Write Like You Mean It: Quoth the Raven
The Raven, from http://xkcd.com/
By Julia H. Jackson
Imagine that your significant other has recently fallen ill. You are an orphaned adult. Everyone who is close to you is slowly dying of tuberculosis, or as you call it, consumption. You can’t sleep. You fidget. You wait by your writing table and contemplate the slow descent of humanity. And suddenly, there is a knock at your door.
I should mention that you are a sometimes-successful editor of literary magazines. It is 1845.
“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 someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`’Tis some visitor,’ I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.’”
You are Edgar Allan Poe. This is the first stanza of perhaps your most famous poem, The Raven, a poem that English teachers and professors across the globe will soon be expecting students to analyze and understand. And just how exactly are they supposed to do that?
In this second installment of Write Like You Mean It, we offer a few suggestions for digesting such literary classics as Edgar Allan Poe, and invite you to craft Raven-esque poems of your own. Here are three tips to help you break down The Raven:
Context.
Sometimes it is hard to understand older works of literature because the author’s vocabulary and cultural cues are different from what new readers are used to. If the text appears unrecognizable upon first read, return to the writer’s background and setting. When and where was the author writing? What major historical events were happening? What victories or tragedies were occurring in his or her personal life at that time? In 1845, Edgar Allan Poe was struggling to make ends meet as an editor of literary magazines. He had lost both his parents at a young age, and two years later his wife, a cousin fourteen years his junior, would also die. Given that, the following two lines carry even more weight:
“Other friends have flown before -
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.’”
Terms.
Where is the “Plutonian Shore?” Who is “Pallas,” and why is it important that the raven sits upon his statue? What is a “nepenthe?” You’re a student—use your dictionary. While it certainly isn’t helpful to look up every other word, it can be useful to note terms that could refer to important historical figures or myths. Poe has constructed this poem carefully, and these key words are little hints to the reader to think critically.
Style.
Poe achieved literary gymnastics with The Raven by writing it in trochaic octameter, a complicated meter that few poets have attempted since. The word “trochaic” refers back to “trochee,” a two-syllable word with emphasis on the first syllable. “Octameter” can be broken down into “octa” (eight) and “meter” (the pace or beat of the poem). As if that weren’t enough, he also use internal rhyme (the middle and third word of the first and third lines of each stanza rhyme; think dreary – weary, etc.), but he also rhymed the second, fourth, fifth and sixth lines rhyme as well (lore, door, more). For a full explanation of Poe’s rhyming scheme, check out this article from Shmoop.com.
Become Poe, Write Your Own.
No wonder Poe was feeling dreary and weary. Poetry is a lot of work! The Raven is an example of a narrative poem, meaning that it has a clear plot and typically uses a set form or meter. Now that you have grasped the cultural context for The Raven, looked up new terms, and examined the stanzas for their literary acrobatics, you are all set to write your own narrative poem. Here are some tips for getting started:
- Keep it simple. Trochaic octameter is not necessary for telling a good story. If you want to try meter, maybe start with a basic rhyme scheme.
- Remember that poetry is about word economy. Try writing what you feel in a sentence, and then parsing the idea down to a statement half its length.
- Metaphors and similes are often more powerful than multi-syllabic adjectives. Instead of saying the sky is dark, say that the sky is spilled coffee. Own your metaphors.
In honor of Halloween, we challenge you to write to your own ravens. Frightened? Never say never –or should we say, nevermore.
