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Type: Multiple-Choice
Category: Poetic Devices
Level: Grade 11
Standards: CCRA.R.1, CCRA.R.3, RL.11-12.1, RL.11-12.3
Tags: ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3
Author: szeiger
Last Modified: 10 years ago

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Poetic Devices Question

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An excerpt from The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door
Only this and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow, sorrow for the lost Lenore
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me, filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door.
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;
This it is and nothing more."

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you here I opened wide the door:
Darkness there and nothing more.

Grade 11 Poetic Devices CCSS: CCRA.R.1, CCRA.R.3, RL.11-12.1, RL.11-12.3

Later in the poem, the speaker discovers a raven sitting by the door.
In literature, ravens typically represent one of three things:
the harbinger of death, the trickster or thief, and the wise spirit.

Based on the stanzas in this excerpt, which does the raven in this poem most likely represent?
  1. The harbinger of death
  2. The trickster or thief
  3. The wise spirit
  4. None of the above
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