The Raven

[dclayh]

From the first printing, 1845:

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore!"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the

Comments

[dclayh]

Ah, you are so, so wrong. "Stillness" has alliteration with "silence", whereas "darkness" makes a jarring callback to the previous lines. And the question mark makes it sound like he's saying "Lenore? Is that you, doing that tapping?," which is just hokey and stupid. Furthermore, you claim that a whisper can't have a bang, but the echo of a whisper can?

[dragonmudd]

Did you realize the Ravens (named for the poem) are playing in the playoffs today when you posted this, or is it just a coincidence?

[dclayh]

Coincidence; I don't follow football.

[dragonmudd]

I thought that was the case. It's just that since I live in Baltimore, my facebook has been all about the Ravens all day long.