I'm doing a report on "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. I have to have clues that state why the narrator might be dreaming the whole story or that he...

As many of Poe's narrators are often unreliable, "The Raven" is no exception. In first-person point of view, the narrator explains events that are difficult for a rational person to fathom; however, Poe's characters are rarely rational. In fact, it's arguable that the narrator is dreaming.

In the first stanza, the narrator admits that he was dozing: "While I nodded, nearly napping..." (line 4). He goes on to explain that it was a dreary evening, filled with...

As many of Poe's narrators are often unreliable, "The Raven" is no exception. In first-person point of view, the narrator explains events that are difficult for a rational person to fathom; however, Poe's characters are rarely rational. In fact, it's arguable that the narrator is dreaming.

In the first stanza, the narrator admits that he was dozing: "While I nodded, nearly napping..." (line 4). He goes on to explain that it was a dreary evening, filled with shadows and sadness, and he was trying to get some relief from the sorrow he's suffered since his wife's death, "sorrow for the lost Lenore," (Stanza 2, line 10). Again, as his soul grows stronger, he admits to his "visitor" that he had been (and possibly still is) asleep: "But the fact is I was napping," (Stanza 4, line 3).

The description of the rustling curtain, the "fantastic terrors never felt before" and the rapid beating of the heart all seem dreamlike (Stanza 3, lines 1-3). The narrator describes himself as repetitively trying to convince himself that the noises he hears are that of a "late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door-- This is it and nothing more," (Stanza 3, lines 4-6).

Furthermore, the raven's ability to speak is unlikely in a waking world, yet makes perfect sense in a dream. "Much I marveled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly..." (Stanza 10, line 1). The conversation continues and further inflames the narrator's unease with the news the raven has brought. The last stanza is perhaps the most successful in convincing the reader that the narrator is dreaming because the raven is described to be unmoving, with eyes "of a demon's that is dreaming," (Stanza 19, line 3). Lastly, the narrator describes his own soul as a "shadow that lies floating on the floor," (Stanza 19, line 5), which illustrates a dreamlike feeling.