HistoryChannel: Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem “The Raven,” beginning “Once upon a midnight dreary,” is published on this day in the New York Evening Mirror.
Poe’s dark and macabre work reflected his own tumultuous and difficult life. Born in Boston in 1809, Poe was orphaned at age three and went to live with the family of a Richmond, Virginia, businessman. Poe enrolled in a military academy but was expelled for gambling. He later studied briefly at the University of Virginia. More on Poe, Here.
The Raven
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;
There is less room than there was before,
Mandatory Simpsons content addition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLiXjaPqSyY
Featuring the voice of Darth Vader
one of my favorite poems … thanks
Poe is still one of my favorites
a very good, abridged rendition
Mandatory remotely related Family Guy content additional addendum:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WNrx2jq184
😛
I agree. One of the best!
I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight.
The line:
“There is less room than there was before,”
does not exist in an version of The Raven that I have ever read.
Perhaps tonight’s soothiness should be Alan Parsons Project’s version of The Raven?
Pretty awesome song and album, Tales Of Mystery And Imagination.
That’s Poenician for “Ain’t no more room on this post so click here for more”
Curiously, though, the line “So click this link for something more” WAS in the original draft of the poem, but Poe deleted it before publication because he had trouble getting the link to work properly. It’s just one of the lesser-known historical facts involving his work.
Agreed. I’m listening to it right now, thanks to this post. I still have the original vinyl I bought in the late 70’s.
I love Poe’s works. He would take a human emotion (love, hate, envy, desire etc.) and try to explore every nuance of it in a story or poem.
Beethoven did it with his music and Poe with his writings. America can be proud!
I loved the Roger Corman black and white movie version with Boris Karloff, Peter Lore and a young Jack Nicholson from the early 60’s which I saw when I was a kid in the early 60’s one Saturday afternoon for 25 cents. Those were the day movies for a quarter except Disney movies for 35 cents and long movies with intermissions like The Longest Day, Cleopatra etc. were 50 cents.
Poem or no poem, the raven is the coolest bird in the sky.
I used to have a pet crow, and they are pretty clever but the raven is about the Einstein of birds.