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Who is haunting the man in the poem? What do you think is the purpose of this?

The narrator of the poem hears a knocking at his door, but it is December, and right around midnight, so it seems unlikely that this knocking would be coming from some natural source.  He has been in his room, reading, attempting to take his mind off of the death of his lover, Lenore, by perusing a "curious volume of forgotten lore" (line 2).  The silk curtains rustle, and his fire is dying, and these details contribute to the narrator's "terrors" and fear of what could be knocking at his door at this late and inhospitable hour (14).  When he opens the door, there is no one there, and he peers out, whispering Lenore's name.  He only hears her name echo back and nothing else.  Her spirit is the one haunting the narrator, though we cannot know if she has actually returned or if it is just her memory that haunts him.


This potential haunting certainly sets the mood of the text.  It is not merely sad, but also mysterious and strange and somewhat foreboding, as though something bad or scary is about to happen.  Further, the narrator's metaphysical pondering contributes to his later ability to read so much into the raven's presence as well as the one word the raven speaks, "'Nevermore'" (48).  He longs for some connection to Lenore, even if it is only the knowledge that "within the distant Aidenn, / [He] shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore [...]" (93-94).  Some reassurance that he will one day reunite with her in heaven would be enough for him.  Such fancies seem available in a poem with a mood like this one.

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