The Raven questions

"The Raven"
Comprehension Questions
1. What are your impressions of the narrator?

2. How does the narrator respond to the noise he hears?

3. What does the narrator ask of the raven?

4. What is the response?

5. What does the speaker order the raven to do?

6. During the course of The Raven, what changes occur in the narrator's attitude towards the bird?

7. What does the raven come to represent?

8. How does the narrator's emotional state change during the poem?

9. How is the word nevermore related to the narrator's emotional state at the end of the poem?

EXTENSION QUESTIONS

10. Do you think this poem is supposed to be funny? In other words, do you find the speaker's tale intense and dramatic, or ridiculous and over-the-top? Explain your answer.

11. Do you think the speaker of this poem has really lost his mind, or does he just seem very, very sad to you? Explain your answer.

12. Do you trust the speaker? Do you think he gives us an accurate version of reality, or is it possible that he is making up or distorting some of these things? Explain.

13. Have you ever known someone (or been someone) whose love turned into obsession?