The poem focuses on the speaker's descent into madness as he fixates on the raven's single word, "Nevermore." He repeatedly asks the bird questions, hoping for some kind of comfort or resolution about his lost love, Lenore, but the raven's response only deepens his despair.
The speaker's questions become increasingly desperate and accusatory, but he never commands the bird to speak or behave in a particular way.
The poem's final lines show the speaker resigned to his fate, accepting the bird's presence as a symbol of his unending sorrow:
> "And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
> On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
> Quoth the Raven 'Nevermore.' "