“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 Allen Poe, “The Raven”
There was a time
when this poem was memorized by every school child in America and was often their
introduction to poetry. The insistent rhythm and rhyme scheme, full of strange repetitions
and dark corners create a deep and somber mood. I’ve never understood what was
so scary about the subject. The image of the raven sitting on the bookshelf was
more humorous than terrifying to me.
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