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Poe’s unnamed narrator is a scholar who is mourning the death of his beloved, Lenore. He is alone in his house on a cold December midnight, trying to distract himself from his thoughts of her by reading old books. The narrator is a scholar, learned and reasonable, yet his logic and knowledge do not much help him to recover from the impact of Lenore’s death or to escape his desperate hope to see her again. His desperation leads him to emotional extremes, from depression to near euphoria and finally to depression once the Raven pronounces that he and Lenore will be apart forever. It is never made clear whether a supernatural Raven actually visits him and drives him to an ultimate despair, or whether his own obsessive doubts lead him to imagine the Raven, but in either case the Raven overthrows the narrator’s rational mind.
The narrator Quotes in The Raven
The The Raven quotes below are all either spoken by The narrator or refer to The narrator. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Raven
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Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore…
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And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”
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Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!
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“Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store”…
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Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy…
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Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor…
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“Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”
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And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door…
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And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted—nevermore!
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The narrator Quotes in The Raven
The The Raven quotes below are all either spoken by The narrator or refer to The narrator. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Raven
Quotes
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore…
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And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”
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Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!
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“Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store”…
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Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy…
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Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor…
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“Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”
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And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door…
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And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted—nevermore!
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