46-47. Night's Plutonian shore: Pluto ruled over the powers of the lower world and over the dead. Darkness and gloom are constantly associated with him; the cypress tree was sacred to him and black victims were sacrificed to him. Why does the coming of the raven suggest this realm to the poet? 50. relevancy: appropriateness. 80. Seraphim: one of the highest orders of angels 82. respite and nepenthe: period of peace and forgetting. 89. balm in Gilead. See Jeremiah 8: 22; 46: 11 and Genesis 37: 25. 93. Aideen, fanciful spelling of Eden. 106. This line has been often criticized on the ground that a lamp could not cause any shadow on the floor if the bird sat above the door. Poe answered this charge by saying: "My conception was that of the bracket candelabrum affixed against the wall, high up above the door and bust, as is often seen in English palaces, and even in some of the better houses of New York." What effect does this poem have upon you? Work out the rhyme scheme in the first and second stanzas. Are they alike? Does this rhyme scheme help to produce the effect of the poem? Have you noticed a similar use of "more" in any other poem? Point out striking examples of repetition, of alliteration. Are there many figures of speech here? TO HELEN This Helen is Mrs. Whitman. 15. parterre: a flower garden whose beds are arranged in a pattern and separated by walks. 48. Dian: Roman goddess representing the moon. 60. elysian: supremely happy. 65. scintillant: sending forth flashes of light. 66. Venuses: morning stars. THE BELLS "The Bells" originally consisted of eighteen lines, and was gradually enlarged to its present form. 10. Runic: secret, mysterious. 11. Why does Poe use this peculiar word? Compare its use with that of "euphony," 1. 26, "jangling," 1. 62, "moLotone" 1. 8'3. 26. euphony: the quality of having a pleasant sound. 72. monody: a musical composition in which some one voice-part predominates. 88. Ghouls: imaginary evil beings of the East who rob graves. ELDORADO 6. Eldorado: any region where wealth may be obtained is abundance; hence, figuratively, the source of any abundance, as here. 21. "Valley of the Shadow" suggests death and is a fitting close to Poe's poetic work. HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807-1882) "His verse blooms like a flower, night and day; Bees cluster round his rhymes; and twitterings Of lark and swallow, in an endless May, Are mingling with the tender songs he sings. Nor shall he cease to sing--in every lay Of Nature's voice he sings--and will alway." --JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.