Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “The Raven” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

The Raven

Edgar Allan Poe,

Gustave Doré (Illustrator)

4.29 · Rating details · 120,801 ratings · 2,900 reviews

In Gustave Doré, one of the most prolific and successful book illustrators of the late 19h century, Edgar Allan Poe's renowned poem The Raven found perhaps its most perfect artistic interpreter. Doré's dreamlike, otherworldly style, tinged with melancholy, seems ideally matched to the bleak despair of Poe's celebrated work, among the most popular American poems ever writte ...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, 64 pages

Published April 25th 1996 by Dover Publications (first published January 29th 1845)

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about The Raven, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

100 Books to Read in a Lifetime: Readers' Picks

8,674 books — 10,138 voters

Books That Everyone Should Read At Least Once

26,199 books — 103,205 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 4.29 ·

Rating details

· 120,801 ratings · 2,900 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of The Raven

Nov 26, 2020 Muhtasin rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2020, 4-star, poetry, 001-300-pp, classics, audiobook, poe

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
description

There is no wonder The Raven is one of the greatest and the most well-known poems. So many emotions are filled into this book. It has full capacity to give one a feeling that every word comes from Poe's soul and may evoke you of your beloved lost one. Highly recommended to listen and read the book at the same time. For this, you won't miss the exceptional illustrations in the book and the narrator's astounding performance.

Leave my loneliness unbroken!

Nevermore. ...more

flag 280 likes · Like · see review

Apr 26, 2008 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, literature, gothic, mystery, poetry, 19th-century, horror, united-states

The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe

The Raven is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere.

It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow fall into madness. The lover, often identified as being a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore.

Sitting on a bust of Pallas, the raven seems to further instigate his distress w The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe

The Raven is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere.

It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow fall into madness. The lover, often identified as being a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore.

Sitting on a bust of Pallas, the raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repetition of the word "Nevermore".

The poem makes use of a number of folk, mythological, religious, and classical references.

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.

And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
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 it is and nothing more.”

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
“Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you”—here I opened wide the door;—
Darkness there and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”—
Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
“Surely,” said I, “surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore—
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;—
’Tis the wind and nothing more!”

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door—
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door—
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore—
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door—
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as “Nevermore.”

But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing farther then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered—
Till I scarcely more than muttered “Other friends have flown before—
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.”
Then the bird said “Nevermore.”

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
“Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore—
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
Of ‘Never—nevermore’.”

But the Raven still beguiling all my fancy into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore—
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking “Nevermore.”

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o’er,
But whose velvet-violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o’er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
“Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore;
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

“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!

تاریخ نخستین خوانش روز نخست ماه آوریل سال 2006میلادی

عنوان: کلاغ؛ شاعر: ادگار آلن پو؛ بازسرایش: سپیده جدیری؛ تهران، ماهریز، 1385؛ در 126ص؛ شابک: 9647729634؛ موضوع: شعرهای شاعران ایالات متحده آمریکا سده 19م

عنوان: کلاغ و اشعار دیگر؛ شاعر: ادگار آلن پو؛ مترجم: محمدصادق رئیسی؛ تهران، پیام امروز، 1395؛ در 173ص؛ شابک9789645706935؛

شعر کلاغ: بازسرایش خانم «سپیده جدیری»؛

در انزوای نیمه شبی دلتنگ
آنگه که او چو خاطره ای کمرنگ
اندیشه های تلخ مرا اندود
چشمان من ز خواب، بخارآلود
ناگه کوبه های کسی بر در
آرام، همچو زمزمه نجواگر
نجوای من به خویش، ملامتگر
یک میهمان خسته ی ناهنگام
یک میهمان خسته و دیگر هیچ

اینک به خاطر آورم آن را، آه
ماه دسامبر، نیمه شبی جانکاه
گویی گذار روشن اخگر بود
روحی که در اتاق شناور بود
در حسرت سپیده دمان بودم
بیهوده، در تلاش گریز از غم
آری، غمش مرا به جهان تفته ست
دوشیزه ای که از کف من رفته ست
بی نام دوشیزه ی اینجا بود
بی نام، سربسته و دیگر هیچ

