The Raven
"The Raven" is an 1845 narrative poem by Edgar Allan Poe about a man tormented by a mysterious black bird that answers his desperate questions with only the word "nevermore." The poem's hypnotic rhythm and Gothic atmosphere made it instantly famous.
She could recite "The Raven" from memory.
The title sometimes refers to Poe himself or evokes brooding melancholy.
Lamented woman's name
- sorrowDeep emotional distress
- griefIntense sorrow from loss
- despairTotal absence of hope
- mourningPeriod following loss
loss · heartache · loneliness · hopelessness · anguish · woe · pensive · somber
Poem's line grouping
- verseMetered poetic passage
- refrainAbstain from acting
- nevermoreAt no future time
- quothArchaic verb: spoke
rhyme · meter · alliteration · repetition · symbolism · imagery · narrative poem · internal rhyme
- macabreDisturbing, death-obsessed
- VictorianOf a prim era
- hauntingDisturbingly unforgettable
- spectralGhostlike or wavelength-related
ghostly · graveyard · sepulchral · morbid · uncanny · nocturnal · phantasmagoric · decadence
Prophetic indicator
- portentSign of future calamity
- harbingerOne who foreshadows
- prophecyForetelling of future events
- doomUnavoidable grim fate
warning · dread · apprehension · trepidation · unease · menace · threat · chill
Something hard to fathom
- crypticObscure in meaning
- arcaneUnderstood by few
- occultConcealed from view
- inscrutableImpossible to understand
secretive · veiled · obscure · esoteric · unfathomable · mystique · hidden · unknowable
Lenore
Lamented woman's name
mourning · loss · heartache · loneliness · hopelessness · anguish · woe · pensive · somber · dolorous
stanza
Poem's line grouping
quoth · rhyme · meter · alliteration · repetition · symbolism · imagery · narrative poem · internal rhyme · musicality
Edgar Allan Poe
spectral · ghostly · graveyard · sepulchral · morbid · uncanny · nocturnal · phantasmagoric · decadence · elegy
omen
Prophetic indicator
doom · warning · dread · apprehension · trepidation · unease · menace · threat · chill · shiver
enigma
Something hard to fathom
inscrutable · secretive · veiled · obscure · esoteric · unfathomable · mystique · hidden · unknowable · talking bird
- PoemsOzymandias, Invictus, Paradise Lost, Beowulf, Annabel Lee
- American ClassicsMoby-Dick, Moby Dick, The Scarlet Letter, Walden, Leaves of Grass
- American LiteratureThe Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlet Letter, Moby-Dick, Moby Dick
- American PoetryWalt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes
- Narrative PoemsAnnabel Lee, Gunga Din, Edward, Lenore
- PoeThe Tell-Tale Heart, Annabel Lee, The Black Cat, Lenore, Nevermore