Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”
Episode 11
It's Spooky Season, so Professor Pipes is reviewing Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" this week (with some extra help from her corgi - I mean raven)! She also went full-cray and decided to do the whole thing in Poe's iconic rhyme and rhythm. Happy Halloween!
Transcript
Introduction:
Ah, your entrance me amazes
Into Piper’s Paraphrases
Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” is the poem you’re here for
And my knowledge I will give you
All the summary I’ll go through
Plus the symbols and the themes too
All of these and even more
Since you hope to understand this more than you have done before
Let’s see what we have in store.
Summary:
It’s important to remember
That the setting’s bleak December
And the speaker sits and reads his books, distractions from Lenore
She was once his wife or lover
One whom we will soon discover
Is now dead and gone forever
But whom he is grieving for
And the mood is dark and lonely as we learn about Lenore
Like his heart, it’s sad and sore.
As the speaker’s sadly yearning
Suddenly the story’s turning
For he hears a quiet knocking coming from his chamber door.
It is late into the night and
So our narrator is frightened
The suspense has surely heightened
Since there’s something new in store.
And the speaker sits and justifies the noise outside his door
It’s a visitor, for sure…
Though he still is somewhat fearful
He calls out and acts all cheerful
But when no one answers he decides to open up the door.
Aaaand there’s no one out there waiting
Just the darkness permeating
And his courage is deflating
As he stares outside the door
With both fear and hope he calls out asking for his lost Lenore
She’s not there, just as before.
And then he again hears knocking
To the window he goes walking
When he opens it a Raven flies and lands above his door
Sure, it’s not what he expected
But he will not be affected
“it will leave,” but he’s corrected
When the bird says “Nevermore”
Yes that’s right the freaking Raven answered him, said “Nevermore”
Man, my heart is on the floor.
How it talks, I’ve no suggestions
But he starts to ask it questions
Mostly asking all about, you guessed it, yep, that’s right, Lenore
He both wants to end his grieving
And to feel good believing
That in death he’ll be receiving
His long lost Lenore once more
But the bird just keeps repeating that annoying “Nevermore”
So he’s sad, then starts to roar!
And he calls the bird a devil
Just because, well, on some level
It is right and he is angry, so he yells, “get off my door!”
But it won’t. It’s unremitting.
And the end is where we’re getting.
With that raven, who’s still sitting.
It won’t leave the chosen door.
And the speaker’s sitting underneath its shadow on the floor.
He’ll be happy nevermore.
Analysis:
If you thought my poem ended
Sorry, buddy, it’s extended
Since, you know, I still have lots of themes and symbols to explore
First let’s start with rhyme and meter
This trochaic octameter
Feels obsessive to the reader
And that’s just what it is for
For it’s mimicking the speaker’s sad obsession with Lenore
It’s intense. I’ll say no more.
Now let’s talk about the Raven
‘Twas dismissed but never gave in
It’s a symbol of his unrelenting grief for his Lenore
And that’s why it’s never leaving
Since he’ll never stop his grieving
And sometimes he’s not believing
That he’ll never see Lenore
And that’s why he asks those questions about heaven and Lenore
But the answers? He’ll ignore.
And I’d also better tell you
That it sits above a statue
Of Athena, who’s the goddess of intelligence galore.
That could represent the insight
Of the raven who is so right
When it tells the speaker outright
That his girl is nevermore
And he can’t escape that logic for forever ever more
Though he wants to just ignore.
Oh, or, how about this notion:
It could represent emotion
That has overwhelmed his knowledge of the part of life that’s sure
We were born to someday perish
So each moment, we should cherish
Since though life ain’t always fair-ish
There is always something more.
But the speaker’s grief is standing over reason; life’s a chore.
He can’t move on from before.
Now, the symbol of the shadow
It’s the speaker’s constant sorrow
And the chamber he is trapped in is the loneliness endured
It is isolation only
Since he’s feeling super lonely
And outside is darkness only
Since he won’t go out his door
He has settled in this chamber since there’s no life but Lenore
Trapped himself for evermore.
Now my lesson’s seeming endless
So I cannot help but end this
Talking just a bit about the oft repeated nevermore
It shows constant agitation
It is almost like damnation
Since that one word’s connotation
Is the gloomy, sad encore
So the mood is sad and somber and you almost can’t endure
Hearing one more “nevermore.”
Thanks for joining in this lesson
(Hope it wasn’t too depressin’)
Now you know “The Raven” by the poet known for grief and gore
As you move on just proceeding
I dismiss you all while pleading
That you always keep on reading
Ever, ever, ever more
And you always be good people, even better than before
Now I’m done. I swear. For sure.
Food For Thought:
1. In what ways has the speaker's love become an obsession? How can you tell?
2. Many of Poe's stories, including "The Raven," are written in first person. Why do you think he made this choice, specifically for this poem?
3. Why do you think that Edgar Allan Poe decided to choose a Raven as the symbol in this poem?
4. How do rhyme and meter in the poem affect its mood? What effect do they have on the reader?
5. There are lots of internal rhymes, alliterations, and sound devices in this poem. What effect do these have?
