March 31 2025 The Raven - Poe

 Silent Read 20 min 

Lesson Plan: The Haunting Poetry of The Raven

Grade: 11 Creative Writing

Objective: Students will analyze The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, identifying its poetic devices, themes, and emotional depth. They will then apply Poe’s techniques to their own writing.

---

Lesson Breakdown

1. Introduction – Setting the Mood 

• 
  
• Ask: "Have you ever been haunted by a memory or an emotion you couldn't escape?"
  • Briefly discuss responses.
  • Explain that Poe’s The Raven explores grief, loss, and psychological torment.

---

2. Reading The Raven (15 minutes)

• Provide students with a printed copy of the poem.
• Read Aloud:
  • Either read dramatically yourself or play a recording - 

    The Simpsons - The Raven

• Encourage students to annotate:
  • Underline phrases that stand out emotionally.
  • Circle repeating words and sounds (e.g., "nevermore").

---

3. Poetic Devices Analysis (15 minutes)

Break students into small groups (max 3) or pairs. Each group will focus on a specific poetic device:

📌 Alliteration:
"Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before."

• Ask: How does the repetition of sounds add rhythm and tension?

📌 Repetition:
"Quoth the Raven, ‘Nevermore.’"

• Why does Poe repeat this phrase? How does it impact the reader’s emotions?

📌 Internal Rhyme:
"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary."

• How does internal rhyme contribute to the poem’s flow?

📌 Imagery & Mood:
"And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor."

• How does Poe create a dark, haunting atmosphere?

📌 Symbolism:

• What might the Raven symbolize?
• How does the narrator’s emotional descent relate to the loss of Lenore?

Each group will present a 2-minute explanation of their findings.

---

Answers:

Answers to Poetic Device Questions in The Raven

📌 Alliteration:
"Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before."

• The repetition of the "d" sound creates a rhythmic, almost hypnotic effect that draws the reader deeper into the speaker’s mental state.
• It also adds tension by emphasizing the speaker’s growing uncertainty and distress, reinforcing his obsessive thoughts.

📌 Repetition:
"Quoth the Raven, ‘Nevermore.’"

• The repeated use of "Nevermore" makes the phrase feel inescapable, mirroring the narrator’s growing despair.
• Each time the Raven speaks, it reinforces the narrator’s obsession with Lenore and his inability to move on.
• The word’s finality builds suspense and creates a feeling of doom, as if the narrator is trapped in his own sorrow.

📌 Internal Rhyme:
"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary."

• The rhyme within a single line ("dreary/weary") gives the poem a musical, flowing quality that enhances its eerie, chant-like nature.
• This technique makes the poem feel more immersive, pulling the reader into the speaker’s restless, sorrowful thoughts.

📌 Imagery & Mood:
"And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor."

• The imagery of "dying embers" and "ghosts" reinforces themes of death and the supernatural.
• The use of dark, fading light creates an unsettling, ominous mood, suggesting the speaker’s descent into grief and madness.
• The idea that even embers leave "ghosts" symbolizes how memories of Lenore haunt him, blurring reality and imagination.

📌 Symbolism:

• What might the Raven symbolize?
  • The Raven can symbolize death, fate, or the inescapability of grief.
  • Its repeated message ("Nevermore") suggests the permanence of loss—the narrator will never reunite with Lenore.
• How does the narrator’s emotional descent relate to the loss of Lenore?
  • The narrator begins with sorrow but becomes increasingly obsessive and irrational.
  • He projects his grief onto the Raven, seeing it as a messenger of fate, which fuels his despair.
  • By the end, his mental state has completely deteriorated, symbolizing how grief can consume and imprison a person.

Creative Writing Application Next Class - March 13 2025

• Writing Challenge:

  • Students write a six-line stanza using Poe’s style.
  • Must include internal rhyme, repetition, and dark imagery.

• Sharing (Optional):

  • Volunteers can read their work aloud.
  • Classmates give positive feedback on mood and style.

---

Full Text of The Raven

The Raven
By Edgar Allan Poe (1845)

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 some one 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 for evermore.

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 that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal 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 somewhat 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.”

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door—
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door—
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore—
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!”
Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door—
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as “Nevermore.”

But the Raven sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered; not a feather then he fluttered—
Till I scarcely more than muttered, “Other friends have flown before—
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.”
Then the bird said, “Nevermore.”