"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! prophet still, if bird or devil! Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted On this home by Horror haunted--tell me truly, I implore: Is there, is there balm in Gilead?--tell me--tell me, I implore!" Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." "Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! prophet still, if bird or devil! By that Heaven that bends above us, by that God we both adore, Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore: Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore!" Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." "Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting: "Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore! Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! Leave my loneliness unbroken! quit the bust above my door! Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!" Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor: And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted--nevermore! HELPS TO STUDY. Notes and Questions. What is the theme of this poem? What gives it its musical quality? Mention parts that you think are especially beautiful. Find examples of alliteration. What does the refrain add to this poem? What is the meaning of "Night's Plutonian shore"? Of what is the raven a symbol? Why does the poet call the bust of Pallas "pallid"? What is the significance of the last stanza? From this poem, in what would you say Poe's poetry excels? Which stanza do you like best? Why? Words and Phrases for Discussion. "ghost" "surcease" "entreating" "obeisance" "craven" "ominous" "censer" "seraphim" "nepenthe" "dying ember" "fantastic terrors" "saintly days" "tufted floor" "pallid bust" "radiant maiden" "dirges of his Hope" "bird of yore" "balm in Gilead" * * * * * HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW In "The Courtship of Miles Standish" Longfellow has made us acquainted with his ancestors, John Alden and Priscilla Mullens, passengers of the Mayflower. Of such ancestry Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, February 27, 1807. His birthplace was at that time a beautiful and busy town, a forest city with miles of sea beach and a port where merchant vessels from the West Indies exchanged sugar and rum for the products of the forest and the fisheries of Maine.