TODAY ONLY
January 29
Poe Publishes "The Raven"
On this day in 1845, "The Raven", by Edgar Allan Poe, was published for the first time in the New York Evening Mirror.
What's It All About...? During a cold, dark evening in December, a man attempts to find some comfort remembering a lost love ~ Lenore. He reads volumes of "forgotten lore." Falling asleep, he is brought back to consciousness by a knock at the door. At first he thinks he was just dreaming. He opens the door and sees only darkness. But when he peers into the darkness he hears the name of his lost love: "Lenore!"
The Plot Thickens. When he closes the door, he hears the knocking at the window. He throws the shutters open. In walks a raven, which immediately perches on a bust of Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, which is placed over the doorway. He asks the bird its name, and the raven replies, "Nevermore."
What Kind of Name is "Nevermore"? The man has never heard of anyone named Nevermore, and is sure that, like everyone else, the raven will soon leave him. He pulls his chair closer, to better understand the raven, and starts to think of Lenore again ~ how she will never again sit in that chair. For a brief moment, he believes the raven has been sent to help him through his difficult time. But when the bird continues to repeat itself, the writer grows angry and tells it to leave. "Nevermore," replies the raven, and sits on the bust of Athena for all time as a reminder of lost love.
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 someone 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 forevermore.
What's It All About? The Raven is Poe's best-known work, and it follows Poe's favorite theme: the untimely death of a beautiful woman. The poem is also a reflection of Poe's life. At the time he wrote the poem, Virginia Poe's health was poor. The poem represents a difficult time of thought, and one during which Poe feared he would fall into madness or sadness. Like the writer, Poe was doomed in his quest for a perfect emotional state.
Winner of the Northwest Section and Alberta Chapter of the Wildlife Society 2001 Photo Contest.
More About Poe. Though much has been written about Edgar Allan Poe, few of the details can be verified. He is considered by many to be the master terror tale-teller. He was born in Boston in 1809 to professional actors who died when Poe was a child. He attended the University of Virginia, where he excelled as a student and a drinker. He enlisted in the US. Army, where he rose to the rank of sergeant major, but was expelled from West Point after a year. In the early 1830s, Poe started publishing his poetry and stories. In 1843, he published several works, including "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Gold Bug," which won a $100 prize in a newspaper contest.
On This Day in 1845, his poem "The Raven" appeared in the New York Evening Mirror. It was a critical and commercial success. "The Fall of the House Of Usher" (1839) and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841) are arguably two of his best short stories. But both Poe's and his wife Virginia's poor health kept the couple in financial and emotional distress. Poe died in 1849.