آنگاه، خش خشی که مرا افکند
در چنگ تـَنگ وحشت بی مانند
از قلب سرخ پرده برون آمد
نجوای من دوباره نهیبم زد
یک میهمان خسته ی ناهنگام
یک میهمان خسته و دیگر هیچ

گفتم: ببخش، منتظر بر در
گویی ز قعر خواب شنید این سَر
آنک کسی به کوبه ی پر تردید
در را - چنان که زمزمه ای - کوبید
در باز شد به عمق سیاه شب
یک شامگاه تیره و دیگر هیچ

بر شامگاه تیره نگه کردم
با دیدگان خیره نگه کردم
اما سکوت با سخنی نشکست
جز با «لـِنور»، دخترک سرمست
نامش چنان سرود غم انگیزی
جاری شد، اندر آن شب پائیزی
پر زد «لـِنور»، از لب من در دشت
پژواک آن دوباره به من برگشت
بی نام دوشیزه ی اینجا بود
بی نام، سربسته و دیگر هیچ
...

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 15/07/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 04/06/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

flag 256 likes · Like · see review

Jun 16, 2016 Sean Barrs rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-star-reads, classics, poetry

Shall we descend into madness? Shall we be haunted by our own desires? Shall we be consumed by that terrible facet of life known only as death? Shall we cling to what cannot be reanimated? Shall we wish for a return of something that has long been in darkness?

Shall we become obliterated by the brutal finality of such a statement as “nevermore?”

Lenore has gone. She has departed from this life, and is permanently out of the reach of the man. The raven represents the solidarity of this. Despite h ...more

flag 250 likes · Like · see review

Jun 29, 2021 Gaurav rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The Raven is a piercing piece by Edgar Allan Poe who I am reading for the very first time. I read it with holding the breath in an unnamable, haunting feeling due to the eerie atmosphere created by the poet through the verses. It’s a dreary, windy winter night with only a flicker of an old lamp burning like a symbol of hope, you feel the crushing effect on your heart, which is pounding heavily, of such a gothic setting, the horror gets intensified when the poundings on the rags of your old door, ...more

flag 141 likes · Like · see review

Aug 10, 2017 Annet rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, creepy, brilliant, dark, beautiful-poetic

Nevermore! ...........
Read this poem, listen to this poem and study the drawings of Gustave Dore... and know this is a unique masterpiece. Hauntingly beautiful. Brooding, dark, desperate, mysterious... These starting lines are famous I think:
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 visiter," I m ...more

flag 140 likes · Like · see review

Jul 23, 2018 Florencia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: poetry

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted—nevermore!

Themes such as loss and relentless melancholy - nothing foreign to Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) - combined with a repetitive rhythm that gives it a unique and gradually oppressive musicality resulted in one of the best literary works of all time, The Raven.

This edition, first published in 1844, includes the steel-plate engravings by renowned French artist Gustave Doré (1832–1883), ...more

flag 107 likes · Like · see review

Feb 11, 2014 Jess the Shelf-Declared Bibliophile rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Beautiful, classic prose.

Reread as part of going through his complete works. This one will always be one of my favorites!

flag 109 likes · Like · see review

Jan 22, 2017 Ahmed Ejaz rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2017, poetry

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping something louder than
before

WoW! What a poem it is!!

I am not into poems that much but this poem is exceptionally awesome. I couldn't stop reading this. I have read this poem at least 3 times by now. It's just that amazing. Once you started, you couldn't be able to stop until the end.
I have fallen in love with this poem of E. A. Poe. Madly!! I have even downloaded its audio version. And that's also rea ...more

flag 105 likes · Like · see review

Oct 30, 2017 Michael rated it it was amazing

Happy Halloween, EAP! This is probably the best poem in history ever to have sold for $9. But what is it about? That's a more difficult question. The poem has undeniable power, but its power (as in much of Poe) is not entirely susceptible of rational explication.

First, there's the sheer liturgical music of the poem, as evidenced from the very opening lines:

"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--
While I nodded, near ...more

flag 100 likes · Like · see review

Sep 05, 2016 James rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1-fiction, 3-written-pre-20th-century

First... you must read the introductory stanza from Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem, The Raven. And then I'll provide a short review:

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 someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”

And this is what will happen to you ...more

flag 92 likes · Like · see review

Feb 11, 2014 Navessa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: all-the-feels, classics, creepfest

Am I the only one creeped out by ravens? Every time I hear mention of them I shudder. I mean, come on. Have you ever heard one croak? Second question; have you ever heard a tree full of them croak? I have.

