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| "Raven" photographed by the author's husband, William F. Ahearn |
With Halloween just a few days away, and front porches festooned with all things spooky, my thoughts turn to that creator of creepiness, that hero of horror, that master of macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. Mr. Poe has long embodied the spirit of the season and, so, I salute him this month with one of his most enduring poems, "The Raven."
I invite you to read these lines with new eyes. It's possible that you have not read them (or, at least, not all of them) since you were forced to, back in high school. With years of life experience coloring your interpretation, you may feel a different sense of dread than you did in your younger days. I find it fascinating how his use of a single word, "Nevermore", chills us to the bone. And, so, illustrated by a raven my husband photographed as it sat upon the top of our camper trailer in Yellowstone National Park, I bow to Poe's genius, and present:
The
Raven
by
Edgar Allan Poe
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!
Thanks for stopping by...y'all come back now. (Happy Halloween!)
Kate
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