365 Day Project: Day 66

West Point's Outcast, America's First Great

Poet Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849). The Raven?

[Vol. 42, pp. 1227-1230 of The Harvard Classics]

(Poe expelled from West Point, March 6, 1831.)

Edgar Allan Poe was expelled from West Point and disinherited. So poor was he that when his young wife lay dying, he could not afford a fire to warm her. The weirdness and despair of "The Raven" is particularly symbolic of his life.

Edgar Allan Poe's poem, The Raven is one of the most important pieces of literature in American history. The poem was first published in 1845 and quickly became popular. ?The poem is about a man who is grieving the loss of his loved one and is visited by a raven.?The raven tells the man that he will never see his loved one again.

The poem is full of dark imagery and it is very mysterious. It is a poem that can be interpreted in many ways. Some people believe the poem is about the man's journey into madness, while others believe it is about the grieving process.

The following passage is one of my favorites from the poem.?

“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal 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.”

I remember reading The Raven in school for the first time at age 12.?I don’t remember reading it in its entirety again until today, but I am glad I spent some time with it this morning.?

Best,

Matt

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Resources

Kindle version of The Harvard Classics ($1.99):?https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089K4RP1F/