There I was, minding my own business, just trying to walk home from the bus stop. I didn’t even see them until I was directly beneath the tree. I heard this strange rustling sound and thought it was weird because the leaves had already fallen. Naturally, I paused to look up. What was I met wit ...more

flag 91 likes · Like · see review

Aug 17, 2019 Lori rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviewed

Can't count how many times I've read this. It's brilliant. No, that doesn't do it justice. It's...
And The Simpsons very first Halloween episode did a good job with it too. 👤 ...more

flag 83 likes · Like · see review

Nov 16, 2020 Luís rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: g-horror, e-5-favourites, united-states, g-classics, g-poetry, g-thriller-crime

One freezing December evening, a man also in his room, dozing over his book, thought of Lenore, his now-deceased sweetheart.
But noise at her door knocked her out of her reverie. After making several hypotheses and finally making up its mind, it opens up and, despite its inactivity, to a majestic crow. Amused but intrigued, he stupidly asks her name. The raven then responds, "Never again". The narrator questions himself and asks other questions.
But the crow responds every time, Never again.
Paraly ...more

flag 79 likes · Like · see review

Dec 29, 2011 Bonnie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, poetry-verse

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 visiter," I muttered,
"tapping at my chamber door --
Only this, and nothing more."

I had started reading the Raven before but was never able to quite get through it. When I came across this illustrated version at my library I decided to give it another shot. ...more

flag 71 likes · Like · see review

Apr 01, 2017 Samra Yusuf rated it really liked it

Shelves: poetry

You know the place between sleep and wake, the place where you can still remember dreaming, it’s a worst place to be in when you no longer can sleep nor can dream.we,the humans are a doomed species who ever breathed on planet earth, the moments we cherish turns into memories, the things we desire become wishes, the people we love turns into strangers, and the present we live becomes past…
We all live our dear life with a feel of loss, we all devise altered approaches to seek peace, we all at some You know the place between sleep and wake, the place where you can still remember dreaming, it’s a worst place to be in when you no longer can sleep nor can dream.we,the humans are a doomed species who ever breathed on planet earth, the moments we cherish turns into memories, the things we desire become wishes, the people we love turns into strangers, and the present we live becomes past…
We all live our dear life with a feel of loss, we all devise altered approaches to seek peace, we all at some phase of our life are rendered alone in a crowd of people around us, we all want to be more understood than loved, we all want someone to hear us when our inner voice is too deafening to hear anything, we all have heard the tapping of something at our window, we all have called those at the past night who are no longer with us, and we’ve heard them answering to our call, talking to us in whispers, when the eyes sleep but heart beats in a relentless rhythm, we hear them,beacause we so want to..
Poe, has a distinct eminence in saying so much with so little words, One can virtually sense the drabness and the loneness he must have felt being alone in his study with barely a fire left and everything dark around him. It almost is letting you think he is completely lost in his own misery from his loss, the loss of his loved one, narrator in his sleep-wake state hears the tapping on window, and at first encounters nothing but darkness.
Raven, can surely be the imagination of the narrator and so is the whole dialogue that proceeds, but using this bird only, has its own regard, Raven is a historical figure in bible, Norse mythology and other references, it symbolizes bad omen, thought and memory, death, darkness, wisdom and at times superiority, and we glimpse all the symbolism visualized through lines.
Whatever caused the poet to die early, The Raven and its symbolism has to do with his psychosis….
and as he says:
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.... ...more

flag 66 likes · Like · see review

Jan 15, 2019 Alejandro rated it really liked it

Shelves: paranormal, romance, short-story, horror

Nevermore!

RAISE RAVENS...

First of all, two things...

...one, I classified this poem as a "short story" since I haven't read so much poetry as to justify a tag for that in my personal list to describe books...

...two, I rated 4 stars, since kinda the same reason, due I haven't developed a knack for poetry, but since I was curious about this poem by Edgar Allan Poe, still I read it, and certainly I liked it quite a bit, but it's some hard to enjoy for me poetry. Nobody's fault.

