1. THE RAVEN
42 lines✦
The Raven" was first published on the 29th January, 1845, in the NewYork 'Evening Mirror'--a paper its author was then assistant editor of.It was prefaced by the following words, understood to have been writtenby N. P. Willis: "We are permitted to copy (in advance of publication) from the secondnumber of the 'American Review', the following remarkable poem byEdgar Poe. In our opinion, it is the most effective single example of'fugitive poetry' ever published in this country, and unsurpassed inEnglish poetry for subtle conception, masterly ingenuity ofversification, and consistent sustaining of imaginative lift and'pokerishness.' It is one of those 'dainties bred in a book' which wefeed on. It will stick to the memory of everybody who reads it." In the February number of the 'American Review' the poem was publishedas by "Quarles," and it was introduced by the following note, evidentlysuggested if not written by Poe himself. ["The following lines from a correspondent--besides the deep, quaintstrain of the sentiment, and the curious introduction of someludicrous touches amidst the serious and impressive, as was doubtlessintended by the author--appears to us one of the most felicitousspecimens of unique rhyming which has for some time met our eye. Theresources of English rhythm for varieties of melody, measure, andsound, producing corresponding diversities of effect, have beenthoroughly studied, much more perceived, by very few poets in thelanguage. While the classic tongues, especially the Greek, possess, bypower of accent, several advantages for versification over our own,chiefly through greater abundance of spondaic feet, we have other andvery great advantages of sound by the modern usage of rhyme.Alliteration is nearly the only effect of that kind which the ancientshad in common with us. It will be seen that much of the melody of 'TheRaven' arises from alliteration and the studious use of similar soundsin unusual places. In regard to its measure, it may be noted that ifall the verses were like the second, they might properly be placedmerely in short lines, producing a not uncommon form: but the presencein all the others of one line--mostly the second in the verse"(stanza?)--"which flows continuously, with only an aspirate pause inthe middle, like that before the short line in the Sapphio Adonic,while the fifth has at the middle pause no similarity of sound withany part beside, gives the versification an entirely different effect.We could wish the capacities of our noble language in prosody werebetter understood." ED. 'Am. Rev.'] * * * * *
✦