Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The Raven Vocabulary Help

This is a list of words taken from Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. I am hoping this list will help you understand the story as you read.

1. Dreary- causing sadness or gloom
2. Ponder- think
3. Weary- tired
4. Quaint strange, peculiar, or unusual in an interesting, pleasing, or amusing way, skillfully or cleverly made.
5. Lore- collected facts, traditions, and beliefs about a particular subject
6. Mutter- to speak in a low tone, to murmur
7. Distinctly- clearly
8. Bleak- without hope, depressing
9. Ember- a small live piece of coal, wood, etc., as in a dying fire.
10. Wrought- made, etched, marked
11. Morrow- the next day
12. Radiant- shining
13. Entreating- asking permission for
14. Presently- at that moment
15. Hesitating- pausing, stopping
16. implore- ask
17. Scarce- hardly
18. Peering- looking intently, searchingly, or with difficulty
19. Token- mark of evidence or proof
20. Window Lattice a structure of crossed wooden or metal strips usually arranged to form a diagonal pattern of open spaces between the strips.
21. Thereat- at that place or time
22. Flirt and Flutter- to move suddenly, like the flapping of a fan, the quick flapping of wings
23. Stately- elegant, majestic
24. Perched- sat
25. nevermore- never again
26. Beguiling- charming, bewitching
27. Fancy- imagination
28. Decorum- dignified proper behavior, speech, dress, etc.
29. Countenance- facial expression
30. Crest- the tuft at the top of an animal’s head—a rooster has a comb as a crest.
31. Shorn- cut
32. Shaven- cut very short
33. Craven- coward
34. Ghastly- shockingly frightful, horrid
35. Grim- serious and almost threatening in appearance
36. Ungainly- clumsy
37. Marveled- looked at with wonder or surprise
38. Fowl- bird
39. discourse- conversation, speech
40. relevancy- appropriate or suitable for the moment, applicable
41. bore- carried, had
42. sculptured- carved
43. bust- the sculptured or painted portrait of a person’s upper body
44. placid- peaceful
45. uttered- said
46. aptly- suitably
47. “what it utters is its only stock and store caught from some unhappy master”- what it says is the only thing it knows, taught by someone who was unhappy or unlucky
48. burden- that which is carried with difficulty or labor
49. melancholy- a gloomy state of mind, depression
50. beguiling: charming
51. fancy: imagination
52. betook: started
53. ominous: foreboding, threatening
54. yore: time past
55. bosom: chest, heart
56. reclining: resting
57. gloated: expressed great self-satisfaction, mocked
58. methought: I thought
59. denser: thicker
60. tufted: carpeted
61. wretch: an unfortunate and unhappy person
62. “Thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore”- with these angels God has sent and given you rest from your memories of Lenore and He has given you a chance to forget your memories of Lenore.
63. quoth: said
64. tempest tossed thee here ashore: a storm brought you here onto the land
65. desolate: solitary, lonely
66. undaunted: not intimidated
67. enchanted: magical, under a spell, bewitched
68. implore: I beg, I ask
69. balm in Gilead: relief from pain and suffering
70. laden: burdened
71. clasp: hold, grasp
72. radiant: shining
73. our sign of parting: a sign that we will leave one another, our sign of goodbye
74. fiend: evil spirit, devil
75. shrieked: screamed, cried out
76. upstarting: standing up
77. get thee back: go back
78. Night’s plutonian shore: the shore of hellish night
79. black plume: black feather
80. token: souvenir, memento
81. thy: your
82. unbroken: uninterrupted
83. quit the bust: leave the bust
84. flitting: moving lightly and swiftly, flying
85. pallid: pale
86. have all the seeming: resemble, have the resemblance
87. o’er: over
88. floating: hovering

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