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The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

"The Raven" takes place in the speaker's chambers at midnight on a "bleak December" night as the speaker lapses between reading an old book and falling asleep. He is roused by a tapping sound that he presumes to come from a visitor outside of his room. He does not immediately answer; he is in a sorrowful mood because of the death of his lover, the "lost Lenore." He snaps out of these sad thoughts and assures himself that the sound is that of a visitor. He addresses his unknown guest but finds no one there when he opens the door. Peering into the silent darkness, the young man whispers Lenore's name to himself. When he returns to his room, however, the rapping sound resumes, louder than before. He now figures that the sounds are merely those of the wind beating on the shutters of his window.

When he opens the shutter, a "stately" raven appears. It flies to the top of the chamber door and perches upon a bust of Pallas (Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom). The speaker is initially amused by the raven's "grave and stern" looks. He addresses the bird in lofty terms, and asks what its "lordly" name is. The raven responds with the single word "Nevermore." The young man marvels at the winged intruder's powers of speech; he hopes to hear more, but the raven's vocabulary is limited to that one word....