Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven"

     When I'm having a bad day, I try to find pity wherever I can get it.  On those days, I'm in a slump that I don't want out of; I just want to wallow in my sorrow and I want others to make me feel like I have a right to do that.  Well, this is precisely what the speaker in "The Raven" is doing.  This bird shows up, trained to say one word and one word only, "Nevermore," and the speaker, in his pity slump, decides that this is just the way to get the pity he is looking for.  He begins to frame his questions and conversation with the bird around the answer of "Nevermore."  He wishes to forget his lost Lenore, the raven replies, "Nevermore."  He tells the bird to leave him alone, the raven replies, "Nevermore."  The speaker knows exactly what he's doing when he speaks to the bird, and he knows exactly the answer he will get every time.  He frames the conversation around his sadness.  I believe this is the 19th century version of listening to sad music when you've just gone through a breakup.  Yet the bird does not leave the speaker, as many have been prone to do. This at least can be comfort, I suppose.