In this excerpt from edgar allan poe's "the raven," what does the biblical reference to the healing “balm in gilead” signify?
"prophet! " said i, "thing of evil! —prophet still, if bird or devil! —
whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—
on this home by horror haunted—tell me truly, i implore—
is there—is there balm in gilead? —tell me—tell me, i implore! "
quoth the raven, "nevermore."
the speaker’s desire to cure the raven of its inability to say anything other than “nevermore”
the speaker’s desire to cure himself from the pain caused by lenore’s death
the speaker’s desire to bring lenore back to life
the speaker’s desire to cure himself from his mental illness and hallucinations

returning points to main account

explanation:

the speech this question is referring to is president kennedy's special message to the congress on urgent national needs, may 25, 1961

kennedy responds in a very direct and concrete way to those thinking that communism is a positive system:

"yet their aggression is more often concealed than open. they have fired no missiles; and their troops are seldom seen. they send arms, agitators, aid, technicians and propaganda to every troubled area. but where fighting is required, it is usually done by others--by guerrillas striking at night, by assassins striking alone--assassins who have taken the lives of four thousand civil officers in the last twelve months in vietnam alone--by subversives and saboteurs and insurrectionists, who in some cases control whole areas inside of independent nations." (kennedy)

president kennedy presents communism as cowardly, as a hidden and treacherous weapon that strikes from the shadows like thieves, he represents the system as not even being capable of showing and open and overt attack or confrontation. to finish up the response, he expresses that the system attacks even a country's idependence and freedom.