This is easily ...more

flag 63 likes · Like · see review

Sep 20, 2019 Reading_ Tamishly rated it really liked it

To be honest, I picked up this one seeing the word 'illustrated' and (oh boy!) I am not disappointed.
Reading this one has taken out the part of my being which LOVES dark themes of human imagination.
I totally fell for the dark, black and white themed gory illustration!

Then there's the story in poetry format which I absolutely loved reading.

I don't think I would have loved this one without the illustrations.
I love the play of words and the classic rhyming pattern.
This has got my imagination run wi ...more

flag 55 likes · Like · see review

Jun 25, 2014 Lisa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: poetry

Look who’s tweeting now!

Fear for fear’s sake - Delusions empowered!

Heard it on The Scarecrow News last night. A tale of ominous foreboding. Tapping, rapping, something happening in the world, filling the soul with fear and worry. What happened last night in the barren field? The Scarecrow shouts it out:

“Who would believe it? The ravens? We let many in, and it has caused problems we wouldn’t have thought possible!”

But what happened? Rumours spread. Thousands and thousands of ravens attacked the ...more

flag 51 likes · Like · see review

May 21, 2017 Kelly (and the Book Boar) rated it it was amazing

...more

flag 51 likes · Like · see review

Sep 30, 2010 Michael Sorbello rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dark-books, horror-books, all-book-reviews, poetry

A macabre poem depicting a man driven to excruciating loneliness and grief from being unable to let go of the memories of his dead lover Lenore. It's a tragic tale full of death and sorrow, a tale of how one's unwillingness to let go of dark memories and past tragedies will only push them to the edge of insanity. A gothic classic.

***

If you're looking for ambient music that's perfect for reading fantasy, horror, sci-fi, comics, manga and other books like this one, then be sure to check out my You ...more

flag 47 likes · Like · see review

Jun 02, 2017 Jaya rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: tv-audio-adaptations, mmxvii, der-schrecken, my-preccciiioussss, classicus, once-upon-a-time-b4-gr, re-reads, cacao-72-percent, mind-f-wierd-fic, palate-cleansers

So what do you do when you can’t sleep even the clock tell you its 2’o clock of the night? You creep yourself out by reading creepy poems where a Raven talks back to you, saying ...Nevermore...
Still can’t sleep? Listen to this rendition. (It mostly scares the daylights out of me)
Here are two of my most favorite passages, which I could once, long time back, in another lifetime, recite by rote

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mo

...more

flag 46 likes · Like · see review

Jul 29, 2017 Jon Nakapalau rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, poetry, graphic-novels, favorites

Wonderful art captures the impending doom that permeates this poem - listen to Christopher Lee recite this poem on YouTube as you turn the pages...SENDS SHIVERS DOWN MY SPINE!

flag 42 likes · Like · see review

Aug 05, 2016 leynes rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

My only advice for reading Poe's The Raven is that you try to read it out loud as if you were performing it in front of a crowd, only then you can grab the true mastery of what this poem does on a phonetic side as well! This poem gave me chills; I will treasure it from here on out for the rest of my life.

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 on

...more

flag 40 likes · Like · see review

Jul 21, 2017 Ivan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: horror-and-paranormal

I'm not big fan of poetry but I really loved this one. Maybe it's because I listened to version read by Christopher Lee (you can find it on youtube), and it's universal rule that everything is better when heard in voice of Christopher Lee, but this is my favorite work of Poe so far. ...more

flag 38 likes · Like · see review

Mar 20, 2019 Charles van Buren rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Charles van Buren
TOP 1000 REVIEWER

1.0 out of 5 stars
No illustrations in this illustrated edition

July 11, 2019
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

Review of free Kindle edition
A Public Domain Book
Publication date: May 17, 2012
Language: English
ASIN: B0084B68X0

