The character of Lenore is the woman who the narrator loved but who has died, probably fairly recently. The man is grieving for her at the beginning of the poem and can't get her out of his mind. He imagines the "tapping" might be her ghost, and he smells her scent and hears her footsteps. However, in the poem we learn very little about her. The narrator describes her as "rare," "radiant," and "sainted." The fact that she is referred to as a maiden suggests the two had not yet married. If the narrator's descriptions are accurate, we can assume Lenore was a woman who had unique characteristics that set her apart from other women. Perhaps this was her personality, her mental abilities, or her talents—perhaps a combination. Since she was radiant, she may have had an optimistic personality that cheered people up when they were with her. By calling...
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her "sainted," the narrator may mean that she was devout in religious faith, or that she was good and kind, or simply that he revered her.
The raven has many human-like qualities, at least according to the narrator. When it arrives, it goes directly to the bust of Pallas and sits on it, and it doesn't move to any other position, so it seems single-minded. It has an upright and decorous attitude, as if it were a "lord or lady." Its "grave and stern" expression makes the narrator think it is "ghastly," but this seems like a response to superstitions of black birds being bad omens. When the bird speaks the word "Nevermore," it sounds like it is pouring out its soul "in that one word," so its voice must be mournful as well as harsh and crackly. The bird has "fiery eyes" that seem to bore into the man, making it seem like it can read his mind. When the man begins to shout angrily at the raven, it continues sitting in its same spot, so it is stubborn and not timid. When the narrator says the bird's eyes are like a "demon's that is dreaming," it could mean that the bird tends to stare intensely without blinking. The accusations the man makes to the bird of it being a "devil" or sent by "the Tempter" do not reveal much about the bird—those are thoughts the man has about the bird, but its actions do not indicate that it has any malevolent intentions toward the man.
As far as symbolism, Lenore could symbolize any source of grief: the death of a loved one, the regret of bad decisions, or the loss of one's home, station, friendships, or other things of value. The bird seems to represent the man's own grief, despair, and depression and his inability to move past the sorrow that he has experienced.