The
Raven
BY EDGAR
ALLAN POE
Edgar
Allen Poe
•
An American writer, poet,
editor and literary critic.
•
Known for his poetry, short
stories, tales of mystery and macabre
•
Central figure of Romanticism
•
Inventor of detective fiction
genre and is further credited with contribution to science fiction
•
Poe succeeded in creating
influential literary theories and in demonstrating mastery of the forms. He
favored highly musical poems and short prose narratives
•
Poe’s source of happiness was
writing poetry and he also raised short story in 1841. his dark imaginative
gothic mysteries and tales heavily influenced the modern thriller.
•
The theme of loss which
pervades much of Poe's work can be linked to events of personal tragedy in his
life
Works
Tales
v The
black cat
v The
Cask of Amontillado
v The
Fall of the house of Usher
v The
Gold bug
v The
Masque of Red Death
v The
oval portrait
v The
Pit and the Pendulum
v The
Purloined letter
v The
Tell tale heart
Other Works
•
Annabel Lee
•
The Conqueror Worm
•
A Dream within a dream
•
To Helen
•
Tamelane
Ø Politician
(Only play)
Ø The
Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (only novel)
Ø The
Balloon Hoax – journalistic hoax
Ø The
Philosophy of Composition (1846)- Essays
Ø Eureka
: A Prose poem (1848)
Ø The
poetic principle (1848)
Ø The
Light House (1849) – Poe’s last incomplete work
ü Poe
was a forerunner of Art for Art’s sake
ü Poe’s
poetry and short stories greatly influenced French symbolist who in turn
altered direction of modern literature
ü Poe’s
short stories appeared in Saturday Courier, Saturday Visitor
ü “
Heresy of Dictation”- his self declared intention to create artistic ideas in a
milieu that he thought overtly concerned with the utilitarian value of
literature
1.
A work must create a unity of
effect on the reader to be considered successful
2.
The production of this single
effect should not be left to the hazards of accident, but should to the
minutest detail of style and subject be the result of rational deliberation on
the poet
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.”
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the
bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its
ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the
morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease
of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the
angels name Lenore—
Nameless here for
evermore.
And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling
of each purple curtain
Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic
terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still
the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
“’Tis some visitor
entreating entrance at my chamber door—
Some late visitor entreating entrance at
my chamber door;—
This
it is and nothing more.”
Presently my soul grew stronger;
hesitating then no longer,
“Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your
forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was
napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you
came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you”—here
I opened wide the door;—
Darkness
there and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I
stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever
dared to dream before;
But the silence was
unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word
there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”
This I whispered, and an echo murmured
back the word, “Lenore!”—
Merely
this and nothing more.
Back into the chamber turning, all my
soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat
louder than before.
“Surely,” said I,
“surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let
me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore—
Let my heart be still a moment and this
mystery explore;—
’Tis
the wind and nothing more!”
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with
many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the
saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance
made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord
or lady, perched above my chamber door—
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above
my chamber door—
Perched,
and sat, and nothing more.
Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad
fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the
countenance it wore,
“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven,
thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering
from the Nightly shore—
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the
Night’s Plutonian shore!”
Quoth
the Raven “Nevermore.”
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear
discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning—little
relevancy bore;
For we cannot help
agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed
with seeing bird above his chamber door—
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust
above his chamber door,
With
such name as “Nevermore.”
But the Raven, sitting lonely on the
placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one
word he did outpour.
Nothing farther then
he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered—
Till I scarcely more
than muttered “Other friends have flown before—
On the morrow he will
leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.”
Then
the bird said “Nevermore.”
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
Followed fast and
followed faster till his songs one burden bore—
Till the dirges of his Hope that
melancholy burden bore
Of
‘Never—nevermore’.”
But the Raven still beguiling all my
fancy into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in
front of bird, and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet
sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy,
thinking what this ominous bird of yore—
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt,
and ominous bird of yore
Meant
in croaking “Nevermore.”
This I sat engaged in guessing, but no
syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned
into my bosom’s core;
This and more I sat
divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion’s
velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o’er,
But whose velvet-violet lining with the
lamp-light gloating o’er,
She shall
press, ah, nevermore!
Then, methought, the air grew denser,
perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls
tinkled on the tufted floor.
“Wretch,” I cried,
“thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite—respite and
nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore;
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and
forget this lost Lenore!”
Quoth
the Raven “Nevermore.”
“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.”
“Prophet!” said I, “thing of
evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us—by
that God we both adore—
Tell this soul with
sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a
sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the
angels name Lenore.”
Quoth
the Raven “Nevermore.”
Be that word our sign of parting, bird or
fiend!” I shrieked, upstarting—
“Get thee back into the tempest and the
Night’s Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume
as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness
unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take
thy form from off my door!”
Quoth
the Raven “Nevermore.”
And the Raven, never flitting, still is
sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above
my chamber door;
And his eyes have all
the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light
o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that
lies floating on the floor
Shall
be lifted—nevermore!