This edition is supposed to be illustrated by Gustave Dore' but as I have come to expect from free Kindle editions the illustrations are missing. There is a list of the illustrations and even the names of the engravers but no Gustave Dore' ...more

flag 34 likes · Like · see review

Feb 14, 2012 Peter Meredith rated it really liked it

I write this review as someone who dislikes poetry, or maybe I should say, before I'm attacked by the poetry police, that I have disliked every poem forced down my throat by well meaning sadistic teachers. (Someone please explain the antithetical concept of a well meaning sadist. I'm afraid I might have made that up and it makes no sense.)
The Raven I enjoyed. Perhaps because of its length. For me, a poem can't be too long. The longer the poem, the higher my risk of death(probably through suicide ...more

flag 36 likes · Like · see review

Apr 19, 2017 The Bibliophile Doctor rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, poems, reading-challenge-2017, gothic-lit, audiobooks, edgar-allan-poe, american-classics, reading-challenge-2021, final-review-done, 5-stars-read-absolute-favourite

Changing my rating from 3 to 5 stars after reread.

#1/148

Recently I joined a Poe reading challenge on Goodreads for a classic book club and what an interesting challenge it is. I can not thank much to the moderators coz it is gonna be a hell of a ride.

I'm of course a big fan of poems and that too Edgar Allan Poe yes, yes, yes.

Sorry Poe for rating it so low before. But the naive 4 years younger me could not see beyond words, could not see the pain and sadness that slowly starts building with Rave ...more

flag 32 likes · Like · see review

Jun 17, 2017 Nick Pageant rated it it was amazing

I read this yesterday for probably the 150th time and want to say thanks to dear old Edgar.
I teach therapeutic writing to some quite reluctant students. They literally groan when they see me coming. Each class I struggle to find material that they will relate to in some small way. I chose this standard out of equal parts desperation and resignation... and it worked. Eyes lit up! Comments were made! Unity of effect in good poetry was discussed! Thank you, Edgar Allan Poe, you saved my butt.

As t ...more

flag 31 likes · Like · see review

Mar 15, 2013 Carol rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, saw-the-movie, poe, classics, read-2013, ebook, poetry

Death and Sorrow

A tragic and creepy poem about a RAVEN who hauntingly appears as a (spirit?) 'rapping' on a man's door who is distraught over the loss of his love Lenore. (or did the man murder Lenore and the Raven came to collect his soul?)

The last verse: "And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor-------Shall be lifted Nevermore".

...more

flag 30 likes · Like · see review

Sep 23, 2020 Christian Nikitas rated it really liked it

Listened for the second time by different person. Second listen was so much better, probably because the reader read with such feeling.

flag 28 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Long-term writing buddy	1	3	Dec 10, 2021 08:29PM
Goodreads Librari...: [Done] Please merge duplicate	3	22	Jul 27, 2021 03:12PM
Gothic Poets - 2020	1	5	Sep 30, 2020 12:41PM
Gothic Fiction Re...: The Raven	7	21	Oct 10, 2018 12:27AM
Club "Lectura a t...: "El Cuervo" Edgar Allan Poe	2	3	Sep 05, 2018 11:25AM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Classics

3,251 users

Poetry

3,239 users

Horror

1,165 users

Fiction

744 users

Short Stories

426 users

Gothic

381 users

Academic > School

198 users

Literature

172 users

Mystery

135 users

Literature > American

123 users

See top shelves…

About Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

22,564 followers

The name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of The name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.

Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.

The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al... ...more

Books by Edgar Allan Poe

The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales

The Cask of Amontillado - an Edgar Allan Poe Short Story

More…

"Horror fiction has traditionally dealt in taboo.… It makes monsters of household pets and begs our affection for psychos. It...

Trivia About The Raven

12 trivia questions
1 quiz

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Raven

“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.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me — filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
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 it is, and nothing more."

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you"— here I opened wide the door; —
Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!" —
Merely this, and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice:
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore —
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; —
'Tis the wind and nothing more."

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door —
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door —
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore.
Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore —
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

Much I marveled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning— little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blest with seeing bird above his chamber door —
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore.” — 2963 likes

“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.” — 1055 likes

More quotes…

See a Problem?

Preview — The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

The Raven

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Edgar Allan Poe

Books by Edgar Allan Poe

Related Articles

Trivia About The Raven

Quotes from The Raven

See a Problem?

Preview — The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

The Raven

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Edgar Allan Poe

Books by Edgar Allan Poe

Related Articles

Trivia About The Raven

Quotes from The Raven

new topic
Discuss This Book