Happy Halloween! What better way to celebrate Halloween than to read Edgar Allen Poe's famous poem, The Raven! The Raven is a very eerie and suspenseful poem that was published in 1845. The speaker in the poem is remembering his lost love, Lenore, and he hears tapping coming from outside. Once he opens the window, a raven flies in, constantly replying "Nevermore" whenever the speaker speaks to it. This drives the speaker crazy. I definitely recommend reading the poem or listening to a recitation of the poem (go to the end of this post for a video of Vincent Price reciting "The Raven"). If you read it, you should read it aloud and put a lot of expression in your voice. So much fun!
I really like "The Raven" because of how simple the story is! The only characters that are present in the story are the speaker and the raven and Lenore is mentioned. The whole story is about the speaker going crazy thinking about Lenore and hearing the raven saying only one word, "Nevermore." It isn't scary because of monsters but instead because of the descriptions. You don't know what is going to happen next and you can picture the whole story and the setting in your mind. The repetitions really add to the suspension! The poem also just has a general eeriness to it in the way that it is presented.
Want to hear a recitation of "The Raven"? The best person for the job is Vincent Price! Such an amazing performance! Watch it here:
I hope you all have a spooky Halloween!
-Kaylie
