The Raven
Edgar Allan Poe, 1845
Held by Global reading listread here
Read it here about 66 min of reading
Add to a shelf
This is the complete public-domain poetry of Edgar Allan Poe in the order he wrote it, from the early Tamerlane and Other Poems to his late lyrics. It holds the dream-haunted early pieces, the sonnet to science, the long Al Aaraaf, and the Gothic poems he is best known for: The City in the Sea, The Raven, Ulalume, The Bells and Annabel Lee. The Raven tells of a grieving lover and a bird that answers every question with a single word, nevermore.
Where it happens
- Boston Poe's birthplace; he published his first book as 'a Bostonian'.2
- Richmond, Virginia Where John and Frances Allan took in Poe after his mother died.2
- Philadelphia Home of Graham's Magazine, where Poe first offered The Raven.1
- New York City Evening Mirror, which printed The Raven under Poe's name, was published here.1
- Baltimore One of the cities Poe moved between while working as a critic.2
Through time
- 1809Poe is born in Boston on 19 January.2
- 1827Poe publishes Tamerlane and Other Poems, credited to 'a Bostonian'.23
- 1845The Raven appears in the American Review and in the Evening Mirror with his name.1
- 1846Poe explains how he wrote the poem in The Philosophy of Composition.1
- 1849Poe dies on 7 October.2
- 1875A French edition with Mallarmé's translation and Manet's lithographs is published.1
- 1884The Raven is published with Gustave Doré's woodcuts.1
Who is in it, and behind it
Edgar Allan Poe author
American writer and critic (1809 to 1849), the first well-known American author to live on writing alone.2
George Rex Graham patron
Editor of Graham's Magazine in Philadelphia, who turned down The Raven but gave Poe $15.1
Nathaniel Parker Willis printer
Editor of the Evening Mirror, which printed the poem on 29 January 1845 with high praise.1
Elizabeth Barrett subject
Her poem Lady Geraldine's Courtship was the model for the rhythm and meter of The Raven.1
Charles Dickens subject
His 1841 novel Barnaby Rudge, with its talking raven, partly inspired the poem.1
John Tenniel subject
Illustrated a British Poe anthology in 1858.1
Gustave Doré subject
His woodcuts for The Raven were published in 1884, after he had died.1
Stéphane Mallarmé translator
Translated The Raven into French for the 1875 edition illustrated by Manet.1
What it is about
Poetry built by method
Poe said he composed The Raven logically, with every element chosen for effect.1
Death of a beautiful woman
Poe called the death of a beautiful woman the most poetical topic, and told the poem from the lips of a bereaved lover.1
Sound and repetition
Internal rhyme, alliteration and the long o of nevermore carry the poem's mood.1
In its own words
From childhood’s hour I have not been As others were—I have not seen As others saw—I could not bring My passions from a common spring— From the same source I have not taken My sorrow—I could not awaken My heart to joy at the same tone— And all I loved— I loved alone— Thou —in my childhood—in the dawn Of a most stormy life—was drawn From every depth of good and ill The mystery which binds
Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art! Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes
In Heaven a spirit doth dwell “Whose heart-strings are a lute”; None sing so wildly well As the angel Israfel, And the giddy Stars (so legends tell) Ceasing their hymns, attend the spell Of his voice, all mute
Lo! Death has reared himself a throne In a strange city lying alone Far down within the dim West, Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best Have gone to their eternal rest
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
Hear the sledges with the bells— Silver bells! What a world of merriment their melody foretells
It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee ; And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me
Take this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now, Thus much let me avow— You are not wrong, who deem That my days have been a dream: Yet if hope has flown away In a night, or in a day, In a vision, or in none, Is it therefore the less gone
The shape of the book
76 chapters, 15,084 words. Point at a bar.
How it came to be here
Poe's first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827), appeared under the name 'a Bostonian' and sold only about fifty copies. Success came with The Raven, first printed with his name in the Evening Mirror on 29 January 1845 and then in the American Review under the pseudonym Quarles. It made him popular but earned little. In 1846 his essay The Philosophy of Composition described how he built the poem. The Standard Ebooks edition collects all of Poe's completed poetry in chronological order of writing.
Sources
Text: Standard Ebooks edition of the public-domain text. Standard Ebooks markup CC0 1.0; text public domain in the USA.