Friday Poem - The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

Yes I know it isn't Friday, but I had a busy day yesterday so I'm posting this a day late. To make up for my tardiness here is one of my favourite poems - 'The Raven' by Edgar Allan Poe. I'm a huge fan of horror (as I'm sure many of you already know!) and that includes the classics like Poe and Lovecraft. While doing the research for this post I discovered something interesting, I enjoy listening to the poem compared to reading it. Which is a little odd as I'm not a fan of audio books.Of course poems have a rhythmic quality that is enhanced by a good reading.

For 'The Raven' there's an abundance of quality readings although one by the master of horror himself Christopher Lee. Enjoy the recording below:

'The Raven' has also featured in my Drabble Classics series. A drabble is a story that is exactly 100 words long. It was a challenge to reconstruct a poem in a drabble and try and maintain what made it stand out. Was I successful, judge for yourself here:

While reading forgotten lore to escape the loss of Lenore I heard a rap at my door. Another at the window and I admitted the raven and upon Pallas’s bust it perched.

To my surprise the bird spoke, but knew only one word. I’m certain that it’ll desert me as others had, it said ‘nevermore’.

I reasoned that I could forget Lenore, the raven stated ‘nevermore’.

So I asked whether I’ll see her again and received the same infernal reply. I cursed it back to Hell, but it’s my soul trapped in the raven’s shadow and will be lifted nevermore.

If you'd like to look at the other Drabble Classics then you can read them all here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/p/drabble-classics.html

If you'd like to get involved with the Friday Poem, either by providing a poem you'd like featured or if you have discovered a poem that people need to know about then drop me a line and I'll take a look.