Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
He’s still trying to rationalize the talking raven by explaining to himself that the raven learned to say “nevermore” from a previous master, who was sad enough to repeat “nevermore” that often.
“What it utters…store”: the speaker realizes that “nevermore” is the extent of the raven’s vocabulary. In other words, whatever he asks it, it’s going to say the same thing.
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