35 pages • 1 hour read
The Raven
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Book Club Questions
General Impressions
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of death.
Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.
1. What is your impression of the speaker of this poem? What kind of person do you think they are?
2. Did you understand everything you read on the first read? Did you encounter any new language you didn’t know before?
3. How does this poem compare to others with prominent animal symbolism/imagery—e.g., William Blake’s “The Lamb,” Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Black Cat,” or Wallace Steven’s “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”?
Personal Reflection and Connection
Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.
1. Have you read other poems by Edgar Allan Poe, like “The Haunted Palace” or “Annabel Lee”? How does this one compare? Why do you think “The Raven” became culturally canonized above all his other poems?
2. Could you relate to the speaker’s experience with grief? Why or why not?
3. The speaker interprets the raven’s repeated phrase, “Nevermore,” in a variety of ways. Which interpretation spoke most to you? What do you think the raven was trying to say—or is it trying to say anything at all?
4. What are some of the cultural associations you have with ravens? Where do you think human cultural constructs around animals come from? Do they always involve some degree of anthropomorphism, or do certain animals have particular “characters” that humans pick up on?
Societal and Cultural Context
Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.
1. What does this poem communicate about the Victorian attitude toward death and grief? In what ways is it similar to or different than contemporary attitudes?
2. Consider the speaker’s (and poet’s) relationship to the supernatural and the unknown. How is this attitude a product of its time, and how is it still in practice today?
3. What else might the relationship between the speaker and the raven symbolize in the modern day?
Literary Analysis
Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.
1. How does the time of year affect the narrative? How might it be different if it were set in a different season?
2. How does the tone of the poem shift from beginning to end?
3. What does the bust of Athena represent? What is the poet trying to communicate through this image?
4. What, in your interpretation, was the speaker’s relationship with Lenore? What clues hint at the speaker’s past? Cite examples from the text.
Creative Engagement
Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.
1. Imagine what happens following the events of the poem. How is the speaker changed by this experience? Or is the poem’s message that he doesn’t change?
2. Discuss what the poem would have looked like if told from the raven’s point of view. How does it perceive the scene?
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Related Titles
By Edgar Allan Poe
