Make sure that you have completed your vocabulary homework! Be prepared for our quiz!
Read the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe. Please write two paragraphs about the poem. When you write your paragraphs, consider how we have practiced constructing paragraphs (opening sentence with thesis, details and explanation, closing sentence). In your first paragraph, explain the meaning or message (its SENSE) of the poem. In the second paragraph, explain what sound elements you notice in the poem and what effect you think they have.
The Raven
ReplyDeleteby 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 visiter," 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 visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door--
Some late visiter 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 sour within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping something 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 the 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 still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
ReplyDeleteStraight 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 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 has 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 shadows on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted--nevermore!
Please note that Lenore is a woman the speaker was romatically involved with ("the rare and radiant maiden")
ReplyDeleteThe speaker is addressing a Raven (a black crow-like bird, also called bird and fowl throughout the poem). He then later starts to refer to the raven as something evil, possibly a "demon."
After you have read through the poem, be sure to look at this video of the poem being read and filmed like a movie. Trust me, it is worth it!!!
ReplyDeletePart 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NaEMeSqtYQ (about 5 minutes long)
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe3IN8i-eho&feature=related (about 9 minutes long)
Hello Ms Gelso and fellow classmates,
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe, there are many themes that all give a message or mean something. The first theme has to do with despair. The main character talks to a bird, thing that many people would find crazy or insane. Doing that he shows also the second theme that is loneliness. Having Lenore passed away, he can’t live anymore like before. That’s why this shows us that facts of the past shouldn’t influence us for the rest of our lives. In contrast, we have to live happily. The third theme is obviously about love, the love of this person to his (probably) wife Lenore. Through this, the poet wants to demonstrate that real love never ends, but it just fades away leaving her signs.
Poe in his poem “The Raven” uses many sound elements, too. We find many times rhyme, alliteration and assonance. Some examples of them are the following. For rhyme, in the first stanza we can clearly find words that have the same ending: dreary, weary and door, more. In the sentence “Doubting dreaming dreams no mortal level, dared to dream before” we can find alliteration (repeating of consonant letters in the beginning of the word). The letter “d” is used in the beginning of five words here. Finally “For the race and radiant maiden, whom the angels name Lenore,” is a perfect example of assonance (repetition of vowels) with the letter “a”.
Hi
ReplyDeleteThere are many meanings in the poem the Raven, but the one message that is important is that you cannot focus on things that you cannot or evens that you cannot change have or it will make you go mad. For example, when the man hears the tapping on the door he thinks it could be Lenore. But when he opens the door and sees the dark only he thinks about Lenore, when he goes back inside he becomes sad and depressed from missing his Lenore. Another example is when he talks to the raven and asks it if he is going to see Lenore again and the bird says nevermore even though the man thought that the bird only knew only that word. He yells and shrieks at the bird and tells it to go away because he is sad and depressed because he wants to see Lenore again. He asks the raven if he will see Lenore in the afterlife, but the bird can only say nevermore. He obsesses about Lenore and becomes more and more agitated during the story. We can all learn a lesson from this as we obsess about things and people at times. We need to understand that this is not healthy and also will not change the end result. These are the reasons why the poems meaning is that one should not focus on things that you can’t have as this will not change events and can make you go mad.
In the poem the sounds elements that are used are repetition and alliteration. There are many different examples of repetition. The first type of repetition is the repetition of a word in the same line. For example “rapping, rapping” in line four of the first stanza. The second type of repetition is a repetition of a phrase or word in the same stanza which is on the fourth and fifth lines of every stanza, for example “my chamber door, my chamber door” which is used in the first stanza. The third type of repetition is the repetition of the same sound in the same sentence, for example “nearly napping suddenly there came a tapping”. An example of alliteration is “weak and weary” which is also in the first stanza. Those are the two sound elements that are in this poem. All of these sound elements interests the reader and makes them want to read more and find out what happens in the end.
Bye
In the poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe, there are a lot of themes like lonliness and love that is showed by the love for his wife Leonore. Poe uses rhymes, he uses sound elements, assonance and alliteration. The protagonist talks to a bird, everybody would think that he is crazy, he wants to show that love never ends and that it is always with you.
ReplyDelete