The Raven (1845)

The Raven (1845)

Author: Edgar Allan Poe  |  Page Count: N/A (108 line poem)

'Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door—
"Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more."'

Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven is public domain, so you can pick it up directly (see below*) without ever reading my subjective ramblings. But I'm going to write them, anyhow, to satisfy my own impulses.

The poem is a remarkable work that deserves a similar kind of praise as that enjoyed by the likes of Wordsworth and Coleridge. I really do believe that; I feel that Poe was as important to his field as either of those two giants were to theirs.

If you've not read the full poem before, you'll nevertheless have gathered from the opening stanza that it's a dramatic monologue taking place at a chilly midnight hour. The unnamed narrator sat in a chamber, an educated individual prone to introspection and with an interest in unusual literature, supposes it's a 'visitor' that comes tapping at the door, despite the late hour.

If you continue reading, you'll then discover the reason for the poem's title and learn more about the narrator. But storytelling aside, at its most basic level, if you break down the example given above, there's an unusual rhyme scheme of AB,CB,BB that isn't underplayed. In fact, the opposite is true: Poe fills his opening with evocative alliteration, assonance and repetitions that force a reader to notice its effect even if they're unaware of the underlying interplay of meter, rhythmical effect of long and short vowel sounds, etc. He goes into detail about the meter and arrangement in his Philosophy of Composition (1846), if you're interested in such.

The complicated, spiralling form continues throughout. It's a work that even the most accomplished orator would stumble with if it was his or her first encounter - practice would be needed. I've heard it read by many different people with varying degrees of success, but one of my favourites thus far is from actor Christopher Walken. I also really like the reading done by actor John De Lancie (TNG's inimical Q).** You'll likely find both readings on YouTube.

The telling culminates in what Poe called the 'ultimate point of completion'; a dénouement so rich in tone that it elevates everything that preceded it to even higher levels.

*You don't need to buy a book to read The Raven, it can be found easily online (e.g. The Poetry Foundation) or downloaded for FREE in various ebook formats from Project Gutenburg, with or without illustrations. If you're a Kindle owner and prefer to get it direct from amazon, you can have the above pictured edition for the princely sum of £0.00 (with crap formatting and typos, as per usual with Kindle editions). I'm not linking to amazon, but it's easy to find on there.

**A big heartfelt thanks to a wonderful friend for making me aware of De Lancie's version. I won't give her name without permission. But if she reads this, she'll know who I mean. x

-Illustrations by Gustave Doré, as featured in the Project Gutenberg version.-