Page 31 - conn-lit-american-voices-sb-sampler

The Raven
Edgar Allan Poe
L
5
10
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.
volume:
a book
ember:
a small piece of wood or coal on fire
LITERARY LENS: Mood is the atmosphere created through the author’s use of literary techniques such as tone, diction, setting, and imagery. As you read, consider the emotional atmosphere Poe creates in the poem “The Raven.”
Finding an American Voice The Raven
67