The Raven: Opening Stanzas
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Author: Edgar Allan Poe
This passage is the opening stanzas of Edgar Allan Poe’s 1845 poem “The Raven.” Perhaps his most famous work, “The Raven” is about grief, mystery, and lost love.
Topic(s): Mystery / Suspense. Skill(s): Context Clues. Genre(s): Poetry
This passage is the opening stanzas of Edgar Allan Poe’s 1845 poem “The Raven.” Perhaps his most famous work, “The Raven” is about grief, mystery, and lost love.
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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.
“‘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 for evermore.
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