Need help with my daughter's English project

[Bo-4]

Briefly, how does this classic poem by Edgar Allen Poe "The Raven" make you feel?

~~~

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 mortals 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 blest 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 further 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 lamplight gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamplight gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then methought the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose footfalls 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 in 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 lamplight 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!

 

[degsme]

Depends on who reads it.

I've heard it read in a way that I felt someone was trying to hypnotize me.

I've heard it read in a way that felt like someone was trying to bore me senseless

I've heard it read in a way that left me rapt with attention as to what was going to happen next.

 

[OldGaffer]

Great piece of American Literature, it makes me feel like I am looking into his soul.

 

[Jen]

Sadness, loss, something foreboding in the back of the mind tugging, torturing.

The Raven and Lenore put a "name" to that memory of what was lost, but they are not what was lost..... only the name put to it.

 

[Bo-4]

Thanks guys!! I have many MANY feelings when i read Poe which surf the spectrum between creepy & brilliant.

 

[fairsheet]

This poem engenders bad memories. When I was on the freshmen debate team in high school, I read this one in an "interpretative reading" competition. I didn't like interpretative reading. I didn't like debate. I was lousy at both. And forevermore, I never competed in either again.

 

[IrishOne]

I love Poe's work. But he goes to many a dark place. Makes me wonder...

 

[Corruptbuddha]

Loss, longing, regret.

At least that's my take.

 

[MaryAnne]

I am with CB on this one. I felt sad, sense of loss and regret for what is gone and cannot be replaced, nevermore. It was about a woman,the bird was symbolic.

 

[Jen]

I believe Poe wrote "The Raven" either while his wife was ill with tuberculosis or after she died of it. So no doubt it was regarding that loss and "loss" and "regret" are definite themes to the poem. "Lenore" however, wasn't his wife's name........ so that's symbolic too.

I am with CB on this one. I felt sad, sense of loss and regret for what is gone and cannot be replaced, nevermore. It was about a woman,the bird was symbolic.

 

[Minotaur]

I have always felt he drew comfort from remembering her and being tortured by her loss. I thought the Raven represented the truth of his final and complete loss. He could no longer deny or see her in shadow or pain. For me this was very sad. cold, colorless reality - she's gone, perhaps.

 

[Jen]

There is an odd comfort to every memory, every regret and all the torture ..........of loss......... Yesterday was the anniversary of the loss of my child, so that feeling is (as it is every day of my life) fresh in my memory.

I have always felt he drew comfort from remembering her and being tortured by her loss. I thought the Raven represented the truth of his final and complete loss. He could no longer deny or see her in shadow or pain. For me this was very sad. cold, colorless reality - she's gone, perhaps.

 

[MaryAnne]

There is an odd comfort to every memory, every regret and all the torture ..........of loss......... Yesterday was the anniversary of the loss of my child, so that feeling is (as it is every day of my life) fresh in my memory.

Sorry to hear that,Jen. You are not alone in the loss of a child.It never goes away.

 

[Minotaur]

There is an odd comfort to every memory, every regret and all the torture ..........of loss......... Yesterday was the anniversary of the loss of my child, so that feeling is (as it is every day of my life) fresh in my memory.

I am so sorry Jen. Yes there is comfort with memories and we cherish every one. I feel in the Raven it is less about the comforting memory but that moment one realises the loved one is irreversably gone. Maybe the last hope leaving and the reality setting in. I know that feeling as well. The early stages of grief can be a struggle.

 

[MaryAnne]

I am so sorry Jen. Yes there is comfort with memories and we cherish every one. I feel in the Raven it is less about the comforting memory but that moment one realises the loved one is irreversably gone. Maybe the last hope leaving and the reality setting in. I know that feeling as well. The early stages of grief can be a struggle.

That is the way I felt,Mary. The reality of the death of a loved one is so stark and that is what I felt when reading. The raven was symbolic of death and the finality. Something your brain will not accept.

That was why he did not answer the door.

 

[lilly]

He was thinking of using a parrot at one time but then thought the Raven would better convey his feelings of loss.

Some words.

"Seraphim," in the fourteenth verse, "perfumed by an unseen censer / Swung by seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled..." is used to illustrate the swift, invisible way a scent spreads in a room. A seraphim is one of the six-winged angels standing in the presence of God.
"Nepenthe," from the same verse, is a potion, used by ancients to induce forgetfullnes of pain or sorrow.
"Balm in Gilead," from the following verse, is a soothing ointment made in Gilead, a mountainous region of Palestine east of the Jordan river.
"Aidenn," from the sixteenth verse, is an Arabic word for Eden or paradise.
"Plutonian," characteristic of Pluto, the god of the underworld in Roman mythology.

 

[Bo-4]

Hey.. this is great stuff and thanks to all who participated. Will catch up more in the AM, mucho appreciado!!!

 

[Minotaur]

There is something recogisable in the whole of it if there has been a loss. I never knew if it was connected as I read it but I always found it significant that he seems to give hints of holding on to her in the complete 2nd stanza and connects it to the floor with:

"And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor"

And last lines of the poem shows the complete loss for me with this very different floor paradigm:

"And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamplight 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! "

 

[Friday13]

I somewhat agree. He's dwelling on the lost love, hoping for a reunion after death. The Raven is symbolic of the doubt of that runion, the loss of hope..."Nevermore".

 

[PACE]

Poe gives death a body in this poem, to speak in outrage against the taking of his beloved, AnnaBelle Lee,
He gives a picture of the inevitability of death, and decay, the vibrancy of life silenced and left to the humble organic remains, the body once sancrosant, now corruptible by time and elements of nature.

He rails against the blackened justice of death, it's lording over life, and the shock of searing pain that death gives as a gift to those whose souls are still joined with a body moving too fast for the all conquering worm.

The ending of this? one's own mortality, the beating of the souls fists against the lid of the coffin, cannot defeat death.

And the promise, the absolute promise of rejoining with the beloved, an clear and infallible fact that this is not forever, is dashed in the word.

Nevermore.

Regards
Pace