes it could have been Lenore at his

Some people might say that he is reliable because he is simply grieving the loss of his loved one, and this could be true. However, the text states “respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!” (Line 82). This shows that the narrator has been driven mad after losing Lenore that he is willing to take a drug to forget her. If he was reliable he wouldn't be crazy enough to drink a drug to forget her. The text also mentions that “the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer”(Line 79). This also shows that he believes he can smell a perfume which the poem implies to be Lenore, but she is dead and he is simply imagining that he can smell her. Another common argument saying that he is reliable is that he is lonely after losing Lenore and is starting to hallucinate, but instead, he could be dreaming because it says that he was “nearly napping” (Line 3) at midnight. This can prove that instead of the raven being there, he could have fallen asleep and everything is a