Facts
•
Lines : 108
•
Stanza: 18
•
Month and season : December ,
winter
•
Lenore is mentioned in : 2nd,
4th and 15th line
•
Nevermore is repeated 11
times
•
Poe wrote “The Raven” in
1844. it was first published on Jan 29, 1845 in the New York Evening Mirror
•
It became his most prominent poetic work and
was reprinted and published many times after the date of first publication
•
Partly due to “The Raven” Poe
became highly
popular author within contemporary American literary circle.
•
“The Raven” appeared in
numerous anthologies (poets and poetry in American 1847, ed by Rufus Wilmot
Griswold) and Cambridge companion to Edgar Allen Poe
•
Poe’s contemporary William
Gilmore Sinims, named it “the poem about remembering”
•
Poe’s essay “ The Philosophy
of Composition” analyses his own poem “ The Raven” and discusses the
circumstances of the writing and justifies his selection of the topic.
•
The Philosophy of Composition
was published in the April issue of Graham’s magazine, 1846.
•
Poe attempts to present
analysis of his own poem “the Raven” and to describe the circumstances of the
composition.
•
The author claims that he
considered each aspect of the poem and he was completely conscious of
conception of what to write.
•
The unnamed narrator is
wearily reading an old book on e bleak December night when he hears a tapping
at the door of his room
•
He tells himself that it is
merely a visitor
•
He is waiting for tomorrow to
arrive because he cannot escape the sorrow over the death of Lenore, a woman he
loved
•
The rustling curtains
frightens him, but he decides it must be some late visitor and going to thee door,
he asks for forgiveness from the visitor because he had been napping
•
However when he opens the
door, he hears nothing but the Lenore, an echo of his own words
•
Returning to his room he
hears a tapping and reasons that it was probably the wind outside his window
•
When he opens the window a
raven enters and promptly perches “above the bust of pallas ” above his door
•
Its grave appearance amuses
the narrator, who asks it for its name, the Raven responds nevermore
•
The poet does not understand
the reply but the raven says nothing
else until the narrator predicts aloud that it will leave him tomorrow like the
rest of his friends. the bird says nevermore.
•
Startled the narrator says
the bird might have learnt this word from some unfortunate owner whose bad luck
caused him to repeat the word frequently
•
Smiling, the narrator sits in
front of the bird to ponder about the meaning of the word.
•
The raven continues to stare at him, as the narrator sits in the
chair that Lenore will never again occupy
•
The narrator then feels that
the angels have approached and angrily calls the raven an evil prophet.
•
He asks if there is respite
in Gilead and If he will ever again see Lenore in heaven, but the raven only
says nevermore
•
In the fury, the narrator
demands that the raven go back into the night and leave him agin the raven says
nevermore.
•
The narrator feels that his
soul will never leave the raven’s shadow.
•
The poem is inspired by the
talking raven in the novel Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of riots of Eighty by
Charles Dickens
•
Poe borrows the complex rhythm and meter of
Elizabeth Barrette’s poem “Lady Geraldine’s Courtship” and makes use of
internal rhyme as well as alliteration throughout
•
Narrative poem
•
Theme: undying devotion
•
The narrator experiences a
perverse conflict between desire to forget and desire to remember.
•
He seems deriving
pleasure by focusing on loss
•
Christopher F S Maligec
suggest the poem is a type of elegiac paraclausithyron, an ancient Greek and
Roman poetic form consisting of lament of an excluded locked out lover at the
sealed door of his beloved.
Figures of Speech
•
Alliteration : “doubling
dreaming dreams no mortal ever dreamed”
•
Assonance : when the vowel
sound in a series of word is repeated.
“ the rare radiant maiden whom the angels
named Lenore”
•
Rhyme : Its only stock and
store…till his songs one burden bore
•
Onomatopoeia: tapping,
rapping, rustling fuller crocking
•
Personification : “ the sad
uncertain rustling of each purple curtain”
Allusions
•
Bust of pallas: reason
•
Athena : Goddess of wisdom
•
Night’s Plutonian shore:
afterlife, Pluto, the Roman God of underworld
•
Raven : central symbol, a non
reasoning creature capable of speech
1.
In Norse mythology, Odin
possessed two ravens named Huginn and
Munim representing thought and memory
2.
Hebrew Folklore – Noah sends
a white raven to check conditions while on the arc, the raven doesn’t return
immediately therefore it is turned black AND being forced to feed on carrion
3.
In Ovid’s Metamorphoses,
Appollo punishes the raven by turning it black for delivering a message of lover’s
unfaithfulness
•
Nepenthe : drug mentioned in
Homer’s Odeyssey which erases memory
•
Balm of Gilead : reference to
Book of Jeremiah, a resin used for medical purpose (Eljah was from Gilead to
have been fed by Ravens during the period of drought)
•
The raven is ne of the early
examples of gothic literature
•
Raven sands for mournful
never-ending remembrance
•
Poe selected the word
Nevermore because “ the long o as the most sonorous vowel in construction with
r as most producible consonant.”
•
Rhyme scheme : ABCBBB