cided on one of his most famous passages, "The Raven."

Since the entire poem of "The Raven" is well over two pages, I decided to write this paper over the first seven stanzas. The poem in itself is a modern day masterpiece; it is saturated in dark mood a

The poem goes on to say, "While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door..." to start to comprehend this part I again tried to put myself into the role of the man nodding off in his living room. To be awakened from sleep by someone or something gently tapping on my door. At this point your are still in the state of asleep coconsciousness. A person in this state does not know if the tapping is in his mind or in reality. This seems to be foreshadowing for events soon to come in the poem. This give the poem a sense of illusion, the character does not know what is happening. Is there someone at his chamber door, or is it a side effect of nodding off to sleep.

nd this is the first time that I understood this part. Poe's history also ties into this because his wife Virginia Clemm. After her death he fell apart and died two years later.

Poe then writes, "Tis some visitor, I muttered, tapping at my chamber door-- Only this and nothing more." Again the archaic speech show through in this. At this point the character believe that it is simply a late night visitor. Someone is bidding him hello. At the time of night it seems odd that a person would knock on a persons door, but in his tired mind he believes this to be true. Still more the foreshadowing is thick in the poem. As the character nonchalantly assumes that it is simply a person from this world and not a sprit or spirit.

The poem goes on to say, "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 named Lenore--Nameless here forever more", to decipher the meaning of this sentence, I use the dictionary to look up the words that I did not know. I looked up surcease, which means, to desist from action. I understand that the he is reading a book, a book to keep his mind off the loss of a woman in his life named Lenore. This explains more of the beginning of the poem. In the sentence, "eagerly I wish the morrow...", I believe that he is wishing this day to be over, so he can sleep and dream about his lost Lenore. This character is extremely distraught over the loss of Lenore, and he is trying to cope with the pain by trying to keep thoughts of her out of his mind, by never saying her name again. He is trying to make it one day at a time. I have read this piece many times, a!

Poe goes on to say, "So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating: Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door-- some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door, this is it and nothing more." Again I started to try understanding by looking up the words that I did not understand. In this section I do not familiar with the word entreating so I looked it up. Entreating means, to make an earnest request. He is getting very nervous because it is deathly quiet in contrast with the bumps and rustlings in the empty house. He obviously is making excuses for the noises that he hears to keep him calm and collected. So he regresses to the last sound he heard, the knocking on his door. At this point in the poem he is gripped with terror.

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As the second stanza begins, Poe adds to the drama and mood of the poem by writing, "Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, and each separately dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor." This gives details to the poem; it set the scene up for the rest of the play. You can almost hear the crackling of the fire, and the frost on the glass. This is Poe's way of adding

Some common words found in the essay are:
Allen Poe, Lenore Merely, Virginia Clemm, Sir Madam, , Edgar Allen, allen poe, edgar allen poe, edgar allen, dark gothic, poem raven, write paper, chamber door, knocking door, poem goes, decided write paper, ritualistic eyeball, entreating entrance chamber, visitor entreating entrance, ritualistic eyeball scanning, mood poem,
Approximate Word count = 2495
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)