The+Raven+-+Essay+Questions

= "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe  =

[|Background Info on "The Raven" from NPR]

[|Librivox recording by Chris Goringe]

http:www.encyclopediavirginia.org/img/display_media.php?mets_filename=evm00000319mets.xml&resolution=lowres http://www.eggshellgreen.com/images/2009/03/simpsonsraven.jpg

 Answer two of the questions below in a discussion post for this page. For each of your responses, write a 5-10 sentence paragraph, including a main idea sentence. Be sure you write two essays, not just answers to the questions.

 1. How does Edgar Allan Poe reveal the character of the speaker in "The Raven"?

2. What is the central/ primary purpose of the poem? Is the purpose important or meaningful?

3. How essential is the setting? Could the poem have taken place in another place or time? Do you get enough of a sense of where and when the poem takes place?  4. Do you think this poem is supposed to be funny? Did you find the speaker's tale intense and dramatic, or ridiculous and over-the-top?  5. Do you talk to animals in the same way that the speaker talked to a raven? On that note, do you think the speaker of this poem has really lost his mind, or does he just seem very, very sad to you?

6. Has the speaker's love turned into obsession? Have you ever known someone, or been someone, whose love turned into obsession?