The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

[Mozza314]

I love this poem, I always remember how it was done on one of the Simpsons halloween specials. I'm pretty sure they used "quoth the raven" as opposed to "and then the raven said".

[Cimbolic]

I was shocked when I saw "and then the brid said". It doesn't even sound like Poe.

And "no sublunary being" is 10 times better than "no living human being".

[srssum1]

That has so many allusions that i don't get.

Also uses quite a few words i don't know.

I feel like so there this great story, but if i really want to get the most out of it I need to have all this background knowledge first.

It makes me wonder, that is not a rare thing in my experience to be done in art, could it be to me these things that seem foreign, when this were written were likely to be commonplace for the audience?

[Cimbolic]

You are not alone!

I believe it was written in the 1840s, more than 160 years ago. I've read that the newspapers of that day had a much wider vocabulary.

Poe had an extremely wide vocabulary. When I read Poe, I often have to have the dictionary beside me.

He includes many allusions.

I had to look up "balm of Gilead in the Bible".

And I had to double-check that "bust of Pallas" really did apply to the goddess Athena.

[Cimbolic]

Put it all together, and it takes a little research and several readings to really get a handle on it.

But it is a fabulous poem. It creates a very unique mood.

Poe invented the genre of the detective story.

[Cimbolic]

I think it was much easier for the audience of Poe's day to understand the poem. It really seems to be a product of its day.

[srssum1]

I have heard newspapers are written at an 8th grade level, but i don't know I've ever seen a source for this claim.

I know my vocabulary is lacking, and yet so many people i encounter make comments on the "big words" i use...

When it seems like someone is trying to use vocab words it just makes me feel they are trying to appear smarter.

I find there is often in issue of balancing being concise (using the most best word) and being simplistic(if that is needed).

At times only one word is truly apt

[Cimbolic]

I agree. And "apt" is a great word, isn't it?

I value concision. I used to have it printed on a big piece of paper and taped above my computer.

Hmmmmm, I wonder if it is some sort of virtue of writing.

[srssum1]

Along the line of

"Say what you mean, and mean what you say"

If there is a word that best expresses your intent that is what you should utilize.

I find that there are times when you can not properly simplify and when you try you are really left with less than.

Thus the issue when one should strive for: simplicity, clarity, and concision.

[Cimbolic]

"one should strive for: simplicity, clarity, and concision."

Agreed; if one is striving to communicate clearly an idea or concept.

But if the purpose of the communication is, for instance, to entertain, confound, or mislead, then at lease one of those three will be modified.

Like playing on a keyboard. :)

I often feel that I need a word to express something, but such a word does not exist. And to invent a new one seems so extremely difficult.

[Cimbolic]

It is probably easier to learn a foreign language that might contain such a word, than to invent it.

It makes me wonder about the origin of language. How did we invent the existing words in the first place? Or are we simply bound by the limits of our current langage, and the original invention was far easier because far more free?

[Cimbolic]

Your username is great!

France is great too. They really appreciated the detective mystery genre taht Poe invented with Murder in the Rue Morgue. (There would have been no Sherlock Holmes without Poe!).

And they really appreciate the short story genre at which Poe was a master.

I think Poe had an incredible sense of humor, too. But nobody every mentions it. I think it is very underappreciated.

And The Raven. It's my favorite poem to. Absolutely beautiful use of words.

[Cimbolic]

At the beginning of my video I talk about how the version I read from is different than the one most often encountered. I was shocked to discover that the "worse" version was the most popular.

[Cimbolic]

Poe is my favorite, too. I understand he's much more appreciated in France than in the U.S.

I was wondering if your username was a reference to Roderick in The House of Usher.

[shinysocks]

Wow... I'm ghastly and ominous! haha I new there was some reason I was thinking that Raven was a dark name.

I love that! I haven't heard it since high school. He and Elizabeth Barrett Browning were my favorites.

That's really cool. Thanks!

[Cimbolic]

Your NOT "grim and ghastly"; you're dark haired and beautiful! Glad you like the rendition of the poem.

[shinysocks]

I did! I love the old wording of things like that. And I know that you don't believe in God and probably don't read the Bible, but I always prefer the wording of the King James Version versus the newer versions. It was so beautifully written.

And thank you. :)

[Cimbolic]

Thanks very much. Poe's marvellous.