The Raven

"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe is a narrative poem first published in January 1845. It tells of a grief-stricken lover mourning his lost Lenore when a mysterious raven arrives at his chamber, perching on a bust of Pallas and speaking only one haunting word: "Nevermore." As the narrator questions the bird, he descends from melancholy into madness, trapped between his desire to forget and his compulsion to remember, while the raven's shadow darkens his soul.

The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #1065.