Think about this question as we read: - PowerPoint Presentation

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Think about this question as we read:

What is the speaker’s main conflict?

What is the mood of this poem? How does the speaker’s tone towards the raven change throughout the poem?

Short AnswerSlide3

T-Title:

Ravens bring to mind…

____________________Black is associated with negativity/evil____________________

Humans have watched birds for signs for years, e.g. _____________

(Look for these things as we read

TP-CASTT, “The Raven”Slide4

P-Paraphrase (Put in your own words; does not mean shorten/summarize necessarily)

Stanza 1:

Midnight (dark)Speaker is reading/napping in his roomHears a knocking/gets annoyed/thinks it’s a visitor

Stanza 2:

December (cold)

Wants day to be over—tries to escape his sadness through books

Sad b/c he lost the beautiful LenoreSlide5

P-Paraphrase

Stanza 3:

The curtain shifts b/c of wind and scares speakerTo reassure himself, he tells himself it’s just a visitorStanza 4:

He stops being scared

Starts apologizing to the visitorOpens door

Surprised to see only dark Slide6

P-Paraphrase

Stanza 5:

He looks into the darkness, starts scaring himself again.He whispers for Lenore, no answer (inference: ____________________________________)

Stanza 6:

He turns around, upset.Hears tapping again (@window)

Goes to the window, expecting windSlide7

P-Paraphrase

Stanza 7:

Opens windowA serious raven busts in, sits on bust (statue) of Athena (Greek goddess)

Stanza 8:

The raven tricks (beguiles) the speaker into smiling: The bird’s appearance is too serious (stern/grave)

Speaker jokingly calls it a knight:

“Though your feathers are shaved,

you

aren’t a coward/craven”

(Knights were shaved when they were cowards)

Asks the bird’s name

Bird responds, “Nevermore.” Slide8

P-Paraphrase

Stanza 8:

The raven tricks (beguiles) the speaker into smiling: The bird’s appearance is too serious (stern/grave)

Speaker jokingly calls it a knight:

“Though your feathers are shaved, you

aren’t a coward/craven”

(Knights were shaved when they were cowards)

Asks the bird’s name

Bird responds, “Nevermore.” Slide9

P-Paraphrase

Stanza 9:

The speaker is surprised to hear the bird speak so easily, even though he knows the answer (nevermore) probably means very little. It has never happened to anyone else to see a bird like this in his/her chamber.

Stanza 10:

However, the Raven only said “Nevermore” once…that is, until the speaker started talking again, saying, “My other friends have left me, so the bird will leave too.” The bird replies “Nevermore” (No, I won’t leave.)

Slide10

P-Paraphrase

Stanza 11:

The speaker is again, surprised, trying to explain the bird’s speech: “Surely this is his only vocabulary word, learned from some previous sad owner who faced tragedies and constantly screamed/uttered the word ‘nevermore.’”

Stanza 12:

However, the Raven still tricks him into “smiling,” (i.e. distracts him from his depression. The speaker puts a pillow in front of the bird and starts pondering why he says “Nevermore.”

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P-Paraphrase

Stanza 11:

The speaker is again, surprised, trying to explain the bird’s speech: “Surely this is his only vocabulary word, learned from some previous sad owner who faced tragedies and constantly screamed/uttered the word ‘nevermore.’”

Stanza 12:

However, the Raven still tricks him into “smiling,” (i.e. distracts him from his depression. The speaker puts a pillow in front of the bird and starts pondering why he says “Nevermore.” In other words, he starts overanalyzing the bird.

Slide12

P-Paraphrase

Stanza 13:

He continues overthinking; however, he’s not talking to the bird, who is now staring at him intensely. The pillow he’s leaning on reminds him of Lenore and how she’ll never be there again.

Stanza 14:

The speaker suddenly smells a perfume, thinking it’s from angels. He cries out (to himself), “You poor sad soul! God has loaned you, through these angels, rest and nepenthe (a mythical substance to make one forget). I should drink this to forget Lenore.” The Raven says, “No.”

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Stanza 15:

The speaker, getting angry, asks the bird:

“Prophet! I don’t know if you’re sent from the devil or a storm, but can you tell me if there’s a balm (soothing substance) for me out there?”R: No Slide14

Stanza 16:

The speaker is getting angrier

Asks: “Prophet! Swear by God, tell me, will I ever hug Lenore again in heaven/paradise?”R: No Slide15

Stanza 17:

Yelling, the speaker says:

“Get out. You’re a liar. Go back to the storm or hell. Leave me in my loneliness.”R: No.Slide16

Stanza 18:

Time has passed

The Raven is still thereHis shadow takes over the roomThe speaker feels his soul is stuck in that shadow. Slide17

Sound devices

End rhyme

Internal rhymeOnomatopoeiaAlliteration

Consonance

Repetition (in general)All

of the above control

the pace of the poem (give the poem its jumpy/jittery feel

)

Refrain (repeated word/phrase)

Emphasizes negative tone of poem and speaker’s conflict Why ask a bird these questions, knowing he’ll only say one thing?

Connotation:Slide18

Figurative language

Allusions

Pallas=Athena, Tempter=Satan/Devil, Plutonian=Hades, Balm of Gilead, nepenthe (from the river Lethe)Personification

The raven is thought to be intelligent, haughty, and spiteful

Simile

Throughout

Metaphor

Throughout

Symbol

The Raven represents the speaker’s never ending remembrance of LenoreSlide19

Attitude (Tone)

Everything in this poem contributes to the melancholy tone

Refrain (“Nevermore”)Choice of birdSetting/details/colorArchaic word choices

Sound/types of soundSlide20

Shifts

Speaker goes from rational to delusional (Stanza ___)

Tone shifts from depressed to angry (Stanza ____)Plot shiftsExposition:R

ising action:

Climax:F

alling action:

Resolution:

Narrative poem, not a lyric poem (poem describing an emotion)Slide21

Themes

What are some abstract nouns present in this poem?

What complete sentences can we form? Slide22

Title

Why is this an apt title? Why was it not named “Lenore”? Why was it focused on “The Raven”? Slide23

What is the speaker’s main conflict?

What is the tone of this poem?

Point to multiple SMALL pieces of evidence; try to avoid use of long quotes. Rather,

blend

your own

words with specific quoted words from the text,

e.g

.:

The tone of the song “Firework” is hopeful.

Using

dreary metaphors at first, such as a “plastic bag” helplessly “drifting” in the wind, Perry’s song at first has a melancholy tone. However, in the chorus, the writer then pulls the reader out of that depression with the song’s central

uplifting metaphor

: a beaten person rising to become a “firework,”

letting

his or her “colors burst,”

leaving

spectators in

“awe” like on “the fourth of July.”

The angst-filled

similes in the beginning bring the audience

low,

but only so that Perry’s more hopeful metaphors can

bring

them that much higher.

Still use

TS

/

CD

/

CM/CS

or

A

B

C

, but make your CD/B part more specific

Short Answers