Context

We're in Edgar Allan Poe's super famous, super long, super awesome poem, "The Raven."

These lines make up the second half of the eighth stanza. Previously, the speaker has been reminiscing about a lost lover and trying to discover the source of a faint tapping, when finally he opens the window, and, in the seventh stanza, in steps a "stately Raven of the saintly days of yore." The speaker, because he's not quite all there, immediately begins to question the Raven and, to his surprise, he's supplied with an answer.

What can we say? It's Poe.

This quote is the first—but certainly not the last—time the Raven drops his catchphrase, and while it might appear to be a simple word (the speaker himself admits he probably just picked it up "from some unhappy master"), it doesn't stay this way in his mind for long.

In the very next stanza, he interprets "nevermore" as the Raven's name. To be fair, it's the Raven's response when the speaker asks him his name...though we doubt the Raven understood the question.

The next time the Raven says "nevermore," the speaker takes it as a reply that the Raven will never leave him—as he was just thinking this very thing. Again, the speaker thinks the reply was apt, but we wonder if it was a reply at all.

Finally, as the speaker is imagining the Raven's fiery eyes burning into his bosom's core (ouch), he hears the word as a reference to his lost love (a woman with a conveniently rhyming name) Lenore. That makes him freak out at the Raven, whom he calls a wretch and a "thing of evil," as he pours out his anger and loneliness upon the poor creature who only said a single word that "little relevancy bore."

So maybe the speaker is projecting a little bit, but there's no doubt that "nevermore" never had more meaning.

Where you've heard it

You've probably seen all sorts of mugs and novelty t-shirts with this line on it. The quote is all over the place, especially for those more inclined to the dark gloominess of the poem and its verbose expression of loss and emotion.

You know who you are.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

Quoth "The Raven" all you want.